11 August 2022 – Below we feature a compilation of headlines, scientific articles, and technical reports on innovations, R&D and elimination progress towards polio, malaria, onchocerciasis, and lymphatic filariasis. We will be publishing these updates bi-weekly and hope they are useful.

Vector Control

  • In Mozambique, household screening keeps families malaria-free – Link

Diagnostic testing and treatment

  • Performance of highly sensitive and conventional rapid diagnostic tests for clinical and subclinical Plasmodium falciparum infections, and hrp2/3 deletion status in Burundi – Link
  • Field performance of Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase rapid diagnostic tests during a large histidine-rich protein 2 deletion survey in Ethiopia – Link
  • Changes in Onchocerciasis Ov16 IgG4 rapid diagnostic test results over one-month follow-up: lessons for reading timeframe and decision-making – Link

Data

  • Scientists use mathematical modelling to combat malaria – Link | Link to Paper
  • Digital technology a ‘game changer’ in African health care, Catholic expert says – Link

Drug and vaccine development

  • Next-generation monoclonal antibodies: another promising approach to malaria prevention – Link | Link to Paper
  • New drug blocks transmission of malaria parasites – Link | Link to Paper

Immunisation

  • UK’s urgent polio vaccine rollout for children in London ‘a wake-up call’ as more virus traces found – Link

Elimination progress

  • Afghanistan makes progress in polio eradication but challenges remain – Link
  • Accelerating progress toward malaria elimination in Zambia – Link

Climate change

  • Climate change is making hundreds of diseases much worse – Link

Other 

  • ‘Silent’ spread of polio in New York drives CDC to consider additional vaccinations for some people – Link
  • A multidisciplinary approach to eradicating malaria – Link
  •  Effects of sample preservation methods and duration of storage on the performance of mid-infrared spectroscopy for predicting the age of malaria vectors – Link
  •  Local tips, global impact: community-driven measures as avenues of promoting inclusion in the control of neglected tropical diseases: a case study in Kenya – Link
  • Cross-border partnership key to eliminating malaria by 2025 – Link
  • Private Sector Contributions to National Malaria Surveillance Systems in Elimination Settings: Lessons Learned from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam – Link
  • Malaria elimination does not cost more than malaria control: Sri Lanka a case in point – Link
  • The human filaria Loa loa: update on diagnostics and immune response – Link
  • Stephen Blount – Link

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