Cholera News and Research

Latest Cholera News and Research

Efforts to fight cholera in DRC need to include sanitation, waste facility improvements, behavior change, UNICEF official says

A cholera epidemic that began in January 2011 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is continuing because of "poor hygiene, lack of awareness of the population about transmission mechanisms, very limited access to protected and monitored water sources and lack of sanitation infrastructure," according to Nona Zicherman, chief of emergency operations in DRC for UNICEF, IRIN reports.

2 May 2012

U.S. delegation expresses support for two vaccination campaigns while in Haiti

"A campaign to introduce new childhood vaccines to Haiti will save tens of thousands of lives over the next decade, CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden told NPR's health blog 'Shots' at the end of a two-day tour of the beleaguered country," the blog reports.

19 Apr 2012

Genetically modified mosquitoes offer hope of malaria eradication amid growing drug resistance

"In recent weeks, the emergence on the Thai-Myanmar border of malaria strains resistant to artemisinin, a plant-derived drug, have led to pessimistic headlines and reminders of the setback caused by resistance to the drug chloroquine, which began in the 1950s," columnist and author Matt Ridley writes in the Wall Street Journal's "Mind & Matter," noting, "April 25 is World Malaria Day, designed to draw attention to the planet's biggest infectious killer."

17 Apr 2012

Use of sewage-contaminated water to irrigate crops poses disease risk in Zimbabwe, IRIN reports

IRIN examines how local Zimbabwean farmers' usage of water containing raw sewage to irrigate their crops poses a risk of disease transmission to people who consume the vegetables.

17 Apr 2012

Cholera vaccination pilot project begins in Haiti

"A year and a half after cholera first struck Haiti, a tiny portion of the population on Thursday began getting vaccinated against the waterborne disease that has infected more than 530,000 Haitians and killed more than 7,040," the New York Times reports.

16 Apr 2012

Prepositioning of supplies, knowledge to handle disease outbreaks 'future of disaster management'

In this New York Times opinion piece, columnist Tina Rosenberg examines a global rise in cholera cases, writing, "The World Health Organization estimates that there are between three million and five million cases of cholera each year, and between 100,000 and 120,000 deaths. New and more virulent strains are emerging in Asia and Africa, and the WHO says that global warming creates even more hospitable conditions for the disease."

10 Apr 2012

Innovative tool for tracking movement of infectious diseases

It may seem like a game of tag, but it's an innovative tool for teaching the fundamentals of epidemiology, the science of how infectious diseases move through a population.

7 Apr 2012

U.N. reports increase in cholera cases in Haiti as rains begin

In a monthly bulletin on the humanitarian response in Haiti, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that an increase of new cholera cases has been recorded in the western and northern parts of the country and "that Haitian health officials recorded 77 new cases a day for the whole country in early March, when the rains began," the Associated Press/USA Today reports.

5 Apr 2012

Haitian cholera epidemic no place for 'good-guy/bad-guy distinctions'

In this Reuters opinion piece, finance blogger Felix Salmon responds to a New York Times (NYT) article published on Monday in which journalist Deborah Sontag examines the global response to Haiti's cholera epidemic.

4 Apr 2012

Rare T follicular helper cells essential for developing antibody responses to infectious agents

The characterisation of a rare immune cell's involvement in antibody production and ability to 'remember' infectious agents could help to improve vaccination and lead to new treatments for immune disorders, say researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute.

2 Apr 2012

New York Times examines global response to Haiti's cholera epidemic

The New York Times examines the global response to Haiti's cholera epidemic, writing that while "[m]any health officials consider the cholera response 'pretty remarkable,' as John Vertefeuille, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's director in Haiti, said ... [o]thers ... believe the bar for success was set too low and more lives could have been saved."

2 Apr 2012

Rare immune cells found to play a major role in lasting immunity

According to the latest research from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute the characterization of a rare immune cell’s involvement in antibody production and ability to ‘remember’ infectious agents could help to improve vaccination and lead to new treatments for immune disorders.

1 Apr 2012

Lack of aid money in Haiti threatening health, human rights of displaced people, U.N. official warns

"The United Nations warned on Tuesday that a lack of aid money for Haiti was putting hundreds of thousands of displaced people at risk by forcing humanitarian agencies to cut services in one of the world's poorest countries," Reuters reports.

29 Mar 2012

Cholera vaccination campaign still stalled in Haiti, NPR reports

A planned mass cholera vaccination project in Haiti continues to be "bogged down in bureaucratic red tape," as spring rains begin and the number of cholera cases starts to rise, NPR's health blog "Shots" reports.

28 Mar 2012

Water scarcity may cause global instability, U.S. intelligence agencies say in report

U.S. intelligence agencies released a report on Thursday warning that "[d]rought, floods and a lack of fresh water may cause significant global instability and conflict in the coming decades, as developing countries scramble to meet demand from exploding populations while dealing with the effects of climate change," the Associated Press reports.

23 Mar 2012

PaxVax announces FDA acceptance of IND for PXVX-0200 cholera vaccine

PaxVax Corporation, developer of innovative and socially responsible oral vaccines against infectious diseases, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its investigational new drug (IND) application for its single-dose oral cholera vaccine, clearing the way to begin clinical trials. The company intends to begin Phase 3 trials later this year.

19 Mar 2012

Cote d'Ivoire working to rebuild health care system under new presidential administration

"Ten months after the West African country of Cote d'Ivoire started to emerge from a presidential election crisis during which almost all hospitals and clinics had to shut down for a good six months because they had been vandalized, looted and occupied, the new government under President Alassane Ouattara is trying to make public health care a priority," including implementing "a new national health regulation, which came into effect on Mar. 1, that offers free health services to pregnant women, children under five years and people suffering from malaria," Inter Press Service reports.

15 Mar 2012

Haitian cholera vaccination pilot project temporarily postponed, NPR reports

"A long-planned project to find out whether vaccination is feasible in the midst of an ongoing cholera outbreak in Haiti has been stymied -- temporarily, its proponents insist --" after "a Port-au-Prince radio station reported that the impending vaccination effort was actually a 'medical experiment on the Haitian people' -- a potentially incendiary charge," NPR's "Morning Edition" reports.

14 Mar 2012

Researchers determine structure of concentrative nucleoside transporter

A team of researchers at Duke University has determined the structure of a key molecule that can carry chemotherapy and anti-viral drugs into cells, which could help to create more effective drugs with fewer effects to healthy tissue.

12 Mar 2012

ScienceInsider reports on Lancet letters regarding CDC Center for Global Health

In a letter published Wednesday in the Lancet, officials from the CDC refute "point by point" three letters previously published in the journal that were critical of the agency's Center for Global Health, ScienceInsider reports.

11 Mar 2012

Cholera News and Research

Latest Cholera News and Research

Efforts to fight cholera in DRC need to include sanitation, waste facility improvements, behavior change, UNICEF official says

U.S. delegation expresses support for two vaccination campaigns while in Haiti

Genetically modified mosquitoes offer hope of malaria eradication amid growing drug resistance

Use of sewage-contaminated water to irrigate crops poses disease risk in Zimbabwe, IRIN reports

Cholera vaccination pilot project begins in Haiti

Prepositioning of supplies, knowledge to handle disease outbreaks 'future of disaster management'

Innovative tool for tracking movement of infectious diseases

U.N. reports increase in cholera cases in Haiti as rains begin

Haitian cholera epidemic no place for 'good-guy/bad-guy distinctions'

Rare T follicular helper cells essential for developing antibody responses to infectious agents

New York Times examines global response to Haiti's cholera epidemic

Rare immune cells found to play a major role in lasting immunity

Lack of aid money in Haiti threatening health, human rights of displaced people, U.N. official warns

Cholera vaccination campaign still stalled in Haiti, NPR reports

Water scarcity may cause global instability, U.S. intelligence agencies say in report

PaxVax announces FDA acceptance of IND for PXVX-0200 cholera vaccine

Cote d'Ivoire working to rebuild health care system under new presidential administration

Haitian cholera vaccination pilot project temporarily postponed, NPR reports

Researchers determine structure of concentrative nucleoside transporter

ScienceInsider reports on Lancet letters regarding CDC Center for Global Health

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

Cholera News and Research

Latest Cholera News and Research

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production

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