infectious diseases

WHO reviews risk of bird flu transmission; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern about bird flu on February 24 after the father of an 11-year-old Cambodian girl who died from the disease also tested positive, raising fears of human-to-human transmission. However, officials say the father is asymptomatic. […]

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CDC votes in favour of mpox vaccine; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi Advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has voted in favour of the Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine for all adults at risk of mpox during an outbreak. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/988606?src=wnl_edit_tpal&uac=398271FG&impID=5194437&faf=1 The panel of outside experts voted unanimously in favour

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Global Fund initiates COVID-19 Response Mechanism; The latest health stories from around the world

Article by Lalita Panicker, Consulting Editor, Views and Editor, Insight, Hindustan Times, New Delhi The COVID-19 Response Mechanism (C19RM) of the Global Fund has initiated the process to award US$320 million to various countries worldwide. Since December 2022, the Fund has awarded US$547 million in additional funding to 40 countries. The latest tranche makes for a total

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Measles outbreak attributed to low vaccine coverage

A measles outbreak in Mumbai, followed by Ranchi, Ahmedabad and Malappuram in India over the past month has drawn attention to the large number of unvaccinated children. Over 16,000 suspected cases have been recorded in India. Of the 20 children who have died of measles since October 26 in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, just one

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Clinical trials show promising results for sleeping sickness drug; The latest health stories from around the world

A new drug that can treat human African trypanosomiasis—commonly known as sleeping sickness—with just one dose has shown promise in a clinical trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Guinea. www.science.org/content/article/news-at-a-glance-snags-emissions-monitoring-negotiations-biodiversity-sleeping-sickness? The rare disease is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei gambiense, which is transmitted by the tsetse fly. Left untreated, it is deadly.

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Cholera epidemic returns to Haiti

On 2 October, Haiti announced that cholera had returned to the country. Memories from the previous epidemic, which killed close to 10,000 Haitians between 2010 and 2019, are still raw; now, with violent gangs fighting for control over the country and the health system in disarray, things could again become very fraught. www.science.org/content/article/vaccines-are-short-supply-amid-global-cholera-surge? A few

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WHO to change name of monkeypox to mpox

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced this week it will start referring to monkeypox disease as “mpox” (pronounced “em-pox”) after the current name drew criticism as evoking racist stereotypes and inviting stigmatization. It is also a misnomer: The virus was first identified in laboratory monkeys but is most likely carried by rodents in the wild.

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Some Chinese cities ease COVID-19 measures

The giant Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing announced an easing of COVID curbs last Wednesday, a day after demonstrators in southern Guangzhou clashed with police amid a string of protests against the world’s toughest coronavirus restrictions. www.medscape.com/viewarticle/984819?src=wnl_edit_tpal&uac=398271FG&impID=4939977&faf=1 The demonstrations, which spread over the weekend to Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere, have become a show of

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Child immunisation rate drops globally following COVID-19

www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/mumbai-measles-outbreak-due-to-low-vaccination-coverage/article66185257.ece?utm_source=eveningwrap&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter&pnespid=vLBmBnhCa70V2qfKrWy4Q5KKtQK_X8Fxffrm3rVzqgFmOjYiQAAzsWGfKWs82Wh0Ehz6yF5Y One of the biggest fallouts of the pandemic globally has been the low routine immunisation coverage of children. As per WHO data of November 23, 2022, nearly 40 million children globally had missed a measles vaccine dose last year. As a result, there were an estimated nine million measles cases and 1,28,000 deaths in

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World Bank unveils new funding mechanism for prevention of future pandemics

The World Bank has a new funding mechanism to help low- and middle-income countries beef up their abilities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics. www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-science-moonshot-uc-student-strike-and-x-ray-boost? Launched last week at the Group of 20 (G-20) summit, a forum convened by the world’s major developed and emerging economies, the Pandemic Fund already has more

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