June 25, 2018
Adel Mahmoud, global health leader and Princeton faculty member. Adel Mahmoud, a beloved leader in global public health, has died. Professor Mahmoud served on CDDEP’s board between 2012 and 2017, and became board chair in 2014. Among other accomplishments, he was responsible for bringing HPV and rotavirus vaccines to market in his role as the President of Merck Vaccines. He became a medical doctor in his home country of Egypt and pursued a PhD in parasitology in London before relocating to Ohio, where he did postdoctoral research at Case Western Reserve University. [Princeton, New York Times]
A vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus would prevent 100,000 child deaths per year. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes acute lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children but a vaccine has been elusive. Of nineteen vaccine candidates examined in a recent review article, some are based on new technologies such as nanoparticles, while others were live-attenuated virus vaccines, vector-based vaccines, and vaccines using subunits of the RSV particle. One monoclonal antibody was also included in the list of vaccine candidates. Globally, RSV is responsible for 45 percent of the hospitalizations due to lower respiratory tract infections in infants under six months of age, and the deaths each year of 118,000 children under five years of age. [Lancet Infectious Disease]
WHO guidance for success in AMR national action planning.The first working paper on multisectoral coordination for national planning to control antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) to support policymakers responsible for developing National Action Plans. The working paper includes tools and tactics gathered from focal countries including Ethiopia, Kenya, Philippines and Thailand. Lessons learned while completing a National Action Plan were grouped into four categories: political commitment, resources, governance mechanisms, and practical management. [WHO Working paper].
New International Classification of Diseases, ICD-11, is now available. The new, all-electronic International Classification of Diseases, ICD-11, represents the first overhaul in over a decade of the health codes used around the world to signify injuries, diseases, and causes of death. New codes related to antimicrobial resistance in the ICD-11 are aligned with the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System (GLASS), and new chapters have been added on sexual health and traditional medicine. The newly released ICD-11 has been field tested in 31 countries and contains 55,000 codes. [World Health Organization]
Study: Uptake of two vaccines in low-income countries prevented 1.45 million child deaths. Vaccines against Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae Type b (Hib) have been available in high income countries since the 1980s, but the two illnesses continue to be major causes of child mortality, causing at least 294,000 deaths in children under five in 2015. In a new study, researchers estimate the introduction of the vaccines in low-income countries prevented almost 1.5 million child deaths between 2000 and 2015. If other countries with high disease burden scale up vaccination, particularly India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo,and Pakistan, further reduction of disease will occur. [Lancet Global Health, Lancet Global Health Comment, Voice of America, EurekAlert, NewsHour]
Unexpected discovery threatens guinea worm eradication. The emergence of dogs as a reservoir for Dracunculus medinensis has the potential to reverse thirty years of hard work during which guinea worm infections in humans were reduced from over three million cases in 1986 to just thirty in 2017. Eight hundred infected dogs have been found in Chad, with some in villages that have not seen a human case in forty years. Public health workers are using incentives to encourage villagers to diligently isolate infected dogs until they are cleared of guinea worms. [New York Times]
Incidence of scarlet fever more than tripled in 11 years in China. A study based on surveillance data in China shows that over half a million cases of scarlet fever were reported between 2004 and 2016, with a notable upsurge in 2011 and peaking in 2015. While rarely fatal, scarlet fever is a Streptococcus pyogenes infection that causes fever and a rash. One possible cause for the increase in incidence could be the growing child population, a baby boom that began after China adopted a universal two-child policy in October, 2015. [CIDRAP, Lancet Article, Lancet Comment]
MERS case-fatality rate remains at 30% in latest Saudi Arabia outbreak. From January through May, 2018, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) was responsible for four clusters totaling 75 cases of disease in Saudi Arabia, twenty-three of which resulted in the death of the patient. Two of the clusters were healthcare-associated, and the other two were household clusters with the index cases exposed to camels.Since 2012, 790 people have died from MERS-CoV. The total number of confirmed cases is 2,220, of which 1,844 were in Saudi Arabia. [WHO, CIDRAP]
IACG requests feedback on AMR global action guidance. The Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG) is tasked with writing practical guidance for effective global action on antimicrobial resistance. In consultation with the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Organization for Animal Health, the IACG will deliver the final guidance to the UN Secretary General in 2019. The IACG has begun its work by developing discussion papers and is now soliciting feedback through a web-based consultation on the first three topics: Investment in innovation and research; national action plans; and surveillance and monitoring antimicrobial use and resistance. The IACG requests that feedback be sent before July 9, 2018. [World Health Organization]
Photo Credit: Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.
