Author:
Madeline Roberts, PhD, MPH
Dengue Surge
Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO) and the WHO reported that as of June
18 the number of reported
dengue cases in 2024 surpassed annual historical maximums for
all previous years. The Region of the Americas have reported
9,386,082 cases of dengue to date this year (approximately half
of which are laboratory confirmed) compared to 4,617,108 cases
recorded in all of 2023. Of 4,630,669 laboratory confirmed
cases, 4,529 cases were fatal for a case fatality rate of
0.048%. Virtually all case fatalities in the Region of the
Americas occurred in six countries and were highest in Brazil,
followed by Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Colombia, and Ecuador.
The WHO
emphasized the need for early diagnosis and proper clinical
management of suspected cases of dengue at the primary health
care level to mitigate progression to severe forms of dengue and
death, as well as to alleviate the burden on hospitals and
intensive care units. Community messaging should focus on
eliminating mosquito breeding sites, knowing the symptoms of
dengue and what to do and where to go when symptoms arise. The
WHO also developed a
Global Dengue Surveillance Dashboard.
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Gavi Launches Preventive Ebola and Other Vaccine Programs in
Lower-Income Countries
Gavi, the
Vaccine Alliance, introduced four
new vaccines available for lower-income countries via
application: preventive Ebola, human rabies for
post-exposure prophylaxis, multivalent meningococcal conjugate,
and hepatitis B birth dose. Gavi's stated mission is to quickly
provide impactful vaccines to lower-income nations, its
core partners in
this work are the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World
Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Alliance aims
to expand its portfolio in the second half of this
decade, contingent on successful fundraising.
The move to
make a preventive Ebola vaccination normative in the
highest-risk countries is powerful and historic. Gavi will also
aid lower-income countries in routine administration of human
rabies vaccine,
multivalent meningococcal conjugate, and hepatitis B birth dose
vaccines.
Dr
Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi stated, “Gavi’s ability as an
Alliance to protect health and save lives hinges on its ability
to ensure vaccines are accessible, as quickly as possible, to
who that need them the most. The new programmes…demonstrate the
impact of this work. For example, Ebola is a terrible disease
that can lay waste to whole communities. In one decade we have
been able to progress from having no approved vaccines during a
deadly outbreak, to having a global stockpile that has helped
cut down cases and deaths – and now vaccines even used
preventively to protect those at highest risk.”
Preventive Ebola
vaccination marks an advance in global health security, enabled
by the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on
Immunization's recent recommendation of two licensed Ebola
vaccines. This decision, based on new data on vaccine
effectiveness and protection duration, supports the preventive
vaccination of high-risk populations, especially frontline
health workers. Additionally, the new multivalent meningococcal
vaccine, MenFive®, protects against five serogroups and is
critical for sub-Saharan Africa. Human rabies vaccines for
post-exposure prophylaxis and the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine
also address significant public health threats, with Gavi
facilitating their broader implementation to save lives and
prevent disease spread.
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Longitude Prize Awarded for Urinary Tract Infection
Point-of-Care Test
The Longitude Prize on
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) awarded
£8
million (approximately 10 million US dollars) to
Sysmex Astrego for the PA-100 AST
System, a rapid, point-of-care
test for urinary tract infections (UTI).
The test aims to
eliminate the 2-3 day wait for lab test results as well as “just
in case” prescribing, which contributes to antibiotic
resistance.
In 2014, the
challenge was issued to innovators and inventors to develop “an
affordable, accurate, rapid and easy-to-use test for bacterial
infections to allow health professionals to administer the right
antibiotic at the right time.”
Ten years later, the PA-100 AST System can, from a 400
microliter sample of urine, determine bacterial infection in 15
minutes and accurately identify the appropriate antibiotic for
treatment within 45 minutes.
See how the PA-100 AST System works
here.
View a five-minute clip on the
winners, Sysmex Astrego,
here.
The inception of the Longitude Prize was in 1714
Britain “for a practical and useful method to determine
longitude to an accuracy of half a degree.” It is now aimed at
ameliorating global health problems and is managed by Challenge
Works, a Nesta enterprise.
Image source: https://amr.longitudeprize.org/about-the-prize/
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