Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) has been an alarming global public health issue. The disease affects mainly poor and marginalized people in low-resource settings and is caused by two subspecies of haemoflagellate parasite, Trypanosoma brucei and transmitted by tsetse flies. Progress made in HAT ...control during the past decade has prompted increasing global dialogue on its elimination and eradication. The disease is targeted by the World Health Organization (WHO) for elimination as a public health problem by 2020 and to terminate its transmission globally by 2030, along-side other Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD). Several methods have been used to control tsetse flies and the disease transmitted by them. Old and new tools to control the disease are available with constraints.
Currently, there are no vaccines available. Efforts towards intervention to control the disease over the past decade have seen considerable progress and remarkable success with incidence dropping progressively, reversing the upward trend of reported cases. This gives credence in a real progress in its elimination. This study reviews various control measures, progress and a highlight of control issues, vector and parasite barriers that may have been hindering progress towards its elimination.
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Dracunculiasis, also known as Guinea-worm disease is a parasitic disease caused by the nematode Dracunculus medinensis. The infection is transmitted to humans by drinking water contaminated with the small crustacean copepods (Cyclops) which contain the larvae of D. medinensis. Humans are the princip...al definitive host and Cyclops being the intermediate host. The disease is endemic to the rural and poorer areas of the world and is most common in African countries like Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Mali. Efforts are underway towards global eradication of this disease. Due to its rarity in developed countries, this activity describes the interprofessional team's role in the assessment and treatment of patients with this condition.
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2nd edition. This toolkit provides step-by-step guidance to NTD programme managers and partners on how to engage and work collaboratively with the WASH community to improve delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene services to underserved population affected by many neglected tropical diseases. The ...toolkit draws on tools and practices used in the delivery of coordinated and integrated programmes for control, elimination and eradication of NTDs. This second edition include revisions and new tools based on experiences of using the toolkit in more than 20 countries.
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While there has been real progress in addressing the burden of disease in the WHO African region, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the link between health, economics and security, as the region saw decades of progress threatened, including positive trends in decreasing inequality. In the Africa...n Region the momentum towards achieving the 2030 SDG disease burden reduction targets (SDG targets 3.3, 3.4 and 3B) has stalled.
The COVID-19 pandemic was also a major threat to gains made, such as the eradication of polio in the region, declared in 2020; reduced numbers of new HIV infections in 2021 compared to 2010; and passing the 2020 milestone of the End TB Strategy, with a 22% reduction in new cases compared with 2015. However, the pandemic also disrupted essential health services in 92% of countries globally, 22.7 million children missed basic immunization, there was an increase in malaria and TB, and global deaths from TB rose for the first time since 2015.
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This report is one of the first major products of the newly established Precision Public Health Metrics unit of the UCN cluster of the WHO Regional Office for Africa. The report presents national trends in communicable and non-communicable disease burden and control in the WHO African region. It tra...cks progress made with respect to disease burden reduction, elimination and eradication. It also highlights major emerging threats, opportunities and priorities in the fight against commu- nicable and non-communicable diseases in the region. It covers the period 2000-2022, but for some indicators, information is available only up to 2021.
The report shows the number of reported cases for malaria and vaccine preventable diseases (meningitis, measles, yellow fever, pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, and polio); disease incidence due to HIV, tuberculosis and four major noncommunicable diseases (cardiovas- cular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respira- tory diseases).
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L’orthopoxvirus simien ou virus de la variole du singe (MPXV), est un virus à ADN double brin qui appartient au genre Orthopoxvirus de la famille
des Poxviridés. Les poxvirus causent des maladies chez l’espèce humaine et beaucoup d’autres animaux ; l’infection se manifeste généralement... par la formation de lésions, de nodules cutanés ou d’une éruption cutanée disséminée. Les autres espèces d’orthopoxvirus (OPXV) pathogènes pour l’être humain comprennent le virus de la variole bovine et le virus variolique (responsable de la variole, qui a été éradiquée). Le virus de la vaccine est également un OPXV qui a été utilisé pour la vaccination humaine, et a été un outil essentiel pour l’éradication de la variole, obtenue en 1980. Le MPXV doit son nom au fait qu’il a été identifié pour la première fois chez le singe. Le MPXV se retrouve principalement chez les rongeurs, mais son réservoir reste indéterminé. Il existe deux clades connus du MPXV, l’un endémique en Afrique de l’Ouest, et l’autre dans la région du bassin du Congo.
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La enfermedad de Chagas, también llamada tripanosomiasis americana, sigue siendo endémica en 21 países de América Latina. Sin embargo, como consecuencia de las migraciones, la urbanización, la intensificación del turismo, la modificación de las estrategias agrícolas y el cambio climático, l...a enfermedad ha traspasado el marco rural y el ámbito latinoamericano que le dieron identidad durante decenios, y ha logrado instalarse en la periferia de las ciudades del área endémica y en países de América del Norte, Europa, Asia y Oceanía y transformarse en un problema de salud pública global. Teniendo en cuenta que el Chagas afecta a poblaciones en situación de pobreza en las que produce graves consecuencias para la salud y la economía de las personas infectadas, y que los recursos orientados a fomentar el desarrollo de proyectos de investigación, estrategias de control y planes de atención médica a los pacientes detectados son escasos, la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) incorporó esta enfermedad al grupo de enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas (EID) en el año 2005. Se reconoce actualmente la naturaleza multidimensional de la enfermedad de Chagas, cuya caracterización contempla una intrincada trama de aspectos socioculturales, políticos, biológicos, ambientales y sanitarios. Parte sustancial de todo ello radica en el carácter zoonótico de la endemia y la consiguiente imposibilidad de su erradicación. Por ende, resulta muy complicada la construcción de la ruta crítica para enfrentar esta enfermedad, con la aspiración o el objetivo de su eliminación como problema de salud pública. El propósito de esta guía es ofrecer a los Estados Miembros un instrumento que permita actualizar y estandarizar los procesos de evaluación del control, verificación de la interrupción de la transmisión, y validación de la eliminación de la enfermedad de Chagas como problema de salud pública, en consonancia con: a) la Estrategia y plan de acción para la prevención, el control y la atención de la enfermedad de Chagas; b) el Plan de acción para la eliminación de las enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas y las medidas posteriores a la eliminación 2016-2022; c) el Plan de acción sobre entomología y control de vectores 2018-2023; d) guías o procedimientos operativos estandarizados existentes para la verificación o validación de la eliminación de otras enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas (EID) como la oncocercosis, la filariasis linfática y el tracoma, y e) Enfermedades tropicales desatendidas. Prevención, control, eliminación, erradicación.
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Carlos Chagas discovered American trypanosomiasis, also named Chagas disease (CD) in his honor, just over a century ago. He described the clinical aspects of the disease, characterized by its etiological agent (Trypanosoma cruzi) and identified its insect vector. Initially, CD occurred only in Latin... America and was considered a silent and poorly visible disease. More recently, CD became a neglected worldwide disease with a high morbimortality rate and substantial social impact, emerging as a significant public health threat. In this context, it is crucial to better understand better the epidemiological scenarios of CD and its transmission dynamics, involving people infected and at risk of infection, diversity of the parasite, vector species, and T. cruzi reservoirs. Although efforts have been made by endemic and non-endemic countries to control, treat, and interrupt disease transmission, the cure or complete eradication of CD are still topics of great concern and require global attention. Considering the current scenario of CD, also affecting non-endemic places such as Canada, USA, Europe, Australia, and Japan, in this review we aim to describe the spread of CD cases worldwide since its discovery until it has become a global public health concern.
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La enfermedad de Chagas, también llamada tripanosomiasis americana, sigue siendo endémica en 21 países de América Latina. Sin embargo, como consecuencia de las migraciones, la urbanización, la intensificación del turismo, la modificación de las estrategias agrícolas y el cambio climático, l...a enfermedad ha traspasado el marco rural y el ámbito latinoamericano que le dieron identidad durante decenios, y ha logrado instalarse en la periferia de las ciudades del área endémica y en países de América del Norte, Europa, Asia y Oceanía y transformarse en un problema de salud pública global.
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n this study, low-dose azithromycin did not meet the prespecified non-inferiority margin compared with standard-dose azithromycin in achieving clinical and serological cure in PCR-confirmed active yaws. Only a single participant (with presumed latent yaws) had definitive serological failure. This wo...rk suggests that 20 mg/kg of azithromycin is probably effective against yaws, but further data are needed.
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Polio Bulletin
2024 Issue No. 1 - Week 1 (as of 2 January 2024)
Poster
Stop filariasis now
do the right thing to save the next generation
The elimination scenario planning (ESP) manual provides malaria-endemic countries with a comprehensive framework to assess different scenarios for moving towards this goal, depending on programme coverage and funding availability. It also helps countries set realistic timelines and provides essentia...l knowledge for strategic planning in the long term.
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This Framework offers a coherent approach for eliminating tuberculosis (TB) in low-incidence countries. It is designed to guide national policy-makers and those responsible for technical aspects of the national TB response in accelerating efforts towards elimination. The document will also be inform...ative for public health surveillance officers, practitioners and nongovernmental and civil society partners working on natioal TB care and prevention and serving the populations most vulnerable to TB.
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