News — MORU Tropical Health Network

Joel Tarning wins Ashford award at ASTMH 2019

22 November 2019

Professor Joel Tarning received a Bailey K. Ashford Medal at the ASTMH 2019 Conference. The medal is awarded annually for distinguished work in tropical medicine by an early- to mid-career ASMTH member. Joel is Head of Clinical Pharmacology at MORU and his work focuses on applying pharmacokinetic-phamacodynamic modelling to optimise antimalarial drug therapies, in particular for at-risk groups such as malnourished children and pregnant women.

Congratulations new TropMed professors

9 October 2019

Oxford Medical Sciences Divisional Panel has conferred the title of Professor on three members of our Centre. Ben Cooper - Professor of Epidemiology, Sassy Molyneux - Professor of Global Health and Piero Olliaro - Professor of Poverty Related Infectious Diseases were awarded these titles in recognition of their distinction in their respective fields and contributions to the research, teaching and administration of the Department and we congratulate them on their success!

New research supports co-administration of primaquine with artemisinin-based combination therapies for P. vivax malaria

8 October 2019

An individual patient data meta-analysis of 2,017 patients from 19 studies has found a high risk of recurrence following treatment of P. vivax malaria with artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) unless they are co-administered with primaquine. The research supports recommendations that these artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACT) should be combined with primaquine.

Oxford Vice-Chancellor Louise Richardson visits MORU and SMRU

18 September 2019

MORU and SMRU were delighted and honoured to host the University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor Prof Louise Richardson and her party during her visit to Thailand on 1-4 September. Accompanying the Vice-Chancellor were Jeremy Woodall (Director of Development (Asia)), Frewyeni Kidane (Fundraiser for Southeast Asia), Cher Wu (Asia Development office) and Ed Gibbs (NDM Director of Finance and Operations).

MORU's new Critical Care Asia Network: 42 ICUs in 9 countries

18 September 2019

In partnership with the Wellcome Innovations Flagship Programme, MORU launched its Critical Care Asia Network project with its first investigators’ meeting on 19-20 Aug in Bangkok. The project will establish an Asian ICU network across 42 ICUs in nine countries and implement a setting-adapted electronic registry.

Antimalarial treatments less effective in severely malnourished children

24 July 2019

MORU researchers have found that severe malnutrition is associated with lower exposure to the antimalarial drug lumefantrine in children treated with artemether-lumefantrine, the most common treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria. The study, which is the first to specifically address this, calls urgently for further research into optimised dosing regimens for undernourished children.

Rapidly spreading multidrug-resistant parasites render frontline malaria drug ineffective in southeast Asia

23 July 2019

A rapidly evolving multi-drug resistant lineage of P. falciparum malaria parasites continues to spread in South East Asia, leading to alarmingly high treatment failure rates in Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam for DHA-piperaquine, one of the world’s most important anti-malaria drugs.

New study shows faster way to cure vivax malaria

19 July 2019

A large clinical trial in Africa and Asia has shown that a 7 day course of high dose primaquine, a drug used to treat P. vivax malaria, is well tolerated and just as effective as the current standard 14 day regimen, according to a study published this week in The Lancet. These findings have important implications for the treatment and elimination of vivax malaria in the Asia Pacific.

Village drama against malaria project wins University Public Engagement with Research Award

10 July 2019

A project using drama that engages with village communities in Cambodia, led by Professor Phaik Yeong Cheah of the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit and Nuffield Department of Medicine, has won a Project award in this year’s Vice-Chancellor’s Public Engagement with Research Awards. The project also won the Vice-Chancellor’s Choice Award for Public Engagement with Research.

Applications are now open for our Short Course on Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases

3 May 2019

This 5-day course is aimed at participants with a basic understanding of infectious disease modelling and an aptitude for the R programming language. On completion participants will be able to write and analyse the dynamics of a simple mathematical model and use it to consider cost and intervention scenarios. September 23-27 at St Anne’s College, Oxford

World Malaria Day seminar 2019 - Antimalarial treatments for vulnerable groups

30 April 2019

To mark World Malaria Day on 25 April WWARN’s Dr Makoto Saito and Professor Joel Tarning from the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit and Head of WWARN Pharmacometrics presented their work on prevention and treatment of malaria in vulnerable groups at a seminar hosted by the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health

Eliminating malaria in the Asia-Pacific could save 400,000 lives

25 April 2019

Increased funding is needed to eliminate malaria across 22 Asia-Pacific countries and save an estimated 400,000 lives, according to research published in a new collection of studies on Wellcome Open Research.

Cherry's story: a career launched by first-hand experience and a good mentor

3 April 2019

How do you go about building all the skills you need at the start of your research career? Cherry Lim from our MORU unit in Bangkok, Thailand, was lucky to find a good mentor who guided her through this journey, but her own ceaseless curiosity and excitement about research were also important.

Tracking resistance results presented at Westminster, UK Houses of Parliament

26 March 2019

Rob van der Pluijm presented encouraging findings from TRAC II trial analyses of Triple Artemisinin Combination Therapies to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Malaria & NTDs on March 19th in Westminster at the Houses of Parliament.

Mass drug administration against malaria seen effective

6 March 2019

Lorenz Von Seidlein tells SciDev.Net that mass drug administration as “presumptive treatment” to clear the parasite reservoir was carried out in eight villages spread across Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam. By the third month, the prevalence of P. falciparum had decreased by 92 % in those villages. Over the subsequent nine months, P. falciparum infections returned but stayed well below baseline levels, showing that MDA can stop transmission of falciparum malaria and reduce its prevalence in SE Asia, where resistance to artemisinin has hampered elimination efforts.

Katherine Plewes earns Canadian grant for KIMORU based study

1 March 2019

Working closely with the University of British Columbia (UBC)'s Support Program to Advance Research Capacity (SPARC), MORU Malaria Researcher Dr Katherine Plewes was recently awarded a 3-year, C$971,551 grant for her study on Evaluating the renoprotective effect of acetaminophen in pediatric severe falciparum malaria: A randomized controlled trial.

Guide to sepsis management offers comprehensive, practical advice for resource-limited settings

26 February 2019

On 12 Feb 2019, Professor Arjen Dondorp published a new book: Sepsis Management in Resource-limited Settings. The result of a 3-year project led by MORU and the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM), the book was written by critical care physicians from around the globe.

Latest WWARN publication identifies 15 new mutant alleles in the Kelch-13 gene

18 January 2019

A recent WWARN individual patient meta-analysis has gathered 18 published and unpublished studies from Africa and Asia to explore the relationships between identified Kelch 13 mutant alleles and delayed parasite clearance. The study results show one P. falciparum specific mutant and 20 pfk13 propeller region mutant alleles are 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.

Asian Sepsis Alliance inaugurated at MORU Bangkok

4 October 2018

On 4 Oct 2018, the MORU Malaria Dept, in collaboration with the Global Sepsis Alliance (GSA), hosted the inaugural meeting of a proposed Asian Sepsis Alliance in Bangkok.

Tackling drug resistance on Asian farms with maps and a dictionary

12 September 2018

MORU is participating in a project to reduce antibiotic resistance on farms in Asia by educating farmers. In his first 12 years working as a vet in Bangladesh, Bikash Chandra Saha routinely prescribed antibiotics. Then he learned of the devastating impact of antimicrobial resistance on human health - and it revolutionized his treatment choices.

Congratulations to new Associate Professors

22 August 2018

The University of Oxford's Medical Sciences Divisional Panel has conferred the title of Associate Professor on three members of our academic staff: Rogier van Doorn (OUCRU), Lorenz von Seidlein (MORU) and George Warimwe (KWTRP). This title is awarded in recognition of their distinction in their respective fields and contributions to the research and teaching, and we congratulate them on their success.

Malaria’s ticking time bomb

26 July 2018

Scientists are racing to stamp out the disease in Southeast Asia before unstoppable strains spread. This article features MORU, SMRU and colleagues, and explains what is happening and what we are doing to eliminate drug-resistant malaria in Southeast Asia before it spreads

The frontline fight against deadly malaria parasites threatening a new global emergency

20 April 2018

ITV News has travelled across the world to report on the growing global threat of the spread of deadly drug-resistant 'super bugs'. In the first of their three-part series, they investigate the frontline fight against deadly malaria parasites in South East Asia threatening a new global emergency.

UK government announces further support in the fight against malaria

17 April 2018

As the second largest international donor, the UK has been at the forefront of efforts to reduce the number of cases for many years by investing in treatment, prevention and research, including the fight against the threat of drug resistance. The UK has announced further support for the fight against malaria to save more than 120,000 lives ahead of a Malaria Summit tomorrow with Commonwealth leaders.

Paracetamol protects kidney in severe malaria patients

10 April 2018

Giving paracetamol (acetaminophen) to patients ill with severe malaria made them less likely to develop potentially fatal kidney failure. Each year severe malaria causes close to half a million deaths globally. Acute kidney injury occurs in 40% of adults and at least 10% of children with severe malaria, killing an estimated 40% of these adults and 12-24% of the children. The study reported for the first time that giving regular doses of paracetamol protects the kidney in adult patients with severe falciparum malaria.

FIEBRE study kicks off; aims to reveal leading causes of fever and tackle AMR

16 March 2018

FIEBRE aims to design new evidence-based guidelines to manage fever, thereby ensuring that patients get drugs that give them the best chance of recovery, and thereby help stop the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a major global health problem.

Village Drama Against Malaria in Cambodia

9 March 2018

In collaboration with Cambodian authorities, MORU are running the Village Drama Against Malaria project for the third year. The project, which runs in 10 remote villages in March 2018, aims to create awareness about malaria prevention and early treatment.

Labels showing antibiotics used to produce food a must to fight drug-resistant superbugs Labels showing antibiotics used to produce food a must to fight drug-resistant superbugs

31 January 2018

To fight the growing global threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, food labels around the world should include an ‘antibiotic footprint’ section that clearly shows the type and amount of antibiotics used to produce that food, say scientists in a study led by Associate Professor Direk Limmathurotsakul.

Superbug2019s spread to vietnam threatens malaria control

Superbug’s spread to Vietnam threatens malaria control

21 September 2017

A highly drug resistant malaria "superbug" from western Cambodia is now present in southern Vietnam, leading to alarming failure rates for dihydroartemisinin (DHA)-piperaquine — Vietnam’s national first-line malaria treatment, leading malaria scientists warn.

Direk Limmathurotsakul earns RSTMH Emerging Leaders Award

20 September 2017

At their Annual Meeting 13 Sept, the Trustees of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH) awarded MORU’s Dr Direk Limmathurotsakul its Emerging Leaders Award.

Hats on at latest BKKSci Café

7 September 2017

On 30 Aug 2017, Professor Lisa White, Head of Mathematical/Economic Modelling (MAEMOD) at MORU, led an engaging interactive Bangkok Scientifique session on the uses of mathematical modelling in infectious diseases at Café Tartine in Bangkok.

Improved home designs may fight malaria in Africa

21 August 2017

Changing home designs and materials to make homes cooler and harder for mosquitoes to enter could reduce malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new study in The Lancet Planetary Health.

Quick test can predict anaemia in malaria patients treated with artemisinins

19 July 2017

An existing malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) can be adapted to predict the delayed anaemia that can complicate severe malaria in patients treated with artemisinin-based antimalarial drugs

Rapid tests would improve malaria patients' lives - and be cost-effective

5 June 2017

5 June 2017, Bangkok (Thailand) – Doing a rapid test for G6PD deficiency before prescribing the antimalarial drug primaquine to P. vivax malaria patients could be a cost-effective way to improve thousands of lives, say researchers in a study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Cheers! Bangkok hosts SEA's 1st Pint of Science Festival

15 May 2017

Thailand and SE Asia’s first Pint of Science Festival kicked Pint-of-Science1 off on Mon 15 May with a look at Killer Bugs: Disease, Detection and Destruction and an enthusiastic reception from over 50 attendees that included scientists from MORU and other institutions, business people with a background in science and students.

Loads of awards in latest Oxford distinction applications!

3 August 2016

We are delighted to announce that several MORU Network colleagues were honoured in the recent University of Oxford Recognition of Distinction rounds. Clockwise from top left: Joel Tarning was awarded the title of Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Lisa White Professor of Modelling and Epidemiology. Stuart Blacksell, Susanna Dunachie, Paul Turner, Richard Maude, Frank Smithuis and Phaik Yeong Cheah were each awarded the title of Associate Professor.

TRACII anti-malarial drug resistance study begins to recruit patients

21 March 2016

The Tracking Resistance to Artemisinin Collaboration II (TRACII) study has begun recruitment, with about 180 subjects enrolled to date in 12 sites in seven countries in Asia and Africa, researchers announced at the second TRACII investigators’ meeting held 7 March in Bangkok.

Pharmacometric research at MORU to expand thanks to Gates Foundation grant

31 August 2015

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has approved a three-year grant that will lead to an expansion of the pharmacometric research group within MORU’s Department of Clinical Pharmacology.

Professor joel tarning awarded the giorgio segre prize for pharmaceutical research

Professor Joel Tarning awarded the Giorgio Segré Prize for pharmaceutical research

16 June 2015

The European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) today awarded the Giorgio Segré Prize to Professor Joel Tarning for his scientific research work on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of antimalarial drugs in vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women and young children.

How best to test Ebola treatments

14 April 2015

An unconventional clinical trial design might have advantages over classical trials for testing treatments for Ebola virus disease (EVD), suggests a study published this week in PLOS Medicine. The work of an international team led by John Whitehead of Lancaster University, UK and Ben Cooper (Oxford University, UK, and Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU), Bangkok, Thailand) provides much-needed data to inform a debate on the scientific and ethical justification for non-randomized EVD trials that has taken place in the editorial pages of a number of medical journals in past months.

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