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The Biter Bit
Killing mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles, the sort that transmit malaria, is a serious business—so serious that some doctors would like to do it by using people as bait. Their idea is to dose those in malarious areas with a drug called ivermectin. This will not protect the dosees directly, for it does not act on the parasite that causes the disease. But it may protect them indirectly, by making their blood poisonous to Anopheles. Mosquitoes do not tend to fly far from the place they hatch, and experiments suggest that if most of a village’s inhabitants were to take ivermectin they could collectively do serious damage to the local Anopheles population. That would substantially reduce the number of cases of malaria in an area.
- Categories
- Health Care
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The Race for a Zika Vaccine
The Zika virus thrives in tropical climates. But it is also growing in this cold-weather city — up a flight of stairs, past a flier for lunchtime yoga and behind a locked door. That is where scientists working in a lab for Takeda, the Japanese drug company, inspect and test vials of the virus.
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- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- North America
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WHO says funds secured for Africa pilots of world’s first malaria vaccine
Funding for phase one of pilot deployments of the world's first malaria vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa has been secured and immunization campaigns will begin in 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
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- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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West Africa to target human and animal health together to fight Ebola and Zika
West African leaders have agreed a new approach to infectious diseases in an attempt to avert any repetition of the disastrous Ebola outbreak. Human, animal and environmental health will all be considered together, and countries in the region will work collaboratively to catch outbreaks of diseases including avian flu, Zika and Ebola in their early stages.
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- Environment, Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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New, rapid diagnostic test for malaria wins $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant
An interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers at Vanderbilt University headed by Stevenson Professor of Chemistry David Wright has designed a new kind of rapid diagnostic test for malaria that has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant which is designed to support innovative global health and development research projects.
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- Health Care
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NIH-led effort examines use of big data for infectious disease surveillance
Big data derived from electronic health records, social media, the internet and other digital sources have the potential to provide more timely and detailed information on infectious disease threats or outbreaks than traditional surveillance methods.
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- Health Care, Technology
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Measles jab saves 20 million young lives
Measles jab saves more than 20 million young lives in 15 years, but hundreds of children still die of the disease every day, United Nations health agencies report has revealed. According to the report, despite a 79 per cent worldwide decrease in measles deaths between 2000 and 2015, nearly 400 children still die from the disease every day.
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- Health Care
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Which Big Drug Companies Are Helping the Poor? Here’s the List
The pharmaceutical giant GSK, which has held first place in the Access to Medicine Index ever since its introduction in 2008, was ranked first again this week. The index measures how well the world’s top 20 pharma companies do at getting their drugs and vaccines — and often their scientific expertise — to the world’s poorest countries.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- North America
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