Brucellosis

New research [1] launched at the 29th EADV Congress, EADV Virtual, has found that despite the COVID-19 ( SARS-CoV-2 ) lockdown restrictions, diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including gonorrhea, secondary syphilis, and mycoplasma genitalium (MG), have increased. The research, conducted in two main STI centers in Milan, Italy, compared the number of confirmed diagnoses of the most common STIs in patients with symptoms for the period March 15, 2020, to April 14, 2020, following social isolation measures (lockdown) adopted to control the epidemic, with the same period in 2019. The results revealed that despite a reduction in the total number of attendances by over a third (37%, 233 in 2019 vs 147 in 2020), the number of acute bacterial infections, most associated with men who have sex with men (MSM), increased during the observational period, including secondary syphilis and gonorrhea. Cases fell, however, in the non-acute cases, such as genital warts and Molluscu...

Among a cohort of children living in contact with sputum smear-positive adult tuberculosis (TB) patients on Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS), roughly half the children were suffering from tuberculosis or tubercular infection, according to a follow-up study published in BMC Infectious Diseases . During 9 months of follow-up, 22 unaffected children developed disease and 43 acquired infection. Children in this study were aged less than 15 years and were grouped as either less than 6 years of age or 6-14 years of age and further split up into subgroups based on symptoms, tuberculin reaction, and chest X-ray features. A total of 152 children living with 59 adult TB patients on DOTS were recruited; in total, 51% boys and 67% had a bacillus Calmette-Guerin scar. At the time of recruitment, 30 children (23.4%) had tubercular infection (tuberculin skin test positive), and the prevalence was 7 times higher in children aged 6-14 years compared with those aged less than 6 years...

The main parasite that causes malaria can alter its gene expression to survive undetected in the human blood stream, new research has shown. A team of international researchers, including Dr Mario Recker from the University of Exeter, has studied how the parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, can lie seemingly dormant during unfavourable conditions. The study explains how the parasite can remain in a person without showing observable symptoms, before allowing malaria to re-emerge when mosquito populations resurge during the rainy season. The study is published in leading journal Nature Medicine . Malaria is a still a major cause of death in Africa, killing hundreds of thousand people each year, most of whom are children under the age of 5 years. Although the majority of cases occur during the rainy season, due to the abundance of mosquitoes that spread P. falciparum, the ability of the parasite to persist in the human host for long periods of time allows it to bridge the dry period whe...

IMAGE:  A chemist from RUDN University suggested an eco-friendly method for the synthesis of dapsone, a substance that inhibits the growth of malaria and leprosy agents. The main component of the... view more  Credit: RUDN University A chemist from RUDN University suggested an eco-friendly method for the synthesis of dapsone, a substance that inhibits the growth of malaria and leprosy agents. The main component of the new reaction is hydrogen peroxide that does not form environmentally destructive compounds, and the only by-product is simple water. Unlike other technologies, this method includes only one stage of dapsone production and does not require high temperatures. The catalyst of the reaction can be reused without any loss of efficiency. The results of the work were published in the Microporous and Mesoporous Materials journal. Many think of leprosy as a disease of the past; however, about 200 thousand cases of it are registered in the world (mainly in India, ...

And yet, many prominent epidemiologists, public health researchers and physicians are pushing back against the concept. NIH Director Francis Collins condemned conronavirus herd immunity-based responses, calling them “fringe” and “dangerous,” while World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it “scientifically and ethically problematic.” Currently the theory of herd immunity is used in public health settings when immunity can be acquired through a vaccine, such as measles or polio, but not when it requires people to contract a disease to develop immunity. While herd immunity is the theory behind vaccine programs, the concept originated in veterinary medicine and livestock management in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This matters because in this setting, economics rather than ethics served as a guiding force. In some cases, it was cheaper to slaughter diseased or suspected animals to prevent the rest from getting sick than expose an entire h...

“ UpMarketResearch, one of the world’s leading market research firms has rolled out a new report on Chlamydia Infection Diagnostics and Therapeutics market. The report is integrated with crucial insights on the market which will support the clients to make the right business decisions. This research will help both existing and new aspirants for Global Chlamydia Infection Diagnostics and Therapeutics Market to figure out and study market needs, market size, and competition. The report provides information about the supply and demand situation, the competitive scenario, and the challenges for market growth, market opportunities, and the threats faced by key players. The report also includes the impact of the ongoing global crisis i.e. COVID-19 on the Chlamydia Infection Diagnostics and Therapeutics market and what the future holds for it. The pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has landed a major blow to every aspect of life globally. This has lead to various changes in market condition...

At the virtual IDWeek 2020 conference, an interactive session titled "On the Cutting Edge of HIV Prevention" presented an online debate between Douglas Krakower, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and Annie Luetkemeyer, MD of the University of California San Francisco. Luetkemeyer took the "pro" position on using doxycycline as chemoprophylaxis for PrEP users to reduce bacterial STI rates, while Krakower argued the "con" side -- that this use of antibiotics was unnecessary. In this exclusive MedPage Today video, Krakower discusses the rationale both sides presented, and the takeaways from the debate. Following is a transcript of his remarks : I'm Doug Krakower, and I'm going to discuss a debate that we had about whether antibiotic prophylaxis should be given to people using HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis as a way to decrease rates of bacterial sexually transmitted infections in this population. And the debate was between me an...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s chief veterinarian, Dr. Kathy Simmons, issued the following statement in mid-October in response to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announcing draft policy to allow animal health researchers to conduct brucellosis studies on cattle and other large animals that cannot be easily housed indoors: “This announcement is welcome news for cattle producers that face uncertainty from wildlife, infected with brucellosis threatening the well-being of their animals and operations. Thank you to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue, Undersecretary Greg Ibach, and their teams, for developing this framework to advance our ability to control and eradicate brucellosis through improved opportunities to study disease transmission between cattle and wildlife. This expanded research is a good first step and NCBA will continue to work with the Trump administration to further protect producers from threats due to brucellosis.” USDA’...

At the virtual IDWeek 2020 conference, an interactive session titled "On the Cutting Edge of HIV Prevention" presented an online debate between Douglas Krakower, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and Annie Luetkemeyer, MD of the University of California San Francisco. Luetkemeyer took the "pro" position on using doxycycline as chemoprophylaxis for PrEP users to reduce bacterial STI rates, while Krakower argued the "con" side -- that this use of antibiotics was unnecessary. In this exclusive MedPage Today video, Krakower discusses the rationale both sides presented, and the takeaways from the debate. Following is a transcript of his remarks : I'm Doug Krakower, and I'm going to discuss a debate that we had about whether antibiotic prophylaxis should be given to people using HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis as a way to decrease rates of bacterial sexually transmitted infections in this population. And the debate was between me an...

Oct 31st 2020 DAKAR, MAIDUGURI AND THIBA S INCE COVID-19 hit Kenya, Margaret Wanja has accumulated six grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She lives in Thiba, a rice-growing village. Her new brood are all evacuees from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. Many city-dwellers believe it is safer to send their children to rural relatives. Others hope to save money. The pandemic has destroyed jobs and closed schools, where poor children are often given a free lunch. Dispatching kids to the countryside, where it is easier to live off the land, means fewer mouths to feed. Yet there are hidden dangers. The irrigation ditches in Thiba’s paddy fields breed mosquitoes, which transmit malarial parasites from human bloodstream to human bloodstream. So even if there is less coronavirus here than in a city, it is far more dangerous for children. Worldwide, 400,000 people died of malaria in 2018, two-thirds of them children under five. Very few children die of covid-19. To prevent mosquito bites, g...

Peter A. Sands — the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — discussed the global response to the coronavirus pandemic at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics Thursday. Atul Gawande, a surgeon and professor at Harvard Medical School, moderated the talk, entitled “Catalyzing Global Leadership To Contain the Impact of COVID-19.” In 2019, donors to the Global fund pledged $14 billion in the next three years to end epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Sands said the Global Fund allocates aid “by disease burden, and the inverse of ability to pay” — in other words, to the most impoverished countries with the highest rates of disease. It then encourages the countries to use the aid to independently craft a disease prevention plan. “We’re focused much more on prevention because you can't get rid of an epidemic simply by treating the people who get ill. You have to drive the prevention side a bit harder,” Sands said. Based...

Recently, I had the opportunity to share updates about Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America (EHE) during a webinar with the Latino Commission on AIDS in the lead up to the observance of National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day. Below, I’ve summarized a few of the things that we discussed. Disproportionate Impact of HIV in Latino Community Though not news to this audience, we briefly discussed the disproportionate impact of HIV in the Latino community. In 2018, Hispanics/Latinos accounted for 28% of the estimated 36,400 new HIV infections in the United States and 78% of new infections among Hispanics/Latinos were among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. In 2018, the largest percentage of HIV infections among Hispanic/Latino males was among those aged 25–34 years (44%), followed by those aged 13–24 years (22%). However, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use is less common among Hispanic/Latino gay and bisexual men . According to a CDC report, only 21% of HIV...

For the first time in years, rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, which had been on track in 2020 to hit record highs in the United States, have taken an abrupt downturn. This should be good news. The coronavirus pandemic has certainly kept more people away from bars, night clubs and large parties, reducing opportunities for unsafe sex, studies show. But the drop is more likely a harbinger of bad news, experts in reproductive and sexual health believe. They say the pandemic has seriously hindered efforts to mitigate sexually transmitted infections that can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, chronic pain, infertility and even blindness and death in newborns. Rather than showing sexually transmitted diseases are on the run, the upbeat numbers likely signal instead that they are now going largely undetected. In communities across the country, contact tracers for gonorrhea and syphilis, which had already been severely understaffed, have been diverted to Covid-19 cases. Eight...

This year’s annual U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA) concluded on October 21 with a plenary session featuring several federal HIV leaders and I was honored to be included. I am grateful to NMAC for convening this conference virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling the community along with federal and state partners to continue to share important information, strategies, and experiences about HIV, sexually transmitted infections, viral hepatitis, leadership, and race. Following are some highlights of what I shared with the participants. Status and Next Steps for the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative Naturally, participants wanted to know about the status of Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America (EHE) given all that has happened this year and what lies ahead for this national initiative. I reiterated that EHE remains a priority at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and that its agencies and offices are moving forward with implementation activities. Som...

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has unveiled a new online reporting tool for people to report any sightings of feral swine or damage they cause. Feral swine, also called wild boar and feral hogs, are an invasive species that cause significant damage to the environment. Opportunistic feeders, feral swine will eat almost anything. While foraging, feral swine root into and turn up the soil, causing extensive damage to landscaping, stream banks, lawns, and agricultural fields. They also eat snakes, turtles, lizards, the eggs and young of ground nesting birds like quail and turkey, and white-tailed deer fawns. “Simply put, feral swine are invasive and undesirable as free-ranging animals on North Carolina’s landscape,” said Falyn Owens, Wildlife Commission biologist. “Unfortunately, illegal releases continue to supplement the growing population, making control of these destructive animals challenging. Wildlife Commission biologists, along with other members of the N.C. Feral S...