Information and news about disease category

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Breakthrough Discovered in the Treatment of TB in Children

New findings in tuberculosis among children could mean that diagnosing the disease could be faster, cheaper and more effective for the millions of people infected by the disease each year.

Tuberculosis (TB) is the second largest killer due to a single infectious agent worldwide, only following HIV/AIDS, and is the leading killer of people with HIV. The ones most affected by the disease are low to middle-income countries, where upwards of 95 percent of TB deaths occur.

Developing countries where malnutrition and compromised immune systems affect the overwhelming majority see the most cases of TB. Even though all groups are at risk, children and young adults are at a greater risk of contracting the disease.

The disease is very difficult to diagnose in children — the early symptoms of TB are also present in dozens of other illnesses — and by the time a positive diagnosis is reached, the disease has already spread throughout the lungs, brain and other organs.

In 2012 alone, there were 530,000 cases of TB in children, and out of the children who were HIV-negative, 74,000 died of the disease because of late and improper diagnosis.

A better diagnosis is needed so that doctors can start treating TB earlier (in its early stages) for better chances of overcoming the disease and so children who show false positives for TB do not need to go through unnecessary treatment.

Health staff in several poor countries have been using a standard test for TB which has failed 93 percent of the time, showing false negatives, leaving thousands of infected children untreated.

Recently, after seven years of study and examining the blood of 2,800 children, an international team of researchers discovered that TB can be positively identified by examining 51 genes.

Over 80 percent of cases were discovered positive for TB by examining this specific gene signature. Researchers examined the blood samples to see which genes were activated or suppressed in samples testing positive.

It was found that TB could be distinguished from other diseases in 51 of the 30,000 genes that make up the human genome. A “risk score” was developed from the examination of this gene signature, and when tested, over 80 percent of the samples were accurately diagnosed positive for TB. Tests that were found negative ruled out TB as a diagnosis with just as much accuracy.

“Childhood TB is a major problem in African hospitals. An accurate test for childhood TB would be an enormous breakthrough, enabling earlier diagnosis, reducing long hospital admissions for investigation of TB suspects, and limiting the number of children treated inappropriately,” said head researcher Brian Eley. Eley is part of the University of Cape Town and lead the clinical study in South Africa.

Early, accurate diagnosis of TB would lead to reducing deaths related to TB in children. The discovery of what these 51 key genes demonstrate in relation to TB will help lead the way to a significant global decrease in the disease that currently affects millions.

 — Jerilynn Haddow

Sources: WHO, IRIN Africa, Wellcome
Photo: Blogspot

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Effects of the Waste Problem in Haiti

Haiti is progressively becoming overrun with mountains of waste in the streets because there is absolutely nowhere to put it.

The trash and waste problem in Haiti is an ongoing nightmare for the people living there, with garbage filling the streets. Haiti has few landfills or dumpsters, and there is no apparent place to dispose of its increasing volume of waste.

The problem peaked in 2012, and imported plastic products were banned. These products were blocking drains and paths and clogging the streets so badly that there was flooding.

This flooding problem subsequently destroyed businesses, homes and other property. Stagnant water posed a serious health issue in the most impoverished areas; it allowed mosquitos to flourish and disease to spread.

The smell of the garbage and the poor overall appearance of Haiti (most specifically the capital, Port-Au-Prince) have destroyed the economy and led to extreme decreases in tourism.

In addition to being odorous and detrimental to tourism, decaying waste produces methane gas. When inhaled, this gas can cause serious long-term lung, heart and brain defects.

Most disturbingly, a report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also predicts that waste-generation rates will more than double over the next 20 years in lower-income countries like Haiti, where trash is already so abundant that people have to climb over or wade through it to get anywhere.

This means that the number of people migrating to urban cities such as Port-au-Prince will increase — a population spike that will manifest itself in the production of a proportionate amount of litter in the streets. This transition will require employment of a vital, comprehensive national management plan.

The most logical step to rid cities like Port-Au-Prince in Haiti of waste is recycling.

Volunteers and organizations in Haiti can gather the waste from the streets and exchange the plastics, papers, etc., for cash to help private businesses overseas. In turn, the waste can also be turned into functional packaging for the future use of Haitian companies.

This means Haitians in impoverished areas can exchange their waste both for profit and cleaner streets that will not flood or draw disease-ridden mosquitoes.

Citizens who take the time to make the streets a little cleaner can often make about $52 a week. This is not a bad wage, considering many of the people in Haiti can live off $1 a day. Their aid in cleaning the city will also help eliminate major disease and illness factors in the area.

A plan has been put in place to get more volunteers to join the fight to rid Haiti of waste before its urban areas become overpopulated. The country’s impoverished people can improve their streets, communities, environment and national economy by simply recycling waste products.

– Cara Morgan

Sources: Aid Volunteers, The Guardian
Photo: Idea Peepshow

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Battling the Solomon Islands Diarrhea Outbreak

The nation of Solomon Islands is facing a new and deadly threat after flooding destroyed delicate water infrastructure. The Solomon Islands diarrhea outbreak has already killed 18 people and threatens to claim more lives if measures are not taken soon.

Solomon Islands was decimated in early April by a series of destructive floods. The small nation, located north and east off the coast of Queensland, Australia, saw 60,000 of its residents made homeless by the storms—over 10 percent of its population.

The flood’s direct damage to human life was great enough, but two months later, outbreaks of diarrhea in late May and early June are extending the death toll. The rotavirus, a deadly and highly-contagious virus transmitted by vomit and fecal matter, has claimed victims in six of Solomon Islands’ ten provinces.

The virus is communicable by food, drink and, depending on the sick person’s hygiene, basic physical contact. Those who contract the virus show symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea within 1-3 days of infection.

Though upward of 20,000 children were vaccinated against the rotavirus following April’s flooding, the contamination of Solomon Islanders’ water supply was complete enough that over 1,000 cases of extreme diarrhea have been reported in the past two weeks. Most of the infected are young, and all 18 of the reported deaths have been children under the age of 5.

Rotavirus causes intense diarrhea, which in turn leads to severe dehydration. If untreated, this dehydration can kill. At a certain point, children simply stop drinking water despite their desperate need for it, and proper medical intervention is required to save a child’s life.

Fortunately, UNICEF is fighting the Solomon Islands diarrhea outbreak with two very basic tools: soap and information. The soap is distributed in the hardest-hit areas, and colorful, hand-shaped information cards are also given out. These cards not only emphasize the importance of hand-washing by their shape, but they also contain valuable tips for staying safe and healthy during the outbreak.

Instructions for preventing the spread of the rotavirus include washing hands for at least 10 seconds after using the toilet, before handling or eating food and after caring for or coming into contact with any infected individuals.

Health officials currently do not plan on bringing the rotavirus vaccine back to Solomon Islands. Instead, they predict that proper hygiene should be enough to put an end to the outbreak.

In the meantime, parents who notice signs of illness in their children are urged to bring them to a doctor right away. Doctors can provide a child with oral rehydration salts and zinc tablets, both of which help prevent dehydration and can reverse even severe cases.

However, this safety net may not be so reliable. Dorothy Wickham, correspondent for Radio New Zealand, reports that hospitals in Solomon Islands are becoming overburdened. Doctors may not be able to treat all of the children who are brought in, and epidemiologist Jennie Musto predicts the outbreak could last up to another month.

For now, both parents and aid groups are doing what they can to combat the outbreak and to keep their children safe.

– Patricia Mackey

Sources: World Vision, WHO, Australia Network News, 3 News, Radio New Zealand International, Pacific Scoop
Photo: Parade

Continuing the Cold Chain

According to sociologist Johan Galtung, structural violence occurs when there is a difference between actual reality versus potential reality. If the actual reality is unavoidable, then no violence is present. If the actual state of affairs is avoidable, then violence is present. Today, vaccines exist to prevent diseases such as measles, diphtheria, polio and tuberculosis, yet 2 million people from all over the world die annually from these conditions.

These deaths are not the result of a vaccine shortage, but rather are due to the inability to properly store the vaccines. In order to effectively prevent disease, vaccines need to be stored at very specific temperatures, controlled through refrigeration, from the time they are manufactured to the time of injection. This is typically described as the cold chain, and is difficult to maintain when traveling to more remote regions.

In an attempt to eradicate the structural violence, and in response to an outraged Sean Penn following the death of Oriel, a 15-year-old Haitian boy, by diphtheria, Harvey Rubin, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Pennsylvania, sought to address the problem. Rubin realized how prevalent cell phone towers were around the world and because in developing nations there are often blackouts, telephone companies often provide their own sources of power. After consulting engineer and mathematician Ali Jadbabaie, the two discovered that the power generated from these cell phone towers would be enough to power a refrigerator that could store vaccines. Moreover, the high frequency with which cell towers are distributed provides a chance to prevent the cold chain from breaking. Through delegating responsibilities to a larger team, spearheaded by undergraduate student Alice Conant, their efforts resulted in creating the nonprofit organization Energize the Chain.

Energize the Chain aims to form secure relationships with cell phone companies in order to increase the correlation between the number of cell towers in a given region and the successful preservation of the cold chain. They launched one of their first major projects in Zimbabwe in 2011. By pairing with cell phone company Econet Wireless, they were able to boost the number of viable vaccines that were distributed to 10 villages in Zimbabwe. Additionally, after partnering with the National Healthcare Trust of Zimbabwe, Energize the Chain was able to issue refrigerators that could stay cold for up to 10 days without power in order to maintain the precise temperature of the vaccines. There are currently 110 working sites in Zimbabwe and by December of this year Energize the Chain expects to install 100 more working sites.

By supplying these refrigerators to more rural regions of Zimbabwe, the partnership between Energize the Chain, Econet Wireless and the National Healthcare Trust of Zimbabwe provides greater accessibility to working vaccines. Moreover, the success in Zimbabwe provides the promise for expanding the program to other regions where high mortality rates are caused by an inability to receive necessary, lifesaving vaccinations.

– Jordyn Horowitz

Sources: Philly, Energize The Chain, Econet Wireless, JPR
Photo: All Africa

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Polio Revisited

The date is August 24. The year is 1960. A vaccine for polio is licensed for use in the United States for the first time. Nineteen years later, after a widespread campaign for immunization, the disease is completely eliminated from the U.S.

The year is 1988. The United Nation’s World Health Assembly has launched a campaign to eradicate polio globally. During that year there were 350,000 cases of polio. By 2012, that number dropped to 223. It was a disease that scourged millions. For the first time since the eradication of small pox, we had the power to eradicate a disease from the entire planet that has affected human beings, sometimes leading to paralysis and death, for thousands of years.

Despite a few sporadic cases elsewhere, the disease was mostly contained to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. However, in 2013, two years into the Syrian Civil War, polio reappeared in Syria for the first time in 15 years. And now, for the first time since before mass vaccination efforts began, the disease is now gaining ground.

Recording an exact number of cases is tricky, particularly in a war zone, but several sources on the ground in Syria place the number above 100. The World Health Organization has taken a more conservative stance at around 25, but any number of cases could have devastating global consequences.

Polio spreads rapidly, but most who contract it never show any symptoms. Instead, they remain carriers for the duration that the disease incubates in their body. Therefore, doctors suggest that for every one symptomatic case, there could be 200 people infected.

Some estimates are much higher. With that in mind, we don’t need exact numbers to know that any number of new documented polio cases is a threat.

According to the U.N., during the course of the Syrian Civil War approximately 2.5 million refugees have fled Syria to neighboring countries. These countries are mainly Syria’s immediate neighbors; Turkey, Iraq, Jordon and Lebanon. With so many people fleeing Syria, polio could spread with them, and what was once a national crisis could become a regional one in much the same way the war itself has spread to other countries.

And in a world as globalized as ours, the potential impact of this resurgence could reverberate to the U.S.

This scenario is an immediate and physical example of how what happens outside our borders and across oceans has a direct impact on American lives. In times of war, formerly robust food and medical facilities often shut down, sometimes as collateral damage, at other times as a means to intentionally damage an enemy. But under any circumstances, when disease spreads, nobody wins. The year is 2014, and we are now in danger of revisiting a disease that we came within the final steps of eradicating a few short years ago.

– Julian Mostachetti

Sources: ABC News(1), ABC News(2), BBC, The History of Vaccines, Migration Policy Centre, New York Books
Photo: Tribune

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Trash Selfies in Tunisia

The selfie took the world by storm, spreading like a virus across social media platforms. The term often carries a negative connotation in many contexts, reflecting a sense of heightened narcissism brought on by the digital age.

However, even viral trends like the selfie can be turned around and used for productive and positive reasons.

A new selfie phenomenon is catching on in Tunisia for a very unique reason. It involves citizens taking snapshots of themselves with piles of trash in the background with the fitting title, “trash selfie.”

About two months ago, Tunisians began taking the trash selfie and posting it to Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #SelfiePoubella (#trashselfie). The photos are aimed at raising awareness of the excessive garbage and pollution currently plaguing the country.

The revolution in Tunisia left much of the country destroyed and many areas have yet to see proper repair and reform. As the political system works to restore order, public services have fallen behind. People are simply throwing their trash on the streets on top of piles that remain untouched.

Many Tunisian neighborhoods are riddled with rubbish, raising several health concerns. Aside from the smell alone, mosquito infestations and unsanitary conditions raise the risk of disease. Pollution-related diseases, such as asthma, are also increasing in the area.

The government has failed to properly respond to the crisis up until now. Tunisians are taking the trash selfie to social media platforms as a way to galvanize government response. As a result, Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa is currently working up a plan and intends to increase funding to the most problematic areas.

The waste treatment crisis is not limited to Tunisia alone, however. Trash in public areas has become a facet of life in much of the Middle East and North Africa region as the result of the Arab Spring.

The Arab Spring erupted in Tunisia in 2010 as a result of Twitter advocacy. The platform was critical to revolutionary communication throughout the conflict, as the entire world tuned in to a live-tweeted revolution. Social websites and mobile devices served as an effective way to voice the concerns of a people and push for political change.

Countries like Tunisia show the true potential of the Internet for uniting people over a cause they believe in. Middle Easterners have taken up a public voice on social platforms for real and necessary reform, and it seems they will continue to use it this way.

– Edward Heinrich

Sources: Green Prophet, Global Voices Online, PRI
Photo: Global Voices Online

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Poverty in French Guiana

Poverty in French Guiana
French Guiana is a small country with an estimated population of 270,000. It is located in South America, bordering Brazil and Suriname. It is a territory of France and therefore follows the French legal system. This means that it follows the French Constitution and is ruled by the French government. Officially, it is called a French Overseas Department.

Poverty in French Guiana is an interesting topic because so little is reported and few people are interested. It can be easy to focus on the largest populations in poverty in Africa or India, so much so that smaller countries are forgotten. This should not be the case, as all people deserve the right to escape poverty.

The lack of awareness for poverty in French Guiana is highlighted by the mere fact that statistics and data on this subject are hard to find. Since it is a French territory and technically considered part of France, global statistics from the United Nations or the World Bank are not often given for French Guiana individually. This signifies the relative unimportance of French Guiana among the international community. From the little information there is come these poverty facts from French Guiana:

  • In 2010, the unemployment rate was 30.5 percent; it was higher for women, at 36 percent.
  • 26.5 percent of households are below the poverty line.
  • The infant mortality rate in 2008 – 2010 was 11.6 per 1,000 live births.
  • Malaria is endemic, with 3,345 cases in 2009. Yellow fever and Dengue are also endemic.
  • A 2006 study showed that French Guiana has the highest rate of HIV infections in France, with 308 per million inhabitants, as opposed to 150 in the Ile de France region (the wealthiest region in metropolitan France.)
  • Food and living expenses are high because the country imports 90 percent of consumable goods from metropolitan France.
  • Only 7.8 percent of the population held university diplomas in 2010.
  • Only 27.9 percent of households had enough money to be taxed in 2010.

These facts may seem disjointed and random, but that is exactly how information relating to poverty in French Guiana is presented. There is little to no comprehensive data on this tiny French overseas territory, at least in the English language. Most of the raw data was taken from the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. The data is only available in French, which makes a global discussion of this issue difficult.

Who is going to care about this small community? With so little international discussion on poverty in French Guiana, it will be difficult to rally people around the cause. Action needs to be taken by the French government to fix the high rates of unemployment, infectious disease endemics, HIV rates and poverty levels. It is the responsibility of the French people to appease their government to do the right thing and help French Guiana out of poverty.

– Eleni Marino

Sources: United Nations, Phrase Base, Conseil National Du Sida, The Guardian, INSEE

Photo: PIB

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Obesity As Top Global Health Concern

In the 1950s, there were approximately 700 million people living in hunger, while the number of obese people was around 100 million, and a majority of the cases were found in countries with strong economies. Today, however, that is no longer the case.

In 2010, the number of hungry people in the world had slowly risen to 800 million while the number of obese citizens in the world sharply rose to 1.4 billion.

According to a documentary, “Globeisty: Fat’s New Frontier,” there has been not one country with a low or moderate income that has managed to reduce its number of hungry citizens without rapidly jumping to obesity.

However, obesity is not just limited to developed nations. Currently, there are more obese people in developing countries than there are people suffering from hunger in the same countries.

It is predicted that in India, around 100 million people will have diabetes some time in the foreseeable future. Currently, in the U.S. alone, eight obesity-related diseases are the cause for over 75% of healthcare costs. The diseases include, but are not limited to: Type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (or NAFLD), Polycystic ovarian syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer.

One of the leading causes of this rise in obesity is linked to the increase in the consumption of soft drinks. There has been a direct correlation between the rise in obesity rates in developing countries and the sales of soft drinks. In Mexico, the largest consumer of carbonated soft drinks in the world, 71% of women and 65% of men are overweight.

In 1989, Mexico had a miniscule portion of its adult population overweight and had no overweight children. Over the span of 15 to 16 years, the citizens of Mexico have reached a level of diabetes equal to the level the U.S. had 10 to 20 years ago.

However, another leading cause of obesity is consumption of foods filled with carbohydrates. In the 1950s, most of the food globally consumed was locally grown and fresh. Now, the majority of food consumed in developed and developing nations is highly processed and filled with carbohydrates. When a person eats a carbohydrate-heavy meal and fails to move a sufficient enough amount to turn the carbohydrates into energy, they are turned into sugar and fat.

In “The World is Fat,” an article written in 2007, Barry Popkin stated that the “exponential change in a vast array of courses” have led to people moving less and eating more, resulting in an “unprecedented” rise in obesity.

One final cause of obesity can be linked to accessibility of certain types of food, drink and cooking material.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the citizens of China were readily able to access hydrogenated solid oils like Crisco and liquid oils. Now, a Chinese citizen consumes around 300 to 400 of their daily calories from vegetable oil. There has also been an increase in the consumption of dairy products, fish, poultry, beef and pork. In 1974, the price of 100 kilograms of beef was somewhere around $500 in developing nations. Today, the price has dropped to around one-fifth of that number.

There is a movement, though, to try to halt the rise of obesity. In Mexico, special fitness programs are available to try to encourage people to move more. These programs are offered for free to allow anyone who needs it the chance to prevent obesity. The Mexican Minister of Health also has proposed taxing items and taking more aggressive stands toward working to combat obesity.

– Monica Newell

Sources: Scientific American, Epoch Times, The Independent
Photo: SF Gate

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Poliovirus Spreads to Equatorial Guinea

The Polio Global Eradication Initiative announced that “a new wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case was reported in Equatorial Guinea” on April 16 2014.  The country has reported three known cases and due to the genetic sequencing of the virus, health officials believe the virus spread from neighboring country, Cameroon.

This poliovirus outbreak contradicts Equatorial Guinea’s statistics in previous years. The UNICEF Annual Report 2012 for Guinea Bissau declared, “Guinea Bissau has been “polio-free” since 2009…due to vaccination campaigns through child health days and strengthened routine immunization.” According to NPR’s article “Polio Hits Equatorial Guinea, Threatens Central Africa” report, however, the country currently has a vaccination rate of only 39 percent, suggesting that routine immunization programs have decreased since 2009.

Similarly, in Cameroon, the origin of this outbreak, the World Health Organization calculated that 40 percent of children are inadequately vaccinated against the poliovirus. Immunization prevents the spread of the poliovirus, which is an infectious disease with no cure that can cause permanent paralysis. It is communicable via person-to-person contact. Children under the age of 5 are especially susceptible to contracting the virus, making proper immunization campaigns are essential to elimination of an outbreak.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), from January 2014 to April 2014 ten countries reported a total of 61 polio cases.  When an outbreak of the poliovirus began in Cameroon in October 2013, the country conducted immunization campaigns in response. On March 17 2014, however, Cameroon confirmed new cases of the poliovirus.  In the WHO’s “Poliovirus in Cameroon update”, the WHO elevated “the risk assessment of international spread of polio from Cameroon to very high.” Despite the organization’s attempt to contain the outbreak, the poliovirus spread to Equatorial Guinea.

In an April 24, 2014 UNICEF news note, UNICEF Representative in Equatorial Guinea, Dr. Brandão Có, stated, “Stopping the transmission of polio in Equatorial Guinea is a key priority in order to ensure children, families and communities are protected against this terrible and crippling disease that also has enormous social costs.” UNICEF also reported that a campaign to vaccinate 300,000 children against the virus commenced on April 24, 2014.

— Jaclyn Ambrecht

Sources: NPR, Polio Global Eradication Initiative,, UNICEF(1), UNICEF(2), World Health Organization

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Katharine McPhee Fights Malaria with Power of One

In the early 50’s, Malaria was eliminated from the United States. The mosquito-borne disease, which can have fatal outcomes, is still a problem in other parts of the world, however. April 25 is World Malaria Day, which highlights the continued need for support for malaria prevention and treatment, and this year Katharine McPhee is stepping up to help out the cause.

“Every minute, a child dies from malaria. Every minute. That is pretty stunning. If that was happening in the States, there would be action right away. It would be an epidemic,” McPhee said.

Working with Malaria No More’s campaign, Power of One, McPhee is hoping to help prevent the deadly disease in Africa. Malaria No More aims to provide every African family access to the tools needed to prevent and treat malaria in their communities. The organization has provided mosquito nets to 17 African countries, and the Power of One campaign, launched in the fall of 2013, deploys tests and treatments to the area, to reduce deaths of children caused by malaria.

The organization is donation based, and every dollar donated funds a test and treatment for a child with malaria.

“One dollar, one life, it’s so simple,” says the singer-actress. “We’re hoping we can create a malaria-free zone.”

Originally, McPhee learned about the issue of malaria while funding a preschool in Africa. A family friend told her of the need for the school in the Nioko District of Burkina Faso’s capitol, Ouagadougou; through their funding, it was opened in 2009. Through emails with the school’s headmaster she learned of the recurring cases of malaria affecting the staff and students. She decided then to “continue to help” with Malaria No More.

McPhee has travelled to Africa with Malaria No More in 2012, visiting the school she helped build, and distributing mosquito nets to the region.

She also promotes the cause back home, speaking to college students this year about Malaria No More’s cause and how they can help.

“The message is that this is a disease that nobody should be living with, and if they do get infected, it’s curable. They just need the right resources,” McPhee said.

Malaria, when left untreated, is a serious disease that can prove fatal, especially in young children. The World Health Organization estimated that, in 2012, over 200 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide; the cases resulted in 627,000 deaths, almost 90 percent of which occurred in Africa. According to the CDC, however, most malaria deaths can be prevented.

This is why Malaria No More and organizations like it are so important. With World Malaria Day this week, helping to treat the disease and prevent malaria-related deaths is as important as ever, with many opportunities for new donors and volunteers to help out the cause.

To help out, go to www.Po1.org to donate a dollar and fund a test and treatment for a child with malaria.

— Matthew Erickson

Sources: USA Today, Malaria No More, CNN, CDC