In a recent study, NDM\u2019s Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) researchers introduced an anomaly detection system, as an early warning mechanism for potential malaria outbreaks in countries like Thailand.
Medical Action Myanmar successfully eliminated falciparum malaria in Eastern Myanmar within six years, employing 172 community health workers for early diagnosis and treatment. Their approach, integrating basic health services with malaria care, led to a rapid reduction in both falciparum and vivax malaria cases. This cost-effective strategy challenges traditional, labor-intensive methods, emphasizing the importance of community health workers in achieving malaria elimination in challenging, remote areas.
To boost the fight against drug-resistant malaria parasites now emerging in Africa, researchers will study the safety and efficacy of a fixed-dose combination (FDC) containing three antimalarial drugs currently given to patients separately in a triple artemisinin-based combination therapy (TACT) cocktail.
AMR has been linked to close to 5 million deaths annually. We need urgent global action to counter antimicrobial resistance, but current efforts focus on solutions developed in high-income settings. If we want people to become less dependent on antibiotics, we must address the factors that create dependency on antibiotics in the first place. The solution we are working towards is fair and inclusive; it respects people and their traditions while also benefiting human health, animal welfare and the natural environment.
Handheld Spatially Offset Raman Spectroscopy (SORS) devices offer new hope for easily detecting falsified COVID-19 vaccines \u2014 even if the vaccine vials are unopened, say researchers in a paper published in Vaccine on 20 Oct 2023
An estimated 95,000\u2013167,000 inpatients at English National Health Service (NHS) hospitals caught SARS-CoV-2 while in hospital during England\u2019s \u2018second wave\u2019 of COVID-19, between June 2020 and March 2021, reports a study in Nature. The findings reveal the scale of hospital transmissions and highlight contributing factors, such as a limited number of single rooms.
We were delighted to hear that MORU Deputy Director of MORU and Head of Malaria & Critical Illness, Prof Arjen Dondorp, has been awarded the highly prestigious 2023 George Macdonald Medal!! This medal recognises outstanding individual contribution for conducting research leading to significant improvements in health in the tropics. It is a joint award from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (RSTMH).
On 28 Sept, MORU Malaria Clinical Researcher Bipin Adhikari received a 2023 Emerging Leaders Award from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH) to recognise his significant contributions in leadership and service, including mentoring and capacity building, to the fields of tropical medicine and global health.
In the first ever direct comparison between the two leading COVID antivirals molnupiravir and nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid\u00ae), researchers report in this week\u2019s Lancet Infectious Diseases that while both drugs worked, nirmatrelvir (Paxlovid\u00ae) was more effective, clearing the virus from the throat more rapidly than molnupiravir.
Analysis of data from more than 6,800 patients located across 16 countries has supported the need to increase the dose of the antimalarial drug, primaquine, in Plasmodium vivax malaria endemic countries.
We are delighted to announce that three of our researchers have been awarded the Professor title, in recognition of their research achievements, contribution to teaching, and contribution to the general work of the Nuffield Department of Medicine.
A study coordinated by NDM researchers published in BMC Medicine explores the factors predicting higher mortality in pregnant women with severe malaria and describes how severe falciparum malaria in pregnancy affects foetal health and mortality.
We are delighted to announce that four of our researchers have been awarded the Associate Professor title, in recognition of their research achievements, contribution to teaching, and contribution to the general work of the Nuffield Department of Medicine.
'Just Transitions to mitigate antimicrobial resistance' is a multidisciplinary social science and humanities programme funded by the British Academy. Led by Dr Sonia Lewycka and Professor Phaik Yeong Cheah, its team of 20 researchers will convene global and regional dialogues, engaging with key stakeholders to co-create equitable and sustainable solutions to manage antimicrobial resistance.
On World Malaria Day 2023, the global fight against malaria has hit a critical point in Africa. Recent studies have confirmed that malaria parasites resistant to artemisinin have emerged in Rwanda, Uganda and the Horn of Africa.
On 23 March, experts in medicine quality and substandard and falsified (SF) medicines gathered in Oxford for an informal one-day meeting following the workshop \u2018The relationship between substandard and falsified antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance and patient outcomes\u2019. Over 60 participants from multiple countries attended the meeting in the Theatre of the Department of Sociology at Oxford, and participated in focussed discussions and intense sharing of challenges and successes in medicine quality and countering SF medicines. Mainly from academia, participants also included representatives from international organisations, the private sector and NGOs.
Funded by Wellcome, ACORN (A Clinically-Oriented antimicrobial Resistance Network) is an AMR surveillance project that collects clinical and microbiology data on community- and hospital-acquired infections. ACORN will assess the impacts of AMR on the duration of hospitalisation and mortality in collaboration with the WHO Global AMR Surveillance System (GLASS) team.
Treating patients ill with severe scrub typhus \u2013 a life-threatening infection that kills tens of thousands of people a year - with a combination of intravenous antibiotics doxycycline and azithromycin is significantly more effective than the current monotherapy of using either drug alone, say researchers in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
The three presentations and expert discussion by Dr Rob Commons, Dr Alison Roth and Dr James Watson, chaired by Professor Sir Nicholas White (Mahidol Oxford Research Unit) and Dr Chau Nguyen Hoang (Oxford University Clinical Research Unit), are now available.
21 Feb 2023 Oxford UK - High doses of the drug ivermectin, controversially recommended by some high-profile political and media figures during the COVID-19 pandemic, is ineffective at treating the COVID-19 virus, say University of Oxford-affiliated researchers in a study published today in eLife.
The Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) has begun a Phase II trial to demonstrate that R21/matrix M is well-tolerated and immunogenic when administered with the antimalarial drug combination.
A recent multidisciplinary pilot study, originating from LOMWRU and the Medicine Quality Research Group of IDDO and MORU, investigated whether bacterial, plant, fungal and animal DNA in the ingredients and from the environment (eDNA) could be detected from falsified (aka counterfeit) tablets.
We are delighted to announce that Ricardo Aguas has been awarded the Associate Professor title, in recognition of his achievements, contribution to teaching, and contribution to the general work of the Nuffield Department of Medicine.
On 15-16 Dec, COPCOV investigators from around the world met in Bangkok to review study results and plan next steps. Led by co-PIs Prof Sir Nick White and Dr Will Schilling, and funded by the Wellcome Trust, the MORU-led COPCOV ( Chloroquine prevention of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the healthcare setting) is the world\u2019s largest multinational trial of COVID-19 prevention.
The number of studies reporting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data has increased in Africa, South and South East Asia according to new research in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
Researchers analysing clinical trial data for the new antimalarial drug tafenoquine find that higher doses are needed to cure reliably vivax malaria infection.
The inauguration of a new joint Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU) and Borderland Health Foundation (BHF) Building took place in Mae Ramat, Thailand, this week.
Continually monitoring malaria parasite populations is necessary to prevent outbreaks of previously dormant multidrug-resistant malaria strains, say University of Oxford researchers. Multidrug-resistant malaria parasite strains can rapidly grow or collapse in response to public health policy changes, say the researchers in a study published today in The Lancet.
A new WWARN meta-analysis, commissioned by the World Health Organization and which informed a change to its treatment guidelines, has been published in The Lancet. The study provides compelling evidence that artemether-lumefantrine should now replace quinine as the treatment of choice in the first trimester.
MORU research has contributed to strategies to eliminate malaria in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, helping to prevent the spread of drug-resistant malaria and improving health provision and outcomes for remote communities.
A study of the genetic diversity of Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacterium responsible for hundreds of thousands of infant deaths each year, found that deep sequencing whole pneumococcal populations gave unsurpassed sensitivity for detecting multiple colonisations and was twice as effective at detecting invasive virulent strains of the bacteria as current best methods, say researchers in a study published in Nature Microbiology.
Giving people antimalarials during and after visiting the forest reduced their risk of contracting malaria 6-fold, and could be the missing piece towards eliminating malaria in Asia-Pacific and South America, say Mahidol and Oxford University researchers in a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
We are delighted to announce that four of our researchers have been awarded the title of Professor, in recognition of their research achievements, contribution to teaching, and contribution to the general work of the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford.
Fetal abdomen growth and the mother\u2019s blood fat metabolites very early in pregnancy influence a child\u2019s weight, body fat, vision and neurodevelopment at 2 years of age
Researchers have created a mathematical model to predict genetic resistance to antimalarial drugs in Africa to manage one of the biggest threats to global malarial control.
MORU Tropical Health Network researchers in Southeast Asia study various aspects of hepatitis B and C, infections that can lead to chronic liver diseases, and complications like liver cancer or cirrhosis. Researchers at MOCRU work on treatment for hepatitis C, a frequent opportunistic infection in HIV patients. MORU\u2019s Clinical Pharmacology conducts two trials on possible treatments of hepatitis C. Hepatitis B is frequently transmitted from mother to child at birth, and SMRU researchers study mothers\u2019 knowledge and behaviour, as well as prevention.
Patients affected by COVID-19 should be treated according to the severity of their disease. However, not all key national or international organisations define severity in the same way. This imprecision in severity assessment compromises the validity of some therapeutic recommendations. Using individual patient data would better guide and improve therapeutic recommendations for COVID-19.
Microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained blood films is key to quantifying and detecting malaria parasites but there can be difficulties in ensuring both a high-quality manual reading and inter-reader reliability. The EasyScan GO was developed as a potential solution to this, a microscopy device using machine-learning-based image analysis for automated parasite detection and quantification.
Encephalitis is a worldwide public health issue, with a substantially high burden among children in Southeast Asia. A large study of the causes of childhood encephalitis in SE Asia suggests that enhanced and effective vaccination against the Japanese encephalitis virus alone could reduce encephalitis prevalence by one third.
David Warrell, MORU founding director, has been appointed by the Queen \u2018Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to global Health Research and Clinical Practice\u2019. Please join us in congratulating Sir David on receiving this richly deserved high honour!
Organised by a grass-root community of thousands of scientists across the world, Pint of Science 2022 allows researchers in 25 countries and over 800 cities to share their latest findings with lay folk in interesting, informal settings. Lao PDR joined the global Pint of Science family on Monday 9 May, when the first-ever Pint of Science Laos kicked off!
Today is World Malaria Day. The global fight against malaria is at a critical point. No new antimalarial drugs are expected in the near future, and if multi-drug resistant falciparum malaria becomes established in East Africa and spreads to other parts of Africa, millions will be at risk of drug-resistant malaria infection and death. The development of triple artemisinin-based combination therapies aims to prevent or delay the emergence of artemisinin and multi-drug resistant malaria in Africa.
In regions where few people have received Covid-19 vaccines, health systems remain vulnerable to surges in SARS-CoV-2 infections. During the delta-wave of COVID-19 in India, for example, healthcare facilities and staff across the country struggled to cope with the surge in the number of cases of COVID-19 due to a shortage of hospital beds for people with severe cases, plus shortages of medicines and limited human resources.
In 2022, tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global health problem, particularly in developing countries. On the Thai-Myanmar border, TB is an important problem among migrants, a vulnerable, very mobile population, with unstable, often difficult living conditions, insecure incomes, and poor access to health services.
A triple artemisinin-based combination therapy (TACT) of artemether-lumefantrine plus amodiaquine (AL+AQ) for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in areas with a high prevalence of artemisinin resistance is a well-tolerated, effective treatment for multidrug-resistant parasites, say a team of MORU-led researchers.
From 2002-2018, there has been a steady increase in the places and proportion of infected people reporting validated kelch13 (K13) artemisinin resistance markers, according to a study in The Lancet Microbe. This increase in artemisinin resistance threatens efforts to eliminate malaria in Asia by 2030 \u2014 and control efforts in other endemic regions. The authors say that more consistent data collection, over longer time periods in the same areas, and rapid sharing of data are needed to map the spread of resistance and better inform policy decisions.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is responsible for at least 1.27 million deaths per year \u2014 with over 97,000 deaths in 2019 in SE Asia alone, according to a study published in The Lancet by the Global Research on AntiMicrobial resistance (GRAM) project, who urged urgent action from policymakers and health communities to avoid further preventable deaths.
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