July 1st 2020 15:00 BST (GMT+1) For Spanish version click here Briefing webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82914301088 For further details of the briefing visit ECMM website September 3-5th over 60 fungal disease experts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela convened in… Read more »
Posts By: Graham Atherton
PAHO issues guidelines on disseminated histoplasmosis in HIV/AIDS
Disseminated histoplasmosis is under-diagnosed and as a result, is the cause of death in up to 20% of people dying of AIDS. Antigen detection in serum or urine is more sensitive and faster than conventional diagnosis, usually based on culture, or histopathology of skin lesions or bone marrow. Today the Pan American Health Organization has… Read more »
2019 GAFFI Annual Report issued with major progress on health systems and major mycology diagnostic network in India
2019 was a pivotal year for GAFFI’s efforts in 3 meaningful ways: 1) The first publication from its diagnostic program for HIV patients in Guatemala was published, 2) The world’s first Health System meeting on Fungal Diseases was held for Latin America in Lima, Peru and 3) The Indian government agreed to set up a state-wide… Read more »
GAFFI Ambassadors shine light on decades of mycetoma in Senegal and Uganda
Mycetoma is a chronic granulomatous deep mycosis that causes debilitating lesions, caused by fungal or bacterial implantation through the skin. In Uganda, Richard Kwizera, Dr Felix Bongomin and colleagues in Kampala published a 69 year retrospective study of all biopsy reports produced by the Pathology Reference Laboratory at Makerere University from 1950 to 2019 (249… Read more »
How common is chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis? No one knows, but it is likely global and grossly under-diagnosed
First described in in 1948 and acknowledged as a separate clinical entity in 1953, many patients with chronic pulmonary histoplasmosis (CPH) languished in US tuberculosis sanatoriums, until picked out in the 1950’s. In one sanatorium in Missouri, 7.2% of ‘TB patients’ actually had CPH. In a review just published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Jacob… Read more »
On World Tuberculosis Day, remember TB-like fungal infections and co-infection of TB and Aspergillus
Several lung fungal infections can be mistaken for TB – histoplasmosis, aspergillosis, coccidioidomycosis and paracoccidioidomycosis. Antibody testing and fungal culture of sputum are the means of establishing the diagnosis. The number of incident cases of these fungal infections varies substantially by region and country and the rate of misdiagnosis of TB-like fungal infections is not… Read more »
World’s first lateral flow assay for Histoplasma antigen launched
In a ground-breaking development for patients with AIDS, the world’s first lateral flow assay able to detect Histoplasma antigen has been launched by MiraVista Diagnostics, based in Indianapolis, USA. Diego Cáceres and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) independently evaluated the new LFA in serum samples from patients and controls in… Read more »
The Diagnostic Laboratory Hub – a new Healthcare System to reduce fungal disease mortality in Guatemala
A team from Guatemala has published a new approach to diagnosing AIDS-related lethal fungal infections and tuberculosis (TB) in the prestigious journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases. Supported by the Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections (GAFFI) the Asociación de Salud Integral shows how by providing access to rapid diagnostics and focussed training, LMICs can deliver… Read more »
GAFFI presents the case for investment into fungal diseases to Bundestag, Berlin.
At the invitation of the Chair of Global Health sub-committee Heike Baehrens, GAFFI’s plea for more investment into saving lives and reducing symptoms caused by fungal diseases. As part of the One Health concept, GAFFI’s Chief Executive Professor David Denning and Senior Medical Adviser Professor Juan Luis Rodriguez Tudela spoke at the hour-long meeting… Read more »
THE GLOBAL ACTION FUND FOR FUNGAL INFECTIONS (GAFFI) WILL #FIGHTFUNGUS WITH GLOBAL AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
September 23rd to 27th is Fungal Disease Awareness Week, an annual campaign to highlight the vital difference early recognition of serious fungal diseases makes in patient outcomes. Killing over 1.5 million and affecting over a billion people worldwide, fungal diseases have been the most neglected topic by public health authorities. In the UK, it is… Read more »
