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The first-ever MQPH Conference will take place at Keble College, Oxford on 23-28 September 2018. This international event will bring together people from public health, national regulatory authorities, pharmacy, biomedical, chemistry, law, ethics, cultural and social sciences, pharmaceutical industry, international organisations and NGOs. It grants an opportunity to discuss the problem and outline the necessary steps to tackle the issue on a global scale.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Estimation of incidence of typhoid and paratyphoid fever in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic
LOMWRU MORU
Posted 10/03/2020. Incidence data about infectious diseases are needed to inform decisions about vaccine introduction. Using data from health-seeking behaviour survey for fever and data from hospital bloodstream infection, Mayfong Mayxay and colleagues estimated typhoid and paratyphoid fever incidence in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, and found that the incidence is low, with an annual incidence of 4.7 and 0.5 per 100,000 persons, for typhoid and paratyphoid fever, respectively.
Burkholderia pseudomallei multi-centre study to establish EUCAST MIC and zone diameter distributions and epidemiological cut-off (ECOFF) values
LOMWRU MORU
Posted 14/08/2020. David Dance and colleagues describe a multi-centre study, co-ordinated by EUCAST, to establish interpretative criteria for Burkholderia pseudomallei disc diffusion tests. Three MORU network sites (Laos, Thailand and Cambodia) participated. The results, based on 361 isolates, will enable laboratories around the world to conduct quality-assured testing of B. pseudomallei susceptibility.
Screening of ectoparasites from domesticated dogs for bacterial pathogens in Vientiane, Lao PDR
LOMWRU MORU
Posted 28/07/2020. Ticks, fleas and lice from dogs in Vientiane (Lao PDR) were shown to carry a variety of zoonotic pathogens including R. felis (cat-flea typhus). Matthew Robinson and colleagues highlight the risk of these pathogens transmitted between dogs and humans within the city, as well as the role of pets in human diseases, and important public health considerations
Community engagement, social context and coverage of mass anti-malarial administration
LOMWRU MOCRU MORU
Posted 16/04/2019. Lorenz Von Seidlein and colleagues in Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos explored what happens to malaria transmission when all people residing in a village are treated with antimalarials at the same time, whether they are sick or not. They demonstrated that providing the necessary information is important, but building trust between residents and the team providing the antimalarials is most critical for success.
Antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative colonization in infants from a neonatal intensive care unit in Thailand
COMRU LOMWRU MORU
Posted 31/05/2019. Drug-resistant infections caused by Enterobacteriaceae, a family of Gram-negative bacteria, account for a high and increasing disease burden amongst hospitalised neonates in Southeast Asia; carbapenem-resistant strains are particularly important because of limited antibiotic treatment options. Tamalee Roberts and colleagues found that nearly two thirds of infants in a neonatal unit in Thailand became asymptomatic carriers with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae during their hospital stays. This work indicates a critical need for interventions to reduce this usually hidden reservoir of drug-resistant bacteria.
Microbiology Investigation Criteria for Reporting Objectively (MICRO): a framework for the reporting and interpretation of clinical microbiology data
COMRU LOMWRU MORU
Posted 05/11/19. High quality laboratory data is the cornerstone of antimicrobial resistance surveillance. In this recent article in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Paul Turner, Elizabeth Ashley and colleagues from COMRU and LOMWRU highlight the problems associated with poor quality data and call for standardised data reporting via the MICRO framework
Molecular characterization and mapping of G6PD mutations in the Greater Mekong Subregion
LOMWRU MORU
Posted 19/02/2019. Germana Bancone and colleagues characterized glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in over 10 thousand samples collected in 138 villages in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, showing a country-level prevalence in males ranging from 7.3% to 18.8%. Given this high prevalence, G6PD testing should be carried out in the Greater Mekong Subregion before P. vivax radical cure with 8-aminoquinolines.
Field detection devices for screening the quality of medicines
LOMWRU MORU
Posted 23/10/18. A plethora of innovative portable devices to screen for poor quality medicines has become available. In a review of the scientific evidence regarding their performances, Dr Celine Caillet and colleagues show that there is a vitally important lack of independent evaluation of the majority of the 41 devices (most being spectrophotometers) found in our search, particularly in field settings. Intensive research is needed in order to inform national medicines regulatory authorities of the optimal choice of device to combat poor quality medicines.