Search results
Found 282 matches for
Oxford University’s LIFE project has launched a new set of app-based training scenarios that help healthcare workers in Africa safely manage and treat cases of children with suspected COVID-19
Improving treatment and outcomes for melioidosis in children, northern Cambodia, 2009–2018
COMRU MORU
Posted 06/04/2021. Melioidosis is an under-recognised disease, and mortality remains unacceptably high. Treatment requires prolonged antibiotic therapy and adherence is challenging, particular in resource-constrained settings. Arjun Chandna and colleagues at Angkor Hospital for Children reviewed the treatment of 355 children with culture-confirmed melioidosis over a decade and found significant gains can be made over time.
What is the yield of malaria reactive case detection in the Greater Mekong Sub-region?
MORU
Posted 30/03/2021. Reactive case detection has played a role in the elimination of malaria in China. The approach has been adapted and is used in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Because it requires considerable man power but only few cases are detected the approach is controversial. Jacqueline Deen, Lorenz Von Seidlein and colleagues included 8 articles in a meta-analysis that found the percentage of positive malaria cases among potential contacts using microscopy or rapid diagnostic test was 0.56%.
Outcomes for 298 breastfed neonates whose mothers received ketamine and diazepam for postpartum tubal ligation in a resource-limited setting
MORU SMRU
Posted 26/03/2021. Ketamine is an essential drug widely used in low-resource settings, but there was no data on its safety in lactating women until this report. In this study by Mary Ellen Gilder and SMRU colleagues, outcomes for breastfeeding infants whose mothers received ketamine are good, and not affected by ketamine dose. In contrast, high dose maternal intravenous diazepam may be harmful.
Vaginal Microbiota and Cytokine Levels Predict Preterm Delivery in Asian Women
MORU SMRU
Posted 19/03/2021. Tobias Brummaier reports that collaborative research efforts with SMRU and SIDRA have demonstrated that vaginal microbial composition and local vaginal immune environment are associated with preterm birth in Asian women from a low-resource setting, possibly providing an avenue towards an early predictive tool for preterm birth
Short maternal stature and gestational weight gain among refugee and migrant women birthing appropriate for gestational age term newborns
MORU SMRU
Posted 16/03/2021. Many women in Southeast Asia are smaller than their Western counterparts. How might this affect an otherwise healthy pregnancy? A recent study from the Thai-Myanmar border by Sue J Lee, Ahmar Hashmi and colleagues suggests that maternal height should be considered when providing advice regarding weight gain during pregnancy.
Protective effect of Mediterranean-type glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency against Plasmodium vivax malaria
MORU
Posted 09/03/2021. X-linked glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency is the most common human enzymopathy. Ghulam Awab and colleagues analysed their clinical study and epidemiological data from Afghanistan gathered over the last decade and showed that the G6PD Mediterranean variant provided a marked gene dose proportional protection against P. vivax malaria.
Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in pregnancy for prevention of mother to child transmission of hepatitis B in a rural setting on the Thailand-Myanmar border
MORU SMRU
Posted 05/03/2021. Prevention of mother to child transmission of Hepatitis B can be challenging in resource limited settings. Marieke Bierhoff and colleagues look at strategies that might be more feasible in these settings. TDF (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) after rapid diagnostic test may be a more feasible strategy to implement in resource limited settings, TDF after hepatitis B e-antigen test is a cheaper option.
Effectiveness of a sepsis programme in a resource-limited setting
MORU
Posted 02/03/2021. Direk Limmathurotsakul and colleagues show that a Sepsis Fast Track (SFT) programme, implemented in Thailand to screen, initiate sepsis care and fast-track them when applicable to ICU upon admission, are associated with higher chances of survival. We analyzed data of a prospective observational study, having control group from both pre and post-intervention periods.
Pregnancy outcomes and risk of placental malaria after artemisinin-based and quinine-based treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in pregnancy
MORU OCGHR
Posted 12/06/2020. Safety of drugs is important, particularly during pregnancy. Makoto Saito and colleagues have pooled the data of 4503 women who had malaria in pregnancy and found that the currently used artemisinin-based combination therapies are equally safe for fetus. This study also highlights that risk of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) is high after malaria in pregnancy even treated with highly efficacious drugs, suggesting that prevention is important for reducing SGA in malaria endemic areas.
COVID-19 and risks to the supply and quality of tests, drugs, and vaccines
MORU OCGHR
Posted 14/04/2020. Enormous emergency efforts are underway to find optimal medical products, to prevent, diagnose, and treat COVID-19, that 7.8 billion people will depend on. With dire disruption of pharmaceutical production and supply and increasing falsified and substandard products, we need strategic planning now to ensure global access to quality-assured medical products and monitoring of supply chains
An epidemic of dystonic reactions in central Africa
LOMWRU MORU OCGHR
Posted 17/03/2017. An investigation conducted by the international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières revealed that over a thousand people in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of Congo suffered toxic effects after ingesting fake diazepam pills. The research was published in The Lancet Global Health with contribution from Prof Paul Newton from IDDO and LOMWRU.
Optimal duration of follow-up antimalarial efficacy in pregnancy on the Thailand–Myanmar border
MORU OCGHR SMRU
Posted 02/07/2019. Highly efficacious treatment can limit the cumulative deleterious impact of malaria during pregnancy on the mother and fetus. Correct assessment of treatment efficacy with an adequate length of follow up is required. Makoto Saito and colleagues at the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU) on the Thailand-Myanmar border suggest that pregnant women need to be followed up longer than the currently recommended duration of follow-up to assess antimalarial drug efficacy.
Febrile Illness Evaluation in a Broad Range of Endemicities (FIEBRE): protocol for a multisite prospective observational study of the causes of fever in Africa and Asia
LOMWRU MORU OCGHR
Posted 01/09/2020. This paper provides an overview of FIEBRE’s activities. The study aims to identify infections that are treatable and/or preventable, to assess antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial pathogens and to collect qualitative data on care-seeking and treatment behaviours. Paul Newton and colleagues detail clinical and laboratory assessments, data analysis plan, and outline the study’s strengths and limitations.
Antimicrobial use in food animals and human health: time to implement ‘One Health’ approach
MORU OCGHR
Posted 13/11/2020. Use of antimicrobials in animals and the environment has been established to contribute to the global antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and yet there have been inadequate collaborative efforts to tackle this problem. Sunil Pokharel, Bipin Adhikari and colleagues discuss how and why ‘One health’ approach is important to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
Quality of medical products for diabetes management
LOMWRU MORU OCGHR
Posted 01/10/2019. In the light of the alarming global increase in diabetes, Kartika Saraswati and colleagues at the LOMWRU-IDDO Medicine Quality team found few investigations on the quality of antidiabetics and supplies for self-monitoring of blood glucose. However, poor quality medical products were identified on four continents. This important public health issue should thus be further investigated.
How many human pathogens are there in Laos? An estimate of national human pathogen diversity and analysis of historical trends
LOMWRU MORU OCGHR
Posted 27/10/2020. Madeleine Clarkson, Paul Newton and colleagues reviewed when individual species of human pathogens were described in Laos, and estimated the in-country diversity and how many more pathogens there may be. Combining modelling with historical assessment improved understanding of the factors affecting pathogen description. During the last decade there has been a 33-fold increase in the description rate, coinciding with the strengthening of medical research in Laos.
Human, animal, water source interactions and leptospirosis in Thailand
MORU
Posted 09/02/2021. Wirichada Pan-ngum and colleagues address key knowledge gaps on human-animal-water-source interactions and leptospirosis in high-risk settings, Thailand. Water-source sharing networks and human–animal contact patterns are key information potentially involved in the epidemiology of leptospirosis. Occupations related to animals/environmental water and consuming water from more than two sources increased the risk exposure to leptospirosis.
Serological evidence indicates widespread distribution of rickettsioses in Myanmar
LOMWRU MORU
Posted 05/01/2021. Diagnosing rickettsial infections is difficult in low-resource settings; this leads to delays in receiving appropriate treatment. Before this study the distribution of rickettsioses in Myanmar was not known. This report of a serosurvey by Philip Elders, Elizabeth Ashley and colleagues shows rickettsioses are widespread in Myanmar, with high scrub typhus prevalence in central and northern regions.
Impact of low blood culture usage on rates of antimicrobial resistance
MORU
Posted 08/12/2020. “No bacterial culture, no drug-resistant infections.” Cherry Lim, Direk Limmathurotsakul and colleagues show that the impact of low blood culture utilization on the observed proportions and incidences of drug-resistant infections could be high. This is likely happening in most of LMICs. A set of recommendations are proposed.
Old age is associated with decreased wealth in rural villages in Mtwara, Tanzania
MORU
Posted 18/12/2020. Lorenz Von Seidlein and colleagues observed that poorest people in rural Tanzania were the oldest people and especially old people without children. This observation came as a surprise because generation, the baby boomers has accumulated wealth throughout life and ended up wealthier by the time they reached retirement. There is a need to provide more financial and housing security for older people in rural Africa. Currently for many older people in rural Africa the only security are their children.