12 January 2023 – 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

  • Distance from human dwellings differentially affects the efficacy of a synthetic cattle urine odour lure to trap malaria vectors – Link
  • Studies identify new strategies for insect control – Link | Link to Paper
  • Non invasive technique hastens malaria detection – Link 

Diagnostic testing and treatment

  • Efficacy and safety of pyronaridine-artesunate (Pyramax®) for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium vivax malaria in Northwest Ethiopia – Link
  • 3-Dose Malaria Vaccine Shows Promise in African Trial – Link | Link to Paper
  • Non-invasive malaria screening device uses light for diagnosis – Link

Drug and vaccine development

  • Antibody drugs could target infectious diseases — if costs come down – Link

Drug resistance

  • Protein KIC5 is a novel regulator of artemisinin stress response in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum – Link 

Immunisation

  • Polio vaccination campaign to begin from Jan 16 in Attock – Link
  • Drive for 3rd dose of polio vax – Link

Climate and Health

  • Africa’s climate crisis is health crisis – Link
  • WHO Academy education: globally oriented, multicultural approaches to climate change and health – Link

Other 

  • A compendium of indicators for monitoring and evaluating progress of the road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030 – Link
  • Two Nigerian States (Plateau and Nasarawa) Have Eliminated Transmission of Human Onchocerciasis—A Report of Post-Ivermectin Mass Drug Administration Surveillance – Link
  • Evaluating post-treatment Loa loa microfilarial densities to classify serious adverse events caused by ivermectin: a retrospective analysis – Link
  • JICA committed to eliminating Lymphatic Filariasis – Link
  • Effectiveness of seasonal malaria chemoprevention in three regions of Togo: a population-based longitudinal study from 2013 to 2020 – Link
  • Confirmation of the presence of Anopheles stephensi among internally displaced people’s camps and host communities in Aden city, Yemen – Link
  • Infectious disease in the twentieth century – Link
  • In Afghanistan, communities keep an eye out for polio in one of the virus’s last frontiers – Link
  • ‘Malaria No More’, ‘Reaching the Last Mile’ announce expansion of climate and health initiative with new $5 million grant – Link
  • Individual variation in Plasmodium vivax malaria risk: Are repeatedly infected people just unlucky? – Link
  • Correction: A systematic review and an individual patient data meta-analysis of ivermectin use in children weighing less than fifteen kilograms: Is it time to reconsider the current contraindication? – Link
  • Global estimates of the number of pregnancies at risk of malaria from 2007 to 2020: a demographic study – Link

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