Trachoma is an eye infection affecting both eyes. It is the world’s leading cause of infectious blindness. A bacterium called Chlamydia trachomatis causes trachoma. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), trachoma has caused the visual impairment of 1.8 million people. Of those people, 4...50,000 are irreversibly blind. more

Accessed Febr. 6, 2020

The report focuses on several key areas where health outcomes are falling short, and provides insight into ways in which countries can improve the situation for their children and adolescents. Areas in focus include mental health, overweight/obesity and adolescent risk-taking behaviour. The report ...shows, for example, that: - mental health remains a neglected subject – only one quarter of countries are collecting data on the number of children treated by a mental health professional; - half of countries do not regulate the marketing of food to children, despite the fact that childhood obesity rates are high across the Region and physical activity rates are low; - almost half of countries have no policy that affects the availability of unhealthy foods at school; - 2 in 5 girls and 1 in 3 boys who are having sex do not protect themselves; and one third of countries do not offer legal access to contraception without parental consent for those under 18 years of age. more

Parasites & Vectors volume 11, Article number: 264 (2018) Dengue creates a staggering epidemiological and economic burden for endemic countries. Without a specific therapy and with a commercial vaccine that presents some problems relative to its full effectiveness, initiatives to improve vector... control strategies, early disease diagnostics and the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs are priorities. In this study, we present the probable origins of dengue in America and the trajectories of its spread. Overall, dengue diagnostics are costly, making the monitoring of dengue epidemiology more difficult and affecting physicians’ therapeutic decisions regarding dengue patients, especially in developing countries. This review also highlights some recent and important findings regarding dengue in Brazil and the Americas. We also summarize the existing DENV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic tests to provide an improved reference since these tests are useful and accurate at discriminating DENV from other flaviviruses that co-circulate in the Americas. Additionally, these DENV PCR assays ensure virus serotyping, enabling epidemiologic monitoring. more