30 July 2024 – 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

  • Precision-guided tools for malaria control – Link
  • Field evaluation of a volatile pyrethroid spatial repellent and etofenprox treated clothing for outdoor protection against forest malaria vectors in Cambodia – Link
  • Beating river blindness: blackfly bites dramatically reduced after breeding sites are destroyed with machetes – Link

Diagnostic testing and treatment

  • Therapeutic efficacy of pyronaridine-artesunate (Pyramax) in treating Plasmodium vivax malaria in the central highlands of Vietnam – Link
  • Implementation of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6PD) testing for Plasmodium vivax case management, a mixed method study from Cambodia – Link

Data

  • Spatiotemporal analysis of within-country imported malaria in Brazilian municipalities, 2004–2022 – Link

Drug and vaccine development

  • WHO prequalifies Biological E novel oral polio vaccine – Link
  • Development of a new and promising antimalarial agent – Link | Link to Paper

Drug resistance

  • Urgent strategies needed to fight artemisinin resistance in East Africa – Link 

Immunisation

  • Malaria vaccines: a new era of prevention and control – Link
  • Second round of polio vaccination campaign to reach 1.3 million children in 12 governorates of Yemen – Link
  • A ‘new era’ in malaria control has begun with a vaccination campaign for children in Ivory Coast – Link

Elimination progress

  • Impact of ivermectin and vector control on onchocerciasis transmission in Togo: Assessing the empirical evidence on trends in infection and entomological indicators – Link
  • Mekong malaria elimination: epidemiology summary, volume 25, January–March 2024 – Link
  • Mapping malaria transmission foci in Northeast Thailand from 2011 to 2021: approaching elimination in a hypoendemic area – Link

Outbreak

  • In new study, USF researchers connect Florida malaria outbreak with South and Central America – Link | Link to Paper

Climate and Health

  • Leading up to COP29 the climate-health nexus is on the frontline to control infectious diseases – Link
  • CDC develops new test to identify climate-driven malaria-carrying mosquitoes – Link

Other

  • Community involvement in Onchocerciasis post-elimination surveillance in Bududa District, Eastern Uganda: A cross-sectional study – Link
  • LEDoxy-SL: A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, 24-Month trial of six weeks of daily doxycycline plus hygiene-based essential care for reducing Progression of Filarial Lymphedema in Sri Lanka – Link
  • Impact of COVID-19 on the neglected tropical diseases: a scoping review – Link
  • Modelling onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy and the impact of ivermectin treatment on its prevalence and incidence – Link
  • Variant type 2 poliovirus isolated from sewage samples in Gaza – Link
  • Community engagement in research addressing infectious diseases of poverty in sub-Saharan Africa: A qualitative systematic review – Link
  • Zimbabwe prepares for ward based mass drug administration for bilharzia, intestinal worms and lymphatic filariasis – Link
  • Nepal holds high-level strategic roundtable meeting to tackle neglected tropical diseases – Link

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