Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy

A  roundup of news on drug resistance and other topics in global health.

CDDEP has begun work on The Lancet Commission for Investing in Health, a project that brings together distinguished experts from a range of disciplines to revisit the conclusions of the World Bank’s World Development Report ‘93. Read more about the project here.

A strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) known as MRSA ST398 discovered recently in UK milk supplies points to the spread of resistant bacteria in livestock, a problem linked to increased use of antibiotics in farm animals. [Independent]

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently published their revised report on healthcare-associated infections. (Full report here.) [Piper Report]

According to research published in the journal PLoS One, while wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) greatly reduce the number of Pseudomonas aeruginosa released by hospitals, antibiotic-resistant strains of the pathogen are still found in the water downstream and constitutes “a potential risk of environmental contamination.”

A Wall Street Journal article lists the year’s top ten innovations that are improving patient care. [WSJ]

An article in The Guardian discusses the complexities surrounding the prevalence of fake and substandard malaria drugs in Tanzania and Uganda, the countries with the highest number of malaria cases in the world. [The Guardian]

A new study published in the journal PLoS One indicates that dried leaves from Artemisia annua plant may be more effective in treating malaria than purified artemisinin . [Discovery]

An article reviewing the top ten food safety stories of 2012 lists the termination of United States Department of Agriculture’s 11-year-old Microbiological Data Program as the most important story. [Food Safety News]

A USA Today cover story details the risks of unsafe medical injections on patient safety and the efforts to solve the problem of unsafe injections. [USA Today]

Vector-borne and parasitic diseases (VBPDs) have “systematically affected economic development,” and their burden is determined by the underlying ecological conditions, according to a new study published in the journal PLoS Biology. [Science Daily]

A World Health Organization (WHO) slideshow reviews the key global public health issues of 2012. [WHO]

Research published in the journal Surgery concludes that preventable errors or surgical ‘never events’ as they are called happen every week in the US and “are exacting a serious toll on patients and the health care system.” [Futurity]

According to a University of Maryland (UMD) press release, with two new NIH awards, UMD researchers plan to track the spread of artemisinin-resistant malaria in Myanmar.

Image via markhillary/Flickr

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