Disease
Resistance in the Limelight
Doctor Shinji Kasai’s recent publication on the combined effects of three knockdown resistance (kdr) mutations in Aedes aegypti sparked media frenzy. He demonstrated the causal relationship between specific genes & pyrethroid sensitivity in mosquitoes.
The study improved understanding of insecticide resistance evolution & opened new strategies to control mosquito populations & reduce disease spread. Kasai’s latest paper on super-insecticide-resistant dengue mosquitoes caused a stir in the media, revealing high levels of pyrethroid resistance in field populations.
Urban Africa Faces Invasive Challenge
Malaria numbers are surging in the Horn of Africa, but not in rural settings.
Djibouti is a small country of around 900,000 inhabitants on the Horn of Africa that rests on the shores of Bab al-Mandab strait, just 20 miles from the coast of Yemen and southwest Asia. Ten years ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) proudly proclaimed that Djibouti was entering the “pre-elimination phase” in its longstanding battle against malaria. Pre-elimination status is reached when a country’s number of confirmed malaria cases approaches zero.
Malaria’s Long Tail
The impacts of severe malaria cases on children are well documented, but the effects of mild infections on child development are less understood. The statistics …
The Economics of Resistance
It would be extremely difficult to calculate, with any high degree of accuracy, the global economic impact of insecticide resistance. For starters, we must consider that insect management plays a pivotal role in a variety of sectors – agriculture, home and garden, forestry, structural applications, and vector control. Analysis of the totality of economic impacts arising from resistance in any one of these sectors quickly becomes a complicated interplay of variables that interact within that given system.
Resisting Resistance
In biological terms, resistance can be defined as the natural ability of an organism to withstand a damaging agent or adverse condition. Animals, plants, and microbes have all demonstrated the ability to develop resistance, with either positive or negative outcomes, depending on the interaction.
New MoA Success Drives Provocative Research with Broad Implications
Impact of ivermectin in onchocerciasis control could be just the beginning The iconic story behind onchocerciasis elimination efforts offers lessons that extend well into the …
It All Started with a Gift
Merck’s commitment to donate ivermectin for onchocerciasis control in the late 80s was only the beginning of the challenge to deliver the intervention to those …
Silencing River Blindness – a Legendary Story of Public Health Triumph
As the world marshals its collective resources in the fight against COVID-19, an often forgotten major Public Health accomplishment achieved through an intense global Public-Private …