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\n \n \n \nPosted 07/05/2019. Developed by Paul Turner and fellow members of the Oxford Tropical Network, the MICRO framework provides the scientific community with clear guidance on reporting and interpretation of clinical microbiology and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data. Use of the framework will result in publication of better quality data for use in the global fight against AMR. The MICRO guideline is also posted on the EQUATOR website www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines
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\n \n \n \nPosted 21/05/2019. Wirichada Pan-ngum and colleagues explore how decreasing trends reflect the achievements of malaria control efforts on the Thai\u2013Myanmar border. However, one of the main challenges facing elimination programs in this low transmission setting is maintaining a strong system for early diagnosis and treatment, even when malaria cases are very close to zero, whilst preventing re-importation of cases.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 04/06/2019. In Papua, where multidrug resistant P. falciparum and P. vivax are coendemic, the introduction of a universal policy of ACT plus IV artesunate for all patients with malaria halved hospital admissions and malarial deaths. However the reduction in P. vivax was far less than that for P. falciparum. This study by Ric Price and colleagues emphasizes the need for better drug regimens to clear the liver stages of P. vivax.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 11/06/2019. Remaining foci of malaria transmission are often in forests, where vectors tend to bite during daytime and outdoors thus reducing the effectiveness of insecticide treated bednets. Limited periods of exposure suggest that chemoprophylaxis could be a promising strategy to protect forest workers against malaria. Lorenz Von Seidlein and colleagues discuss which antimalarial drug regimens are most appropriate, how frequently the chemoprophylaxis should be delivered, and how to motivate forest workers to use and adhere to malaria prophylaxis.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 18/06/2019. How should we communicate to the public the magnitude of antibiotic use in humans and animals? Led by Direk Limmathurotsakul, our scientists and global partners propose the concept of \u2018antibiotic footprint\u2019. It could support individual, national and global actions against superbugs as 'carbon footprint' has done for climate change
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\n \n \n \nPosted 05/03/2019. Seasonal malaria is common in the Sahel, resulting in malaria-related morbidity and mortality, particularly in young children. Seasonal chemoprevention with the antimalarial drug dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine is effective and safe. However, results presented here by Palang Chotsiri and colleagues show that malaria incidence could be reduced substantially by using an increased and extended dosage in young children.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 03/12/2019. Malaria transmission in Cambodia is concentrated in forest foci. Nou Sannan, Tom Peto and MORU colleagues interviewed forest workers who had recently been infected with malaria to understand their behaviour and perception of risk, establish the efficacy and feasibility of malaria prophylaxis , and identify potential strategies for malaria elimination in these populations.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 05/02/2019. In this study, the WWARN K13 genotype-phenotype Study Group gathered 18 studies from Africa and Asia to explore the relationships between identified Kelch 13 mutant alleles and delayed parasite clearance. Results show one P. falciparum specific mutant and 20 pfk13 propeller region mutant alleles strongly associated with the slow clearance phenotype, including 15 mutations that have not been confirmed before. It was reassuring that no pfk13 alleles associated with slow parasite clearance were observed in the parasites from African studies gathered between 2000-2017.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 05/04/2019. Until World War II the only Plasmodium vivax malaria generally recognised had either a long (8\u20139 months) incubation period or a similarly long interval between initial illness and the first relapse. Long-latency P. vivax \u2018strains\u2019 were the first in which relapse, drug resistance and liver stage development were described, yet in recent years they have been largely forgotten.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 17/04/2018. This new Lancet malaria seminar, by Elizabeth Ashley and Charlie Woodrow, is one of a series of clinically focused, structured, up-to-date reviews which are grouped together in The Lancet Clinic with other relevant content. The aim of the seminars is to give a comprehensive overview of diseases to practising clinicians, emphasising recent advances, controversies and uncertainties.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 29/03/2018. This randomised controlled trial, by Katherine Plewes and colleagues, of acetaminophen (paracetamol) in Bangladeshi patients with severe and moderately severe malaria shows that acetaminophen reduces kidney dysfunction and risk of developing acute kidney injury, particularly in patients with significant haemolysis. This proof-of-principle study supports the underlying hypothesis that acetaminophen inhibits cell-free haemoglobin-mediated oxidative kidney damage.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 06/03/2018. Primaquine is being promoted actively to block the transmission of falciparum malaria parasites between humans and mosquitoes to reduce the spread of highly resistant malaria \u2018superbugs.\u2019 In response, Bob Taylor and colleagues developed a primaquine dosing scheme based on age. This will be useful where there are no functioning weighing scales and when primaquine mass drug treatment will be given.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 21/11/2017. Scrub typhus is a serious mite-transmitted and difficult-to-diagnose infectious disease increasingly recognised as a major treatable cause of febrile illnesses with a wider distribution beyond Asia. Despite many limitations on the amount and quality of available reports to date, scrub typhus remains a severely underappreciated tropical disease, deserving more attention.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 13/11/2018. Quinoline and related antimalarial drugs are vital tools in the fight against malaria. However, concerns about their possible effects on the heart rhythm may limit their use. Dr Ilsa Haeusler, Dr Xin Hui Chan, and colleagues found that these serious side effects are reassuringly rare in the treatment of malaria
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\n \n \n \nPosted 06/11/18, review by Professor Nick White. Malaria, a parasitic infection of red blood cells, is a leading cause of anaemia in the tropics. Where malaria transmission is intense patients, typically children, may die from severe anaemia. However when falciparum malaria causes other vital organs to fail, moderate anaemia appears to protect against death.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 10/10/2018. Community volunteers are used to deliver a number of healthcare interventions. Although these volunteers are not paid, their time still has an economic value, known as an opportunity cost. Dr Hugo Turner and colleagues found that this economic value is significant for mass drug administration programs: for the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control alone it would be valued at US$60-90 million.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 18/09/2018. Let by Professor Yoel Lubell, researchers from MORU and IDDO estimated the economic costs of AMR associated with the consumption of a range of antibiotic classes in high and lower-middle income countries. These estimates are essential for economic evaluations of interventions that affect antibiotic consumption to reflect the full costs and benefits of their use.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 04/09/2018. DHA-piperaquine is an important antimalarial recommended by the WHO for the treatment of malaria, and an ideal candidate for mass use in malaria elimination. In a large meta-analysis of ~200,000 subjects, Dr Xin Hui Chan and colleagues find the risk of sudden unexplained death after DHA-piperaquine is extremely low and not higher than baseline, confirming the drug\u2019s safety for the treatment and prevention of malaria.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 24/07/18. A study from Bangkok by Professor Wirichada Pan-Ngum and colleagues shows accessing households for proper spraying was a problem for control dengue outbreaks. In addition, inefficient communications among the sectors from hospital to district offices led to inaccurate or missing patient addresses for spraying. Involving community networks help to improve public engagement with and participation in the programmes.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 17/07/2018. This paper by Professor Stuart Blacksell and colleagues describes the first update to the WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual in 15 years. The need to update international lab biosafety guidance is part of a broader initiative to globalize biosafety, emphasizing principles and approaches that are accessible to countries spanning a broad range of financial, technical and regulatory resources.
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