Global Health

collab.nlm.nih.gov - NLM - NIH - Presentations in Medicine for High School Students - April 2016 - Published May 9, 2016

Dr. Gavin Macgregor-Skinner talks to students in a National Library of Medicine Distance Learning Program about the Zika virus and how information technology can be used in efforts to combat it.

Presentations in Medicine for High School Students

http://collab.nlm.nih.gov/webcastsandvideos/drew/presentationsinmedicine.html

Video Presentation - Zika Virus - Fight the Bite

http://collab.nlm.nih.gov/webcastsandvideos/drew/gavin%20macgregor-skinner%202016/gavin%20macgregor-skinner%202016.html

Video Presentation - YouTube - Zika Virus - Fight the Bite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9quox7im_8&sns=em

Slideshow - Zika Virus - Fight the Bite (36 page .PDF file)

FILE - Laboratory technicians develop a technology to mass produce Ebola vaccine, Aug. 14, 2014.

voanews.com - by William Eagle - May 7, 2016

The United States remains by far the most important source of funds for medical research and development for scores of diseases well-known to the developing world.

According to the latest available data from the independent research group Policy Cures, global donors contributed over $2 billion in public funding for research into what the medical community calls neglected diseases. The U.S. government accounted for over 70 percent of the amount.

But a new report from the Global Health Technologies Coalition, a group of nonprofits that promotes creation of vaccines and other tools to improve global health, says that over the past five years, funding has largely been flat. This is in contrast to the first decade of the 21st century, which saw a doubling of financial support. . . .

. . . The GHTC report asks the U.S. government to encourage private sector involvement in R&D with prizes, small-business innovation awards, tax credits and other incentives. It also recommends improved cooperation among the seven U.S. agencies involved in global health.

Dengue-infected tissue - CDC; Frederick Murphy, Cynthia Goldsmith

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Dengue Virus Antibodies Enhance Zika Virus Infection

Previous flavivirus infection could help explain the severity of symptoms in some people infected during the ongoing Zika outbreak, researchers report.

The Scientist - by Tanya Lewis - April 28, 2016

Scientists at Florida Gulf Coast University and their colleagues have found that human cells were more likely to be infected with Zika virus in vitro if they contained antibodies to dengue virus. Their findings, detailed Monday (April 25) in a bioRxiv preprint, could help explain why Zika infection appears to be more severe in areas where dengue is endemic, and points to a potential unintended effect of dengue vaccination.

Antibodies to dengue can increase the virus’s infectivity for certain types of immune cells through a process called antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), resulting in the production of more virus and more severe illness.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Monrovia – Liberia’s and Guinea’s last known Ebola patients in a latest flare-up of the disease that hit both countries have now been discharged. All remaining contacts of confirmed cases that were placed under a 3-week period of medical monitoring have been cleared.

Liberia’s Ministry of Health, WHO and partners involved in the response held a ceremony at the Ebola treatment facility in Monrovia to celebrate the recovery and discharge of a 2-year-old boy, the final patient in the flare-up in Liberia. 

His 5-year-old brother recovered a week earlier. On 29 April, the country also began a 42-day period of increased surveillance – amounting to two 21-day incubation cycles of the virus.