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Spike in Australian H1N1 cases could lead WHO to declare pandemic

The H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak could soon be declared the first flu pandemic in 41 years after a recent jump in the number of confirmed cases in Australia, WHO officials said Tuesday, the AP/Google.com reports (Jordans, AP/Google.com, 6/9).

10 Jun 2009

Global AIDS coordinator nominee Goosby testifies before Senate committee

President Obama's choice for the State Department's global AIDS coordinator position, Eric Goosby, testified on Tuesday at a confirmation hearing with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, VOA News reports. Goosby would work to continue PEPFAR's success, and "says he will emphasize prevention if he is confirmed by the Senate," VOA News writes.

10 Jun 2009

Philippines Health Secretary warns of impending Dengue threat

With the start of the rainy season, Francisco Duque III, health secretary in the Philippines, on Tuesday emphasized a continued government commitment to controlling and preventing dengue - a disease for which there is currently no vaccine or specific drug, the Manila Times reports.

10 Jun 2009

Disease control expert urges health workers to clean hands and save lives

Australia's World Health Organization infectious disease expert and Director of Hand Hygiene Australia has urged all health professionals to improve infection control and save lives by adopting the new National Hand Hygiene Initiative.

9 Jun 2009

New York Times examines varying definitions of 'pandemic'

"The new swine influenza virus [H1N1], which appeared suddenly after years of warning about a potential pandemic of avian influenza, upset the WHO's assumptions that most people have the same understanding of the word pandemic," says the New York Times in a report that examines the difficultly health experts have had when attempting to agree upon what constitutes a pandemic.

9 Jun 2009

AP/Washington Post examines experimental malaria vaccine, mutant mosquitoes to combat malaria

During the 1990s, Sanaria CEO Stephen Hoffman "irradiated malaria-carrying mosquitoes to weaken the parasites inside them, and he and 13 colleagues subjected themselves to more than 1,000 bites," according to the AP/Washington Post.

9 Jun 2009

Opinion: Second-line ARVs in India; PEPFAR funding

The successful scale-up of services for people living with HIV (PLHIV) in India "is now at risk," write Loon Gangte, president of the Delhi Network of Positive People, and Leena Menghaney, projects manager in India for Medecins Sans Frontieres' Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, in a livemint.com editorial.

9 Jun 2009

Australia's swine flu alert level may be raised a notch

As Australia's number of confirmed cases of influenza A H1N1 (swine flu) continues to soar - the toll is now 1,211 - there is now the very real possibility that the swine flu alert level will be raised a notch.

9 Jun 2009

Jacob Zuma addresses increased access to antiretrovirals, reduction in HIV incidence

South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday said he wants to have 80 percent of HIV-positive South Africans who need antiretrovirals (ARVs) on them by 2011, BuaNews reports (BuaNews/allAfrica.com, 6/3).

9 Jun 2009

3-day polio, measles vaccination campaign launched in Uganda

Uganda on Saturday launched a three-day polio and measles immunization campaign, Possy Mugyenyi, the country's immunization manager, said, UGPulse.com reports (Nyanzi, UGPulse.com, 6/5). More than 6 million children are being targeted, IRIN reports (IRIN, 6/5).

9 Jun 2009

WHO to incorporate disease severity into pandemic alert scale

A meeting of the WHO's emergency committee held Friday to discuss the H1N1 (swine) flu ended without a pandemic declaration, but experts concluded that declarations would now be based upon the severity and transmission pattern of a virus, Reuters reports (Nebehay, Reuters, 6/5). "The Emergency Committee is composed of international experts and its task is to give advice to the WHO chief on influenza outbreak responses," according to Xinhua writes (Xinhua, 6/6).

9 Jun 2009

Lyme disease emerging in Canada

Lyme disease is emerging in Canada, and is expected to increase with climate change, but effective, enhanced surveillance and clinician awareness will be key to minimizing the impact of the disease, write researchers in a review in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

9 Jun 2009

New discovery about mycobacteria – implications for tuberculosis research

A close relative of the microorganism that causes tuberculosis in humans has been found to form spores. This is a sensational finding because researchers have long been convinced that these kinds of bacteria - the mycobacteria - were incapable of forming spores.

9 Jun 2009

Scientists use climate variables and vegetation indices to predict and mitigate Dengue epidemics

Dengue Fever (DF) and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) are the most important vector-borne viral diseases in the World. Around 50-100 million cases appear each year putting 2.5 billion people at risk of suffering this debilitating and sometimes fatal disease.

5 Jun 2009

International HIV/AIDS experts to meet in Namibia next week

Thousands of international HIV/AIDS experts will convene in Windhoek, Namibia, next week for a five-day meeting focused on HIV/AIDS, New Era reports.

5 Jun 2009

Articles examine use of mobile phones for global health

The Economist examines how mobile phones could be used to detect the spread of diseases worldwide. According to the Economist, "[t]he world’s 4 billion mobile phones could be turned into sensors on a global data-collection network" and aid workers, engineers and several other professionals "are now building systems that use handsets to sense, monitor and even predict population movements, environmental hazards and public-health threats."

5 Jun 2009

Officials concerned about potential disease outbreaks among displaced Pakistanis; Obama requests more U.S. aid money

U.N. officials on Thursday expressed growing concern about potential disease outbreaks among the two million displaced Pakistanis and warned that aid money is running out, AFP/Yahoo! News reports (AFP/Yahoo! News, 6/4).

5 Jun 2009

WHO recommends global use of rotavirus vaccines - can protect millions of children from diarrhoeal diseaseas

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that rotavirus vaccination be included in all national immunization programmes to provide protection against a virus that is responsible for more than 500,000 diarrhoeal deaths and 2 million hospitalizations every year among children. More than 85% of these deaths occur in developing countries in Africa and Asia. This new policy will help ensure access to rotavirus vaccines in the world's poorest countries.

5 Jun 2009

Drug-resistant tuberculosis a very real threat in the Pacific region

Health officials in the Pacific are concerned about two new strains of tuberculosis - multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) - both strains have been found to be resistant to the two most powerful drugs that have been used to treat tuberculosis (TB) for the past five decades.

5 Jun 2009

Australia's swine flu toll soars to almost 900

As the number of swine flu cases now confirmed in Australia edges close to 900, neighbour Singapore has issued advice warning its residents not to travel to Victoria the state worst-hit by the outbreak of influenza A H1N1 with 752 cases.

4 Jun 2009