The Director-General of the World Health Organization (Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus) has called for more research into mycetoma, a chronic fungal infection causing severe disfigurement of the hands or feet. Primarily affecting poor outdoor workers (labourers and herdsmen), mycetoma is thought to affect up to 50,000 people worldwide but accurate statistics are not available,… Read more »
Posts By: ElBradsh
Gilead reduces price of AmBisome (liposomal amphotericin B) for cryptococcal meningitis in HIV/AIDS
Gilead Sciences, a pharmaceutical company with an interest in AIDS, hepatitis C and infectious diseases, have expanded their access initiative for AmBisome (a liposomal preparation of amphotericin B) to include cryptococcal meningitis, where previously it was only for leishmaniasis. Governments and public sector procurers in 116 low- and middle-income countries can now buy the drug… Read more »
Donald Mackay Medal (RSTMH) awarded to Professor Ahmed Hassan Fahal of the Mycetoma Research Centre in Khartoum
The prestigious Donald Mackay Medal has been awarded to Professor Ahmed H. Fahal. The medal is awarded annually, in alternating years by the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH) and by the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH), during the Annual Meeting which this year was held at the Royal College… Read more »
Article published in Le Monde highlights threats from fungal infections of humans, crops and wildlife
PARIS – An article published in Le Monde brings to public attention the deadly threat that fungal infections pose to human health, food security and wildlife. It presents burden of disease statistics compiled by GAFFI and includes a quote from Professor David Denning, highlighting their key role in this area. The article emphasises the crucial… Read more »
Histoplasmosis competes with TB as top killer of Latin American AIDS patients
Both acquired through the lungs, TB from other people, histoplasmosis from disturbed soil are both potentially fatal in advanced HIV disease. Now Antoine Adenis and colleagues from INSERM and Centre Hospitalier de Cayenne, Cayenne have modeled the annual incidence of both infections throughout central and South America. For 2012, 6710 to 15 657 cases of… Read more »
Burden of fungal disease for 13 countries published in Journal of Fungi
Gaps in basic data on disease prevalence hinders accurate burden estimates for most fungal diseases: there is a 15-fold difference between the official asthma prevalence in Kazakhstan and the likely true minimal estimate; almost no epidemiological data on fungal diseases in Jordan; no direct records of fungal keratitis from many countries; and no data on… Read more »
Two point-of-care tests for invasive aspergillosis launched
Prompt initiation of antifungal therapy can make the difference between life and death for patients with invasive aspergillosis. Point-of-care diagnostics (POC; a.k.a. ‘bedside testing’) allows clinicians to begin treatment right away while awaiting confirmation by culture and histological examination. Two companies have released affordable and simple to use POC tests for invasive aspergillosis. Both tests… Read more »
