Information and news about disease category

Mine Sniffing Rats, the Future of Detection?

Mine-Sniffing-Rats
An unlikely candidate to saving lives comes to mind when looking at the Gambian pouched rat. Almost blind, but with an extraordinarily strong sense of smell, these rats can detect the most minute odors that can lead to saving human lives.

With this unique sense of smell, these rats in rural Africa are being trained to detect land mines in Africa that are remnants of civil war. Being light enough to not trigger the mines, these rats can sweep over a minefield quicker and more effectively in two hours than the traditional 2-3 days through the human method of metal detectors.

Mine-laying became a common military practice in the late 1970s, and while thousands of mines may have been laid, very few were actually detonated during wars. In countries like Cambodia, mines that have been unaccounted for have have lead to 64,00 casualties since 1979, as well as 25,000 people living with amputations.

As land mines are a hidden threat, they pose a danger to unsuspecting passersby; children on their way to school, and men and women just doing their daily tasks, can all be susceptible to this realistic terror. This is why training the Gambian rats is so useful and important to these rural areas.

With this keen sense of smell, researchers have found that they can not only detect the minute smells of land mines, but can also detect diseases like tuberculosis faster and cheaper than with a laboratory microscope. The rats are able to do this by smelling the bacteria that lives within an infected person.

This amazing realization has saved thousands of dollars for developing countries as the World Health Organization’s current endorsed detection machinery, which costs $17,000 with each individual test requiring $17 for equipment.

Studies have recently suggested that the Gambian pouched rat can do even better. With its keen, sensitive sense of smell and ability to be trained, the future possibilities for the functionality of this amazing animal are astounding.

– Alysha Biemolt

Sources: NYTimes, NYTimes, Child Fund
Photo: Mirror

, ,

Can the Measles Vaccine Ward Off ‘Immune Amnesia’?

measles_vaccine
Scientists are speculating that the measles vaccine does more than prevent measles. A new study published in the journal “Science” found that children that were vaccinated did not just avoid the measles, they also eluded infectious illnesses such as pneumonia, influenza and tuberculosis.

Historically, each time the measles vaccine was introduced, childhood mortality dramatically went down by 30 to 50 percent in some countries and by 90 percent in severely destitute nations.

Today the vaccine is hailed as one of the most effective operations in public health in recent history.

The World Health Organization has asserted that the vaccine is linked to a hefty decrease in child mortality no matter what the infectious illness is. Following widespread vaccination, childhood deaths due to infectious disease fall by 50 percent.

Michael Mina is a post-doctorate at Princeton University and a medical student at Emory University. He and his team performed a recent study using computer models to predict the mortality rate for infectious diseases in the next few years.

The team looked at figures collected from the U.S, Denmark, England and Wales. Numbers dated back to the 1940s.

In every location, the presence of measles was linked by some degree to the rate of mortality. The magnitude of the affect was different for each country because, most likely, health care underwent changes during the 70-year stretch.

From the evidence, Mina and his colleagues concluded that being infected with measles leaves children susceptible to other infectious diseases for an average time span of 28.3 months, or about two or three years.

Measles is a severe immunosuppressor, increases a host’s likelihood of contracting other diseases. Most viruses have this effect, but measles takes it even further. It actually obliterates any immunity the host once had.

After going through a measles infection, “the immune system kind of comes back. The only problem is that it has forgotten what it once knew,” Mina explains.

For example, if a child gets sick with pneumonia, they build up antibodies which prevent the child from contracting the disease again. But if that child then catches the measles, their immune system loses that protection and they could contract pneumonia once more.

Persuasive evidence from the new study contributes to the belief that measles affects a person’s immunity and, therefore, their overall mortality. Thus, the measles vaccine could decrease mortality to a much larger degree than originally thought.

Still, scientists still have not been able to supply enough evidence as to why this phenomenon happens. They have only come up with “immune amnesia” as a theory. There is still more testing to be done.

Even so, no one can ignore the overwhelming evidence that eliminating measles lessens the risk of contracting other infectious diseases. It is just another incentive for people, especially children, to be vaccinated.

Reductions in mortality have been observed in the U.S., England and other parts of Europe and are still seen in developing countries each time the vaccine is instituted.

– Lillian Sickler

Sources: NPR, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Research Gate, Online Post, ARS Technical
Photo: Flickr

,

How Cellphones are Fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa

cellphones
For the 23.8 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa, there are two realities. The first is the reality of the disease, which kills over one million people in Africa per year and requires treatment. The second is the stigma surrounding the disease, which itself creates a major social barrier to treatment. This stigma creates the need for patients to be able to seek treatment while protecting their privacy.

Cellphones provide a great opportunity to fill this need.

Mobile health, or mHealth, is the term used to describe the growing number of health services offered on cell phones. mHealth platforms have been particularly common in Africa due to a demand for services and Africa’s status as the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world.

mHealth has been shown to be effective in a variety of contexts. For HIV/AIDS patients, it can be greatly effective due to the variety of services offered to both patients and health care providers.

South Africa’s HIV Confidant, developed by Dimagi, is one such service. According to Dimagi’s website, the service seeks to provide “confidential distribution of the results of HIV testing” in South Africa. This a particularly difficult to accomplish in rural regions.

Along with securely distributing results of testing, HIV Confidant also allows patients to receive counseling on their infection status without sending in a second sample.

With studies finding that over 80 percent of patients are comfortable using mobile devices to manage their HIV treatment, services such as HIV Confidant provide a valuable service to patients concerned with anonymity and the stigma surrounding infection.

Programs focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention education are valuable in engaging communities. In addition to focusing on data collection and treatment adherence, Uganda’s eMOCHA program focuses intently on education, allowing it to address contributing trends to HIV/AIDS such as IV drug use.

Though mHealth symptoms are valuable tools in managing HIV/AIDS in Africa, they are not without their faults. The programs have been criticized by some as unlikely to reach certain at-risk groups, such as drug users, who are significantly less likely to own a cell phone. In addition, the cost of airtime currently makes the engagement of these programs difficult for patients living in poverty.

Despite these limiting factors, the growth of mobile phones in Africa creates hope that mHealth could become an important tool in the battle against AIDS. Perhaps the greatest challenge for mHealth platforms going forward then is ensuring that these valuable tools of defense against HIV/AIDS are available for those most at risk.

– Andrew Michaels

Sources: UNAIDS, DoSomething.org, IRIN, oAfrica, Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education, Dimagi
Photo: mHealth Blog

, , ,

Children in Yemen at Risk for Epidemic

Children-in-Yemen-at-risk-for-Epidemic
With the outbreak of conflict in Yemen, health centers have to shut down. Forces continue to attack hospitals and health care centers. There are medical shortages as the conflict hinders the delivery of medical supplies. As a result, children cannot receive the crucial vaccines and treatments they need to fight communicable diseases.

Vaccines save 2.5 million children worldwide from preventable diseases. Without basic vaccines, about 1.5 million children die. There are already cases of Measles reported in Yemen. Doctors are worried about reports of other diseases like Polio. If children in Yemen continue to not receive the vaccines, then these two diseases could continue to spread.

Parents are hesitant to take their children to health care centers to get the vaccines because the centers continue to be targets for attack, and because just getting there is dangerous. That leaves the health workers going into the field to vaccinate children. This can make it difficult to properly track how much of the child population has been vaccinated.

Another often overlooked aspect of vaccinating children is the protection of the vaccines themselves. Doctors have to make sure that vaccine centers maintain a supply of the vaccines needed. However, the conflict can make it difficult for WHO officials to deliver the medical supplies to the vaccine centers. Fuel shortages also cause problems, as there needs to be enough to ensure that the vaccines have the proper cold chain needed.

Issues like this can limit the number of children that can be reached and vaccinated. If supplies cannot be replenished or maintained, then it becomes difficult to keep children safe from diseases.

Contributing to the issue is food insecurity. Before the civil war, Yemen was already importing most of its food. Now, with conflict preventing food from being delivered, Yemen is struggling to feed its people. Without the nutrients to stay healthy and prevent malnutrition, the children’s immune systems are at a higher risk for contracting diseases.

Diseases could spread rapidly, as children in Yemen do not have access to enough food and clean water, people live in close proximity in refuge areas, and there is limited health access. The WHO workers try to combat the spread with consistent monitoring of medical supplies and going out and finding those who need the vaccines.

– Katherine Hewitt

Sources: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UN News Centre, World Health Organization,
Photo: Twitter

Remember Ebola?

Remember-Ebola
The buzz surrounding Ebola started to die down after an update declaring a ten-month low of a reported nine cases, and as transcontinental infection was scarce. Although newer and flashier news stories have taken over, and Ebola started to disappear from the public eye, Ebola may be making a harsh comeback in coming months. With the onset of the rainy season in West Africa, new challenges arise in controlling the Ebola outbreak.

Since the ten-month low, transmission intensity and geographical span have increased despite rigorous efforts to control the disease. The main challenges have been identifying sources and community engagement, where there is still widespread resistance to the efforts. Officials are not largely concerned with the rainy season bringing increased transmission rates and more reported cases, but are concerned with the complications in their efforts at combating the disease.

The rainy season in West Africa brings with it higher prevalence of diseases, such as Malaria, that induce similar symptoms to Ebola. As more people exhibit these symptoms, more people need to be treated as though they may have the Ebola virus, meaning that more people will need to be tested for it. The rain also creates concern over infrastructure and travel, which could hinder efforts in the fight against Ebola.

Many experts in the field had hoped for and urged efforts to get the Ebola outbreaks under control before the rainy season began, and it seemed feasible to do so. The recent increases in transmission come as a disappointment and as a source of well-founded worry. While the public may have shifted gears and moved on from Ebola, health-care workers are shifting gears to be even more vigilant and intense to find those last strains of transmission. The World Health Organization has faced new challenges in the fight against Ebola, and will prevail through the challenges that the rainy season brings.

Even more fear arises from the fact that after reports of low transmission, and as the countries largely affected by the outbreak started to regain normalcy, many international actors backed out of the area. With new causes for concern and a need for increased testing coming with the rainy season, the foreign aid and international health workers are needed again, and soon.

Ebola infections are still more concentrated and more under control than at the start of the outbreak in December 2013, and with the new rainy season perhaps the increased testing will finally bring the last of the transmission chains to light.

– Emma Dowd

Sources: Sierra Leone Times, CIDRAP, UN
Photo: Mirror

, ,

Cholera Outbreak in Burundi Refugee Camp

cholera outbreakThe Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that over 105,000 Burundian people have crossed the border to find sanctuary from politically-driven violence in Burundi’s capital city, Bujumbura.

The Burundian political sphere was rattled in late April when President Pierre Nkurunziza was nominated by the CNDD-FDD party to serve a third term, which his political opponents believe to be unconstitutional. As a result of the debate, Bujumbura was flooded with protests in the following weeks, culminating in a short-lived coup d’état on May 13.

Despite the coup d’état ceasing within 24 hours, violence continued into the rural regions, threatening a large majority of rural Burundian people. The Imbonerakure tribe ravaged towns by marking red paint on the houses of those who they intended to kill, causing thousands of families to flee the country.

UNHCR correspondent Adrian Edwards reported, “Many of these [people] have crossed into Rwanda (25,004), but over the last week we have also seen a sharp increase in people seeking asylum in Tanzania (17,696) after entry restrictions there were lifted. In addition, almost 8,000 people have crossed into South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In all these cases, women and children, including a large number of unaccompanied children, are in the majority.”

The reported number of 17,000 seeking refuge in Tanzania has since increased to over 70,000. A large majority of those traveling to Tanzania have landed in Kagunga, a border village on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. This small village can only be reached by boat, due to a treacherous mountain range surrounding the village on the Tanzanian side.

This small village quickly reached its maximum capacity, and the Burundian people have been crammed into short-stocked refugee camps, without adequate sleeping space, food or sanitation. These refugee camps are overwhelmed by the rapid out-pour of people. As a result, a recent cholera outbreak has infiltrated the water supply, killing as many as 31 refugees in the past few weeks and causing acute diarrhea in 3,000 more.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is working to open re-hydration checkpoints and cholera treatment centers in both Kagunga and Kigoma. Refugees are currently being fast-tracked to Kigoma, where there have been no reported cases of cholera. The transfer of pregnant women, children, the elderly and the sick is a top priority.

In Kigoma, local aid has assembled a sort of “pit stop” location where refugees can stay a few days while being registered and receiving medical care before being transferred to another refugee camp called Nyarugusu. With the help of UNHCR and other contributors, more than 18,000 refugees have been safely moved to Nyarugusu so far.

Regarding the Cholera outbreak, MSF stated, “Epidemics tend to occur where living conditions are poor: where there is overcrowding, inadequate access to safe drinking water or proper latrines and insufficient rubbish collection. Improved hygiene practices and treatment are important components of the cholera response. The provision of safe water and effective sanitation remain essential during all outbreaks.”

– Hanna Darroll

Sources: MSF, UNHCRInternational Business Times
Sources: BBC, MSF
Photo: The Guardian

,

The Causes of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis

drug_resistant_tuberculosis
In 2013, five percent of global tuberculosis cases were known as multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. MDR TB is a form of tuberculosis that does not respond to the standard first-line drugs of Isoniazid and Rifampicin, which are used to treat TB.

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is on the rise around the world. There are 27 high MDR TB burden countries. A large majority of these are also high burden countries for regular TB as well. MDR TB rates are extremely high in Eastern Europe, where as many as 28 percent of new TB cases are MDR. Two countries, India and China, carry the most incidences of MDR TB.

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis is a man-made problem created by inadequate or improper administration of TB drugs. Because of the length of treatment required for TB, improper drug use is common. As patients start to feel better, they stop taking their medication. The TB bacteria are still not eradicated from the body so the TB builds resistance to the first-line drugs that the patient has already taken. When the patients fall ill again, their TB strain will not only not respond to first line drugs, it will be highly contagious.

Weak TB control programs at the country-level contribute to drug resistance because they allow for improper TB treatment. Because of the risk that patients will not finish the TB treatment cycle, TB control programs are designed to create a system of observation by health professionals that insures proper treatment. However, countries with low health infrastructure and limited resources cannot follow the progress of every TB patient.

A growing concern is not the new instances of MDR TB cases but the infectiousness of the people who already have it. Because TB disproportionately affects the poor, who live in crowded, unsanitary conditions, the threat of contagion is much greater. This is especially true in high-burden countries like India and China, where the living conditions of the poor are extremely crowded.

The treatment for MDR TB is extremely expensive and much harder to access. The treatment cycle can last upward of two years and includes a daily injection for a period of six months, increasing the risk of patients not finishing the treatment even more than regular TB treatment. Patients who do not finish treatment create resistance to the second-line drugs.

A new phenomenon emerging is an extremely drug resistant, or XDR, strain of TB. XDR TB cases only make up five percent of MDR TB cases. XDR TB is resistant to any fluoroquinolon, at least one of three second-line drugs and both first-line drugs. Research and infrastructure dealing directly with XDR TB are very limited and resource consuming. For least-developed and developing countries with limited medical resources, XDR TB is almost impossible to treat.

– Caitlin Huber

Sources: E-Medicine Health TB Alliance, WHO
Photo: The Guardian

Dengue Fever in Asia

Dengue Fever Mosquito
Dengue fever has caused mayhem in developing countries, with over 2.5 billion people in the world at risk for infection. The World Health Organization estimates that anywhere from 50-100 million people are affected yearly, showing an increase of incidence rates in the last few decades.

Dengue fever is a mosquito-born viral infection often found in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Today, the disease is endemic in more than 100 countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Western Pacific. In 2010, cases in Southeast Asia, the Americas and Western Pacific accumulated to 2.3 million, and this number is only rising.

Incidence rates are not only going up, but there have been recent outbreaks in Europe, including Croatia, France and Portugal, that are concerning to neighboring countries.

However, there is no region that has been quite affected by dengue fever than Asia. Southern China is experiencing one of the worst outbreaks of dengue fever in the last 20 years, with more than 1,000 reported cases emerging daily. In October, it was reported that there had been six deaths and over 21,000 infections in Guangdong province.

Malaysia and Taiwan have also experienced more deaths in 2014 than previous years, while Japan suffered its first outbreak of dengue since 1945. Twenty-two cases had been confirmed in Japan, with the health ministry believing visitors to Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park were the first to contract the disease.

Another study illustrated that dengue fever rates in India may actually be 300 times more than what has been officially reported, costing the country around $548 million annually.

With no approved vaccine, dengue fever is difficult to treat. The disease causes severe joint and muscle pain, but does not usually result in fatalities. According to WHO, the only way to prevent the transmission of dengue fever is to fight vector mosquitos. Some ways to do so include disposing waste properly, using personal household protection such as window screens and cleaning water storage containers.

The Government of Japan is taking all necessary precautions to combat the disease, especially in Yoyogi Park, by putting up warning signs, spraying insecticide and draining ponds. Japan has also set up a hotline specifically for dengue fever cases. These precautionary methods will hopefully decrease the transmission of dengue fever in Asia.

– Leeda Jewayni

Sources: World Health Organization, CNN BBC
Photo: North Jersey

,

Senegal Fights Ebola With Text Messages

ebola
In late August, Senegal’s first case of Ebola was confirmed in a man who had previous direct contact with a patient in Guinea and then traveled to Dakar, the capital city of Senegal. In collaboration with the World Health Organization, the Government of Senegal took immediate measures to stop the virus dead in its tracks.

Nearly 5,000 people have died from the Ebola virus and over 10,000 people have been infected. To prevent the spread of Ebola within Senegal, the Ministry of Health sent out over 4 million SMS messages to the general population warning of the new Ebola case and ways to individually prevent the contraction of the virus. The messages, based off a social campaign previously used for diabetes, were sent to citizens in Dakar and Saint-Louis, another heavily populated region in the country. The SMS campaign entailed multiple partnerships with local mobile phone companies and urged people to contact health authorities with news of anyone showing signs of fever and bleeding by calling the number provided. The messages received were then broadcast in large public events, such as sports games and rallies.

Dr. Mbayange Ndiaye Niang, a project leader at the Ministry of Health, says the “SMS campaign was part of a much larger national project in Senegal focused on awareness, prevention and care for people with Ebola.” Other awareness methods included flyers, radio announcements and messages posted on government websites. Washing hands regularly and avoiding contact with infected persons and animals was heavily reinforced.

The SMS campaign was extremely successful and, to date, there has only been one Ebola case in Senegal. The efficient and quick reaction by the Ministry of Health was possible due to the existing platform designed to help people manage their diabetes, called mDiabetes. The campaign began during the holy month of Ramadan, where fasting elevated risks associated with having diabetes. By registering with the program, persons with diabetes could receive free tips and advice via text messages on how to control problems associated with fasting. Thus, when Ebola reached Senegal, the government already had mechanisms in place to send text messages on a large scale.

The SMS campaign in Senegal proves that the technology platform can present an opportunity to target awareness on any disease, ranging from HIV/AIDS to the flu. In a world where phones and mobile devices have taken over all forms of paper, governments should invest in more technology-based initiatives.

– Leeda Jewayni

Sources: World Health Organization, UN Multimedia

Photo: Text Magic

, , ,

How Americans Take in Media Coverage

media coverage
In the current struggle against Ebola, the American public seems to care more about the threat to themselves than those already affected. In an era of decreased attention and increased media coverage the plight of the impoverished is often overlooked by the impatience of western readership.

On July 12, 1968, TIME Magazine published a head-turning cover story on starving children in the Biafran civil war. The pleading eyes of two children stared the world in the face, challenging every reader to pause and consider their predicament.

And consider it they did: individuals, foreign governments and charity organizations flooded West Africa with millions of dollars in relief funds.

The 2014 parallel to the Biafran War is Ebola. The virus’s meteoric rise to the forefront of every news program is challenging the way Americans intake news. The self-centered tone that clouds American media has turned the crisis into a threat to the American public.

But is it really an immediate terror? At the end of the day most would choose to watch a news segment and then change the channel, leaving Ebola to those in hazmat suits.

Curiosity in African crises rises and falls with the course of events such as the Rwandan genocide or Sudanese civil war. Interest swells as death tolls rise and accordingly subsides as the conflict calms.

In the case of Biafra, children’s hunger was the subject of years of aid and public interest. In the nearly 50 years since Biafra, the western public has continued this predictable pattern of temporary fascination with the impoverished. But this pattern is changing quickly. Where we once followed crises for years, we now spend only weeks.

Four months ago, the international terrorist group Boko Haram abducted almost 300 girls from primary schools in Northern Nigeria. Yet since the initial release of the Internet campaign #bringbackourgirls, the world has turned away from the issue in favor of more exciting news. More than 200 girls remain missing and Boko Haram is still at large. Similarly, the #stopkony2012 movement that went viral seemingly overnight received an underwhelming response from the American public when it came time to take action.

With the media coverage of the Ebola epidemic continuing to focus on American safety, how will those in the midst of the outbreak receive the help they so desperately need?

– Rourke Healey

Sources: Old Life Magazines, New York Times, Web TV
Photo: Afrocentric Confessions