Dengue hemorrhagic encephalitis: MRI
Discussion by Dr MGK Murthy, Dr GA PrasadDengue virus is a single-stranded RNA virus of the Flavivirus genus classified into four serotypes. Neurological manifestations, commonly seen with serotypes 2 and 3.Neurological manifestation in dengue hemorrhagic fever usually results from multisystem dysfunction secondary to liver failure, cerebral hypoperfusion, electrolyte imbalance, shock, cerebral edema, and hemorrhage related to vascular leak. Presentation as viral encephalitis is rare as the virus is non-neurotrophic.Patients can present with - stroke, mononeuropathies, polyneuropathies, Guillain-Ba...
Source: Sumer's Radiology Site - November 13, 2017 Category: Radiology Authors: Sumer Sethi Source Type: blogs
Rapid Phone-Based Test for Multiple Infectious Pathogens
Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Washington at Tacoma have partnered to develop a compact, portable, and easy to use system for simultaneously detecting a variety of bacteria and viruses that cause disease. The system provides results in about a half an hour, which are nearly as accurate as laboratory equipment, and the technology can be used in the field and at the point-of-care.
The technology revolves around a microfluidic chip that contains loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) reagents. Each of the chip’s parallel channels is loaded with reagents design...
Source: Medgadget - October 23, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Medicine Pathology Public Health Source Type: blogs
Mosquito controls with AGO bucket traps, Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap (AGO), tested by CDC
Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap (AGO) bucket trap is a standard 5-gallon bucket adapted in a specific way to capture mosquitoes.AGO traps are available for purchase online from Springstar. Two traps cost $75, free shipping:https://www.springstar.net/collections/mosquitoes/products/agoThe Autocidal Gravid Ovitrap (AGO trap), was developed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and has been proven to reduce populations of Aedes mosquitoes by over 80%. It is effective for the mosquitoes that transmit Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever. No pesticides or pheromones required. Just add water and a little hay.From Springstar we...
Source: Clinical Cases and Images - Blog - September 24, 2017 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: noreply at blogger.com (Ves Dimov) Tags: Florida Infectious Diseases Tropical Source Type: blogs
Chikungunya Outbreak Halts Blood Collection in Parts of Rome
As a former blood banker, I often take notice of the relationship between blood donation and infectious disease, a sensitivity that harks back to the AIDS era. A recent article noted that blood donations were being halted in parts of Rome because of an outbreak of Chikungunya (see:Outbreak of disease carried by mosquitoes halts blood donation in Rome), Below is an excerpt from it:Italian health officials have banned residents across half of Rome from donating blood because of an outbreak of the painful, mosquito-borne illness Chikungunya. At least 17 people in southeastern Rome have been diagnosed with the virus sinc...
Source: Lab Soft News - September 18, 2017 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Blood banking Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Medical Consumerism Medical Research Source Type: blogs
What Three Decades Of Pandemic Threats Can Teach Us About The Future
Editor’s Note: This post reflects on a speech on pandemic preparedness Dr. Fauci gave on January 10, 2017 in Washington, DC, hosted by The Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University Medical Center, the Harvard Global Health Institute, and Health Affairs.
One of the most important challenges facing the new Administration is preparedness for the pandemic outbreak of an infectious disease. Infectious diseases will continue to pose a significant threat to public health and the economies of countries worldwide. The U.S. government will need to continue its investment to combat these diseases whe...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 9, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Anthony S. Fauci Tags: Featured Global Health Policy Ebola HIV/AIDS NIH pandemic preparedness Zika Source Type: blogs
TWiV 421: Like flies on shot
The TWiVnauts present another example of an infectious but replication incompetent vaccine, an insect specific arborvirus bearing chikungunya virus structural proteins.
You can find TWiV #421 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below.
Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 421 (67 MB .mp3, 112 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email
Become a patron of TWiV! (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - December 25, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology arborvirus Eilat virus host range vaccine viral viruses Source Type: blogs
Paradoxical vaccines
A new breed of vaccines is on the horizon: they replicate in one type of cell, allowing for their production, but will not replicate in humans. Two different examples have recently been described for influenza and chikungunya viruses.
The influenza virus vaccine is produced by introducing multiple amber (UAG) translation stop codons in multiple viral genes. Cloned DNA copies of the mutated viral RNAs are not infectious in normal cells. However, when introduced into specially engineered ‘suppressor’ cells that can insert an amino acid at each amber stop codon, infectious viruses can be produced. These viruses will only...
Source: virology blog - December 23, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information Chikungunya Eilat virus flavivirus inactivated vaccine infectious vaccine influenza nonsense suppression stop codon togavirus viral viruses Zika Source Type: blogs
Making a Lasting Impact in Nicaragua
By CASEY GRAVES, MDThe Northeast Presbyterian Church (NEPC) has been organizing mission trips to Nicaragua for many years. These trips generally comprise operating roving clinics and performing ministry work in different parts of the country each year. Recently, they added a new option: The church began sending volunteers to a newly established clinic in an extremely poor community to provide affordable care, and I was one of them. Cristo Rey was a community formed from the good intentions of the Spanish government, which carries out a significant amount of humanitarian work in Nicaragua. Many...
Source: Going Global - December 5, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Making a Lasting Impact in Nicaragua
By CASEY GRAVES, MDThe Northeast Presbyterian Church (NEPC) has been organizing mission trips to Nicaragua for many years. These trips generally comprise operating roving clinics and performing ministry work in different parts of the country each year. Recently, they added a new option: The church began sending volunteers to a newly established clinic in an extremely poor community to provide affordable care, and I was one of them. Cristo Rey was a community formed from the good intentions of the Spanish government, which carries out a significant amount of humanitarian work in Nicaragua. Many...
Source: Going Global - December 5, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
TWiV 414: Zika in the guys with Diamond
On episode #414 of the science show This Week in Virology, Michael Diamond visits the TWiV studio to talk about chikungunya virus and his laboratory’s work on a mouse model of Zika virus, including the recent finding of testicular damage caused by viral replication.
You can find TWiV #414 at microbe.tv/twiv, or listen below.
Click arrow to play
Download TWiV 414 (50 MB .mp3, 83 min)
Subscribe (free): iTunes, RSS, email
Become a patron of TWiV! (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - November 6, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology conjunctivitis fertility microcephaly mouse model sexual transmission sperm sterility testes uveitis viral virus virus in semen virus in tears viruses zika virus Source Type: blogs
Zeke Emanuel May Not Be Right This Time: Increasing Costs Will Probably Not Slow Antibiotic Resistance
Ezekiel J. (Zeke) Emanuel,
MD, PhD, is chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the
University of Pennsylvania. On May 30, 2016, the Washington Post published an
opinion piece by Dr. Emanuel titled “Want to Win $2 Billion? Create the Next
Antibiotic.”
In the article,
Dr. Emanuel makes two key points: (1) the low cost of antibiotics may be one of
the principal factors that have led to doctors over-prescribing these drugs;
(2) the low cost of antibiotics with the resulting low rate of return on
investment for pharmaceutical companies dis-incentivizes drug manufacturers
from allocating more...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - June 24, 2016 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Bioethics Today Tags: Health Care antibiotic cost drug safety evidence based medicine prescribing resistance syndicated Source Type: blogs
Zika virus and mosquito eradication
The Aedes aegypti eradication campaign coordinated by the Pan American Health Organization led by 1962 to elimination of this mosquito from 18 countries, including Brazil. Ae. aegypti transmits not only Zika virus, but dengue virus, chikungunya virus, and yellow fever virus. Could control measures be implemented today to achieve similar control of this mosquito? Two articles in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases revisit the successful PAHO mosquito control campaign and suggest that its approaches should be revived.
The elimination of Ae. aegypti in 18 countries, which was accompanied by a marked reduction in dengue hemorrha...
Source: virology blog - June 9, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information Chikungunya virus DDT dengue virus mosquito PAHO perifocal control vaccine viral viruses zika virus Source Type: blogs
Zika virus, like all other viruses, is mutating
Not long after the appearance of an outbreak of viral disease, first scientists, and then newswriters, blame it all on mutation of the virus. It happened during the Ebolavirus outbreak in West Africa, and now it’s happening with Zika virus.
The latest example is by parasitologist Peter Hotez, who writes in the New York Times:
There are many theories for Zika’s rapid rise, but the most plausible is that the virus mutated from an African to a pandemic strain a decade or more ago and then spread east across the Pacific from Micronesia and French Polynesia, until it struck Brazil.
After its discovery in 1947 in Uganda...
Source: virology blog - April 15, 2016 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Commentary Information genome microcephaly mutation pandemic transmission viral virulence virus viruses zika virus Source Type: blogs
MedlinePlus Health Topic: Chikungunya
MedlinePlus has published a new health topic page on chikungunya virus.
From MedlinePlus:
“Chikungunya is a virus that spread by the same kinds of mosquitoes that spread dengue and Zika virus. Rarely, it can spread from mother to newborn around the time of birth. It may also possibly spread through infected blood. There have been outbreaks of chikungunya virus in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.”
Chikungunya (English): http://1.usa.gov/1PQFtUD
Chikungunya (Spanish): http://1.usa.gov/1TwHj45 (Source: BHIC)
Source: BHIC - April 4, 2016 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Kate Flewelling Tags: National Library of Medicine News Public Health Regional Information Source Type: blogs
To Improve Pandemic Preparedness, Update The Priority Review Voucher Program
Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would add the Zika virus to the list of diseases in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) priority review voucher (PRV) program. The Senate HELP Committee has also recently advanced similar legislation. This is a positive step that would help incentivize needed research and development (R&D) to fight the disease. However, it also illustrates the fact that the PRV platform could be used far more proactively to help address future pandemics before they strike.
Incentive For Innovation
In 2007 the US government created the PRV as an incentive to dri...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 22, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Kenneth Gustavsen Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Featured Global Health Congress Ebola FDA outbreaks pandemic priority review Research Zika Source Type: blogs
