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\n \n \n \nPosted 07/07/2021. Frank Smithuis and colleagues conducted a large cluster randomized evaluation of mass drug administration (MDA) with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for malaria elimination in an area with high artemisinin resistant Plasmodium falciparum. MDA was a safe and effective tool to accelerate P. falciparum elimination, alongside routine community-based malaria control measures. It was well tolerated and well accepted. MDA did not select for drug resistant parasites.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 06/07/2021. Surveillance of Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is important in generating evidence to support efforts in controlling the infection. Cherry Lim and colleagues discuss the strengths, potential sources of bias, and challenges of routine microbiology data and different surveillance strategies and solutions used in low- and middle-income countries. Areas requiring support and improvement are highlighted.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 29/06/2021. Frank Smithuis and colleagues describe a cluster of 29 children with severe, painful bone deformities living in very remote Nagaland, northwest Myanmar. They had low 25-hydroxyvitamin D, elevated parathyroid hormone, and elevated alkaline phosphatase levels, consistent with nutritional rickets secondary to vitamin D deficiency, calcium deficiency, or a combination of both. After treatment with vitamin D3 and calcium carbonate, we saw significant improvement in symptoms, biochemistry, and radiography. This is the first report of nutritional rickets in Myanmar in over 120 years.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 23/06/2021. In an RCT of three artemisinin-based combination therapies in pregnancy on the Thailand-Myanmar border where artemisinin resistance is widespread, only dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine provided satisfactory efficacy for P. falciparum, in this study by Makoto Saito & colleagues. Mefloquine-artesunate provided the longest recurrence-free period for P. vivax. Vivax recurrence was so common, chloroquine prophylaxis is warranted after malaria of any species.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 16/06/2021. The progress made in treatment of malaria is threatened by the emergence of resistance to current first line treatments artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs). There are currently no good alternatives for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria in the African setting in the event of resistance emerging to antimalarials that are in the ACTs. Mainga Hamaluba, Rob van der Pluijm and colleagues demonstrate that triple artemisinin combination therapies (TACTs) can potentially be used safely to prevent, delay or manage uncomplicated malaria in our setting.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 23/04/2019. Human population movement can lead to the persistence of malaria along the Thai\u2013Myanmar border. Lisa White, Wirichada Pan-ngum and colleagues show that malaria risk is related to the number of days doing outdoor activities in the dry season, especially trips to Myanmar, to forest areas and overnight trips. Understanding movement patterns is important when considering targeted public health interventions, especially during the elimination phase.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 17/10/2017. Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax malaria in pregnancy both increase stillbirth risk, which is likely to increase as endemicity declines. A study by SMRU and University of Melbourne researchers shows that better P. falciparum malaria control efforts could prevent up to 1 in 5 to 8 stillbirths in sub-Saharan Africa.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 17/10/2016. Training local Karen and Burman women as skilled birth attendants in refugee settings resulted in no adverse perinatal outcomes and many positive outcomes such as a drop in stillbirths and infant deaths and more babies being born in clinics rather than at home, says a new study, led by Professor Rose McGready and published in PLOS ONE.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 22/10/2019. Rose McGready and SMRU colleagues contributed RCT data from the Thailand-Myanmar border to this large review on low- and middle-income countries (21 studies in 20\u2009882 children). The results suggests targeting parental, environmental and nutritional factors from pre-pregnancy through childhood, as a way forward to improve health and development of children in such settings.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 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.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 26/03/19. Lorenz Von Seidlein and colleagues wanted to know whether well-resourced mass drug administrations (MDA) can accelerate malaria elimination in the Greater Mekong Subregion. They randomised 16 villages in Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos to receive MDAs with antimalarial drugs. The intervention had a substantial impact on the prevalence of P. falciparum infections by month 3 after the start of the MDAs. Over the subsequent 9 months, P. falciparum infections returned but stayed below baseline levels.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 18/12/2020. Lorenz Von Seidlein and colleagues observed that poorest people in rural Tanzania were the oldest people and especially old people without children. This observation came as a surprise because generation, the baby boomers has accumulated wealth throughout life and ended up wealthier by the time they reached retirement. There is a need to provide more financial and housing security for older people in rural Africa. Currently for many older people in rural Africa the only security are their children.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 30/03/2021. Reactive case detection has played a role in the elimination of malaria in China. The approach has been adapted and is used in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Because it requires considerable man power but only few cases are detected the approach is controversial. Jacqueline Deen, Lorenz Von Seidlein and colleagues included 8 articles in a meta-analysis that found the percentage of positive malaria cases among potential contacts using microscopy or rapid diagnostic test was 0.56%.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 21/04/2020. This study by Victor Chaumeau and colleagues was carried out in order to assess the longevity of insecticide mists applied to outdoor vegetation. Insecticidal effect of sprayed plant material against malaria mosquitoes lasted for several weeks. These results provide a strong rationale for using outdoor residual spraying against the mosquito vectors that rest outside premises.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 06/11/20. Victor Chaumeau and colleagues assessed the impact of outdoor residual spraying on the biting rate of malaria mosquitoes in four villages in Kayin state, Myanmar. They reported a 10-fold decrease in mosquito biting rate immediately after the intervention and concluded that outdoor residual spraying can be used to control malaria mosquitoes in this area.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 08/06/2020. Safe and effective radical cure of malaria will require better ways of testing for G6PD deficiency. In a large collaborative study a paper in PLoS Medicine, Daniel Pfeffer, Ric Price and colleagues highlight substantial variation between research laboratories using the current gold standard method (spectrophotometry). The study highlights challenges but also opportunities for new point of care tests.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 18/09/2020. New findings by Ric Price and colleagues highlight that a remarkably high number of P. vivax infections arise from relapses (reactivation of dormant liver stages). This has important implications since almost 85% of recurrent infections could be prevented if more patients were treated with primaquine. The study emphasises the important of work done by the VxWG (Vivax Working Group for the Asia Pacific Malaria Eliminiation Network) in promoting wider access to safe and effective radical cure.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 04/02/2020. Primaquine radical cure for treatment of Plasmodium vivax is contraindicated in patients with G6PD deficiency. Ric Price, Benedikt Ley and colleagues review evidence from 11 studies of a novel point of care diagnostic (CareStart RDT) and show overall good performance under research conditions. Further feasibility studies are under way to assess its reliability under field conditions.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 16/03/2021. Many women in Southeast Asia are smaller than their Western counterparts. How might this affect an otherwise healthy pregnancy? A recent study from the Thai-Myanmar border by Sue J Lee, Ahmar Hashmi and colleagues suggests that maternal height should be considered when providing advice regarding weight gain during pregnancy.
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\n \n \n \nPosted 16/07/2019. Worrying nutritional trends in possibly the longest and largest cohort of nearly 50,000 refugee and migrant pregnant women in a LMIC setting. Ahmar Hashmi and colleagues at SMRU summarise trends in under- and over-nutrition among pregnant women, and show a double burden of malnutrition in these marginalised and vulnerable communities from the Myanmar-Thailand border.
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