Researchers Identify Zika Incubation Period and Optimal Testing Methods
April 25th 2017Two studies published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal have outlined just how local and travel-related Zika cases differ, as well as which testing method is most sensitive to Zika virus RNA.
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Yellow Fever: A Transcontinental Threat?
April 25th 2017The New England Journal of Medicine recently published two pieces on yellow fever. The first reports on the situation in the Americas, while the second recounts the case of a man from Angola who was found to be coinfected with yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis virus, although he reported no history of travel.
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Doctors Without Borders Funds TB Research Amid Controversy on WHO Priority Pathogens List
March 13th 2017In late February, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its first list of Priority Pathogens, for which research and development is strongly needed. Not included on the list is tuberculosis, which has been acknowledged as one of the leading killers around the world. Naturally, many individuals working in public health and infectious disease are objecting to the exclusion.
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Cost-Effectiveness of Preferred Antibiotics for Community-Acquired Pneumonia
January 24th 2017Researchers from the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, The Netherlands, examine the cost-effectiveness of the most commonly used treatments for community-acquired pneumonia.
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Exploring the FDA's Tropical Disease Priority Review Voucher
January 23rd 2017As concerns over the spread of tropical infectious diseases increase, in the age of Zika virus and Dengue fever in particular, PRVs may have significant implications for the development of novel vaccines and antivirals, assuming the program is used effectively.
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ASTMH Leadership Advises Against Closing US Doors to Immigrants
January 20th 2017Their commentary effectively represents a position statement for the ASTMH, with the leaders/authors pledging to continue working with political leaders and “global health stakeholders in support of evidence-based policies and programs” designed to ensure public health in the United States and abroad.
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Genetically Modified Mosquitoes Impede Dengue Transmission
January 18th 2017Researchers have found that it is possible to bolster the immunity of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the species that transmits Dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya, against these viruses and effectively suppress its ability to transmit the disease.
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CDC Designates Zika Cautionary Area in Texas
December 26th 2016On December 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Zika-related travel and testing guidance for Brownsville, Texas and the surrounding area after local officials confirmed 5 cases of the virus linked to local mosquitoes.
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Measles Control & Eradication Efforts Fall Short of 2015 WHA Goals
November 15th 2016A recent analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that strides have been made in the fight against measles; however, the work still falls short of goals set by the World Health Assembly (WHA).
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Was the Zika Outbreak a Product of Climate Change?
September 14th 2016Zika’s history as a “tropical” disease plays into the theory that global warming has played a role in the presence of virus-carrying Aedes Aegypti and Aedes Albopictus mosquitoes, and thus the disease itself, in heretofore “temperate” climates such as the southeastern United States.
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Ongoing Opioid Abuse in US Likely Culprit Behind HIV Clusters
August 11th 2016Collateral damage from the ongoing opioid abuse epidemic in the United States continues to plague many rural communities across the country, with recent reports suggesting it is likely behind clusters of HIV cases in these areas.
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