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.
 

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.
 

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/