Via Reuters :
" Progress is being made in the fight against the most common form of malaria in Africa, but a long-lasting type of the mosquito-borne parasitic disease has a tight grip on swathes of South Asia and parts of Latin America, scientists said Monday.
In a new global map of the plasmodium vivax malaria parasite, researchers from Britain's Oxford University found the disease -- which is often recurring and can be deadly -- is endemic in substantial parts of the world.
"This map helps us understand just how difficult it is going to be to eradicate malaria," said Peter Gething, who led Oxford's Malaria Atlas Project (MAP) study.
"Unfortunately, the tools for fighting this type of malaria range from ineffective to non-existent."
Vivax is not as deadly as the Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite that is most common in Africa and causes most of the around 800,000 malaria deaths a year, but it is more common with some 2.85 billion people across the world at risk.
It also has a unique ability to relapse by hiding in the liver for months or years, making it harder to detect and cure."
Showing posts with label Asia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asia. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
FAO : Bird Flu rears its head again
Press release from Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This doesn't sound good at all :
" Increased preparedness and surveillance urged against variant strain
29 August 2011, Rome - FAO today urged heightened readiness and surveillance against a possible major resurgence of the H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza amid signs that a mutant strain of the deadly Bird Flu virus is spreading in Asia and beyond, with unpredictable risks to human health.
The H5N1 virus has infected 565 people since it first appeared in 2003, killing 331 of them, according to WHO figures. The latest death occurred earlier this month in Cambodia, which has registered eight cases of human infection this year -- all of them fatal.
Since 2003 H5N1 has killed or forced the culling of more than 400 million domestic poultry and caused an estimated $20 billion of economic damage across the globe before it was eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its peak in 2006.
However, the virus remained endemic in six nations, although the number of outbreaks in domestic poultry and wild bird populations shrank steadily from an annual peak of 4000 to just 302 in mid 2008. But outbreaks have risen progressively since, with almost 800 cases recorded in 2010-2011.
Virus spread in both poultry and wild birds
At the same time, 2008 marked the beginning of renewed geographic expansion of the H5N1 virus both in poultry and wild birds.
The advance appears to be associated with migratory bird movements, according to FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth. He said migrations help the virus travel over long distances, so that H5N1 has in the past 24 months shown up in poultry or wild birds in countries that had been virus-free for several years.
"Wild birds may introduce the virus, but peoples' actions in poultry production and marketing spread it," Lubroth noted.
Recently affected areas are to be found in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Bulgaria, Romania, Nepal and Mongolia.
A further cause for concern, Lubroth said, is the appearance in China and Viet Nam of a variant virus apparently able to sidestep the defences provided by existing vaccines.
In Viet Nam, which suspended its springtime poultry vaccination campaign this year, most of the northern and central parts of the country -- where H5N1 is endemic -- have been invaded by the new virus strain, known as H5N1 - 2.3.2.1.
High alert
Viet Nam's veterinary services are on high alert and reportedly considering a novel, targeted vaccination campaign this fall. Virus circulation in Viet Nam poses a direct threat to Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia as well as endangering the Korean peninsula and Japan further afield. Wild bird migration can also spread the virus to other continents.
"The general departure from the progressive decline observed in 2004-2008 could mean that there will be a flareup of H5N1 this fall and winter, with people unexpectedly finding the virus in their backyard," Lubroth said.
The countries where H5N1 is still firmly entrenched – Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam – are likely to face the biggest problems but no country can consider itself safe, he said.
"Preparedness and surveillance remain essential," Lubroth underlined. "This is no time for complacency. No one can let their guard down with H5N1."
" Increased preparedness and surveillance urged against variant strain
29 August 2011, Rome - FAO today urged heightened readiness and surveillance against a possible major resurgence of the H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza amid signs that a mutant strain of the deadly Bird Flu virus is spreading in Asia and beyond, with unpredictable risks to human health.
The H5N1 virus has infected 565 people since it first appeared in 2003, killing 331 of them, according to WHO figures. The latest death occurred earlier this month in Cambodia, which has registered eight cases of human infection this year -- all of them fatal.
Since 2003 H5N1 has killed or forced the culling of more than 400 million domestic poultry and caused an estimated $20 billion of economic damage across the globe before it was eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its peak in 2006.
However, the virus remained endemic in six nations, although the number of outbreaks in domestic poultry and wild bird populations shrank steadily from an annual peak of 4000 to just 302 in mid 2008. But outbreaks have risen progressively since, with almost 800 cases recorded in 2010-2011.
Virus spread in both poultry and wild birds
At the same time, 2008 marked the beginning of renewed geographic expansion of the H5N1 virus both in poultry and wild birds.
The advance appears to be associated with migratory bird movements, according to FAO Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth. He said migrations help the virus travel over long distances, so that H5N1 has in the past 24 months shown up in poultry or wild birds in countries that had been virus-free for several years.
"Wild birds may introduce the virus, but peoples' actions in poultry production and marketing spread it," Lubroth noted.
Recently affected areas are to be found in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Bulgaria, Romania, Nepal and Mongolia.
A further cause for concern, Lubroth said, is the appearance in China and Viet Nam of a variant virus apparently able to sidestep the defences provided by existing vaccines.
In Viet Nam, which suspended its springtime poultry vaccination campaign this year, most of the northern and central parts of the country -- where H5N1 is endemic -- have been invaded by the new virus strain, known as H5N1 - 2.3.2.1.
High alert
Viet Nam's veterinary services are on high alert and reportedly considering a novel, targeted vaccination campaign this fall. Virus circulation in Viet Nam poses a direct threat to Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia as well as endangering the Korean peninsula and Japan further afield. Wild bird migration can also spread the virus to other continents.
"The general departure from the progressive decline observed in 2004-2008 could mean that there will be a flareup of H5N1 this fall and winter, with people unexpectedly finding the virus in their backyard," Lubroth said.
The countries where H5N1 is still firmly entrenched – Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam – are likely to face the biggest problems but no country can consider itself safe, he said.
"Preparedness and surveillance remain essential," Lubroth underlined. "This is no time for complacency. No one can let their guard down with H5N1."
Friday, June 10, 2011
Asia : Swine flu starting to show resistance to drugs
Via Reuters, this really needs close watching :
" A novel variant of swine flu has emerged in Asia with a genetic adaptation giving some resistance to Roche's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza, the two mainstay drugs used to tackle the disease.
Researchers said more than 30 percent of H1N1 swine flu infection samples from northern Australia, and more than 10 percent of those in Singapore, collected during the early months of 2011 had mildly reduced sensitivity to the two drugs.
There was no significant reduction in sensitivity to peramivir, an experimental flu drug from BioCryst Pharmaceuticals.
The new variant has also been detected in other parts of Asia-Pacific, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, published in the journal Eurosurveillance.
Although this genetic mutation has seen before in a small number of seasonal flu and H5N1 bird flu cases, it has not previously been reported in H1N1 swine flu.
H1N1 flu was discovered in Mexico and the United States in March 2009 and spread rapidly across the world. The WHO believes about 18,450 people died from the virus up to August 2010, including many pregnant women and young people. The WHO declared the pandemic over in August."
" A novel variant of swine flu has emerged in Asia with a genetic adaptation giving some resistance to Roche's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza, the two mainstay drugs used to tackle the disease.
Researchers said more than 30 percent of H1N1 swine flu infection samples from northern Australia, and more than 10 percent of those in Singapore, collected during the early months of 2011 had mildly reduced sensitivity to the two drugs.
There was no significant reduction in sensitivity to peramivir, an experimental flu drug from BioCryst Pharmaceuticals.
The new variant has also been detected in other parts of Asia-Pacific, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne, published in the journal Eurosurveillance.
Although this genetic mutation has seen before in a small number of seasonal flu and H5N1 bird flu cases, it has not previously been reported in H1N1 swine flu.
H1N1 flu was discovered in Mexico and the United States in March 2009 and spread rapidly across the world. The WHO believes about 18,450 people died from the virus up to August 2010, including many pregnant women and young people. The WHO declared the pandemic over in August."
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
CIDRAP : Satellite tracking suggests wild birds may spread H5N1 in Asia
Via CIDRAP :
" Nov 22, 2010 : Satellite tracking of wild birds in Asia suggests they may be spreading H5N1 avian influenza from India or Tibet to Mongolia when they fly north in the spring, according to a recent report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The Nov 16 issue of FAO AIDE News, the agency's avian flu newsletter, says this conclusion comes from the tracking of waterfowl that frequent China's Qinghai Lake, where more than 6,000 wild birds died of H5N1 in 2005. Since that outbreak, researchers with the FAO and the US Geological Survey have mounted GPS transmitters on 525 waterfowl in 11 countries to track their migrations, the FAO said.
About half of the birds that died in the Qinghai Lake outbreak were bar-headed geese. The FAO said the satellite tracking has shown that most of the bar-headed geese tagged at Qinghai Lake spend their winters in the Lhasa region of Tibet or in India. There, wild birds are exposed to domestic poultry, and since those areas have had H5N1 outbreaks, the virus may spread between domestic and wild birds, according to the FAO.
"If this is so, wild waterfowl on the eastern portion of the Central Asian Flyway may in fact be helping spread H5N1 HPAI [highly pathogenic avian influenza] into Mongolia each spring as they across the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau to the north and east," the article says."
" Nov 22, 2010 : Satellite tracking of wild birds in Asia suggests they may be spreading H5N1 avian influenza from India or Tibet to Mongolia when they fly north in the spring, according to a recent report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The Nov 16 issue of FAO AIDE News, the agency's avian flu newsletter, says this conclusion comes from the tracking of waterfowl that frequent China's Qinghai Lake, where more than 6,000 wild birds died of H5N1 in 2005. Since that outbreak, researchers with the FAO and the US Geological Survey have mounted GPS transmitters on 525 waterfowl in 11 countries to track their migrations, the FAO said.
About half of the birds that died in the Qinghai Lake outbreak were bar-headed geese. The FAO said the satellite tracking has shown that most of the bar-headed geese tagged at Qinghai Lake spend their winters in the Lhasa region of Tibet or in India. There, wild birds are exposed to domestic poultry, and since those areas have had H5N1 outbreaks, the virus may spread between domestic and wild birds, according to the FAO.
"If this is so, wild waterfowl on the eastern portion of the Central Asian Flyway may in fact be helping spread H5N1 HPAI [highly pathogenic avian influenza] into Mongolia each spring as they across the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau to the north and east," the article says."
Friday, November 19, 2010
WHO calls on malaria-endemic countries to strengthen monitoring of drug efficacy
Press release from WHO's Western Pacific Region :
" MANILA, 18 November 2010 : The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on countries to be increasingly vigilant in monitoring antimalarial drug efficacy in order to allow for early detection of artemisinin resistance. This is one among several conclusions of the “Global report on antimalarial drug efficacy and drug resistance: 2000–2010”, released today. The report is based on 1100 studies conducted by national malaria control programmes and research institutes over the ten-year period.
The report estimates that only 34% of malaria-endemic countries are complying with WHO recommendations to routinely monitor the efficacy of first- and second-line antimalarial medicines.
“A greater political commitment to support and sustain national monitoring of the efficacy of antimalarial medicines is critical to prevent a wider emergence of artemisinin resistance” said Dr Pascal Ringwald of the Drug Resistance and Containment Unit, within WHO's Global Malaria Programme and one of the report authors.
In February 2009, WHO confirmed that resistance to artemisinin had emerged on the Cambodia-Thailand border. Although patients infected were cured following treatment with an artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), the recovery took more time. In artemisinin-resistant areas, the high cure rates observed depend heavily on the efficacy of the non-artemisinin component of the combination."
" MANILA, 18 November 2010 : The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on countries to be increasingly vigilant in monitoring antimalarial drug efficacy in order to allow for early detection of artemisinin resistance. This is one among several conclusions of the “Global report on antimalarial drug efficacy and drug resistance: 2000–2010”, released today. The report is based on 1100 studies conducted by national malaria control programmes and research institutes over the ten-year period.
The report estimates that only 34% of malaria-endemic countries are complying with WHO recommendations to routinely monitor the efficacy of first- and second-line antimalarial medicines.
“A greater political commitment to support and sustain national monitoring of the efficacy of antimalarial medicines is critical to prevent a wider emergence of artemisinin resistance” said Dr Pascal Ringwald of the Drug Resistance and Containment Unit, within WHO's Global Malaria Programme and one of the report authors.
In February 2009, WHO confirmed that resistance to artemisinin had emerged on the Cambodia-Thailand border. Although patients infected were cured following treatment with an artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), the recovery took more time. In artemisinin-resistant areas, the high cure rates observed depend heavily on the efficacy of the non-artemisinin component of the combination."
UN: Drug-resistant malaria spreading in Asia
Via Associated Press, please go to the link for the full story, excerpt :
" GENEVA : The World Health Organization says countries are not doing enough to detect drug-resistant malaria, which is spreading in Southeast Asia."
" GENEVA : The World Health Organization says countries are not doing enough to detect drug-resistant malaria, which is spreading in Southeast Asia."
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