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A new study quantifying the high risk of Plasmodium vivax parasitaemia after treatment of Plasmodium falciparum malaria aims to identify populations in which a policy of universal radical cure, combining artemisinin-based combination therapy with a hypnozoitocidal antimalarial drug, would be most beneficial.
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Credit: Dominic Chavez, World Bank
Human, animal, water source interactions and leptospirosis in Thailand
MORU Bangkok
Posted 09/02/2021. Wirichada Pan-ngum and colleagues address key knowledge gaps on human-animal-water-source interactions and leptospirosis in high-risk settings, Thailand. Water-source sharing networks and human–animal contact patterns are key information potentially involved in the epidemiology of leptospirosis. Occupations related to animals/environmental water and consuming water from more than two sources increased the risk exposure to leptospirosis.
Old age is associated with decreased wealth in rural villages in Mtwara, Tanzania
MORU Bangkok
Posted 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.
Crowding has consequences: Prevention and management of COVID-19 in informal urban settlements
MORU Bangkok
Posted 11/12/2020. COVID-19 has hit informal urban settlements particularly hard. The control and prevention of COVID-19 in slums starts with organizing community infrastructure, provision of basic needs and protection of people at highest risk. Slums are a source for persistent transmission. In view of the constant risk that slums present to the entire population decisive steps need to be taken to rehabilitate and improve informal settlements, Lorenz Von Seidlein and colleagues provide suggestions.
Impact of low blood culture usage on rates of antimicrobial resistance
MORU Bangkok
Posted 08/10/2020. “No bacterial culture, no drug-resistant infections.” Cherry Lim, Direk Limmathurotsakul and colleagues show that the impact of low blood culture utilization on the observed proportions and incidences of drug-resistant infections could be high. This is likely happening in most of LMICs. A set of recommendations are proposed.
Research ethics in context: understanding the vulnerabilities, agency and resourcefulness of research participants living along the Thai–Myanmar border
MORU Bangkok SMRU
Posted 01/12/2020. This paper confirms that research is important to inform evidence-based medical care in LMICs settings. Napat Khirikoekkong, Phaik Yeong Cheah and colleagues found that migrants living along the Thai-Myanmar border, who were traditionally deemed vulnerable, exercise their agency and resourcefulness when navigating through their daily challenges, and participating in important health research
Malaria Screener: a smartphone application for automated malaria screening
MORU Bangkok
Posted 24/11/2020. Malaria Screener is a smartphone application developed by the National Library of Medicine, in partnership with Richard Maude and colleagues at MORU Epidemiology, aiming to improve the availability of high quality malaria diagnosis. It is cheap, fast and easy-to-use with a standard smartphone and microscope and detects malaria parasites by machine learning.
Antimicrobial use in food animals and human health: time to implement ‘One Health’ approach
MORU Bangkok
Posted 13/11/2020. Use of antimicrobials in animals and the environment has been established to contribute to the global antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and yet there have been inadequate collaborative efforts to tackle this problem. Sunil Pokharel, Bipin Adhikari and colleagues discuss how and why ‘One health’ approach is important to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
Transmission of artemisinin-resistant malaria parasites to mosquitoes under antimalarial drug pressure
MORU Bangkok
Posted 10/11/20. Artemisinin-based combination therapies are not only effectively curing malaria, they also impact male malaria parasites in their capacity for onward transmission to the mosquito. Here, Andrea Ruecker and colleagues provide clear evidence that artemisinin resistant parasites overcome this sterilising effect to successfully infect mosquitoes under drug pressure, facilitating the spread of artemisinin resistance.
The efficacy of PPE for COVID-19-type respiratory illnesses in primary and community care staff
MORU Bangkok
Posted 13/10/2020. Xin Hui Chan and colleagues summarise their rapid reviews on the efficacy of personal protective equipment for preventing COVID-19 in primary and community care. They highlight how PPE is designed for use as an ensemble, is a complex intervention which should include appropriate training and support, and is the least effective of the hierarchy of controls.
Implementing parasite genotyping into national surveillance frameworks
MORU Bangkok
Posted 07/10/2020. The Asia-Pacific region is the epicentre of the emergence of resistance against frontline antimalarials, and also faces a high proportion of non-falciparum malaria. Sarah Auburn and colleagues review novel approaches for molecular surveillance that can help track drug resistant parasites and the spread of parasites across the region, discussed at a recent APMEN workshop in Jakarta, and how these approaches can provide important information for policy makers in malaria-endemic regions.
Case-control study of use of personal protective measures and risk for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, Thailand
MORU Bangkok
Posted 22/09/2020. This case-control study, conducted by Direk Limmathurotsakul and colleagues in Thailand, shows that wearing masks all the time, maintaining >1 m distance, having close contact for <15 minutes, and frequent handwashing are independently associated with lower risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19)
Estimating the proportion of Plasmodium vivax recurrences caused by relapse
MORU Bangkok
Posted 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.
No evidence that chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine induce hemolysis in G6PD deficiency
MORU Bangkok
Posted 25/08/2020. With renewed interest in chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, much has recently been written and published about the risk of haemolysis in G6PD deficient individuals. William Schilling and colleagues believe many have overlooked the wealth of data which already exists about this very issue. Here presented is an overview of the long-accrued evidence (as well as that from recent COVID-19 publications) that chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine do not induce haemolysis in G6PD deficiency.
Community engagement, social context and coverage of mass anti-malarial administration
COMRU LOMWRU MOCRU MORU Bangkok
Posted 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.
Antimicrobial resistance in Cambodia
COMRU MORU Bangkok
Posted 09/07/2019. On behalf of the Cambodian Ministry of Health Technical Working Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, Paul Turner and colleagues at COMRU recently led a review of published data on AMR in Cambodia. Significant AMR was identified in a range of priority pathogens although data were limited. On-going national AMR surveillance will address this data gap.
Antimicrobial-resistant Gram-negative colonization in infants from a neonatal intensive care unit in Thailand
COMRU LOMWRU MORU Bangkok
Posted 31/05/2019. Drug-resistant infections caused by Enterobacteriaceae, a family of Gram-negative bacteria, account for a high and increasing disease burden amongst hospitalised neonates in Southeast Asia; carbapenem-resistant strains are particularly important because of limited antibiotic treatment options. Tamalee Roberts and colleagues found that nearly two thirds of infants in a neonatal unit in Thailand became asymptomatic carriers with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae during their hospital stays. This work indicates a critical need for interventions to reduce this usually hidden reservoir of drug-resistant bacteria.
Effect of point-of-care C-reactive protein testing on antibiotic prescription in febrile patients attending primary care in Thailand and Myanmar
MOCRU MORU Bangkok
Posted 15/01/2019. Dr Thomal Althaus and colleagues managed to reduce antibiotic prescription using the C-reactive protein (CRP) test among 2,410 children and adults presented with a fever in primary care centres in Thailand & Myanmar. The perspective of a rapid and affordable test for CRP, identifying febrile patients who really need an antibiotic, is now possible!
Molecular characterization and mapping of G6PD mutations in the Greater Mekong Subregion
COMRU LOMWRU MOCRU MORU Bangkok
Posted 19/02/2019. Germana Bancone and colleagues characterized glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in over 10 thousand samples collected in 138 villages in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, showing a country-level prevalence in males ranging from 7.3% to 18.8%. Given this high prevalence, G6PD testing should be carried out in the Greater Mekong Subregion before P. vivax radical cure with 8-aminoquinolines.
The impact of targeted malaria elimination with mass drug administrations on falciparum malaria in Southeast Asia
COMRU LOMWRU MOCRU MORU Bangkok
Posted 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.
Nutrition in transition: historical cohort analysis among pregnant women along the Thailand–Myanmar border 1986 - 2016
MORU Bangkok SMRU
Posted 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.