Posts Categorized: Uncategorized

The extra cost to save 1 in 5 deaths from cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS is $973 according to Tinevimbo Shiri and colleagues. Using data from the ACTA trial, and assuming 14 days dual therapy with fluconazole and flucytosine, mortality falls from 53.8% to 35.1% over 10 weeks, and more over the following weeks. The additional… Read more »

  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 »

Estimates of the incidence and prevalence of fungal infections were presented this week at TIMM2019 (Nice, France) for a further 5 countries: Morocco, Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan.

An ad hoc panel of twenty three international medical experts from the fields of mycology, microbiology and dermatology, led by the International Foundation for Dermatology (IFD) and Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections (GAFFI), have put forward methods for developing essential diagnostic strategies for three major skin Fungal Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). You can find… Read more »

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 »

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 Lima, Peru  to discuss integration of new diagnostic tools that focus on antigen and antibody detection PCR (commercial and standardized) and MALDI-TOF identification… Read more »

Researchers from Manchester (UK) and Jakarta (Indonesia) have published new prevalence data for histoplasmosis exposure for multiple countries in SE Asia. Sensitivity to the histoplasmin skin test was seen in a large proportion of the population (26-86%), so it is likely that rolling out the Histoplasma antigen test (now on the WHO Essential Diagnostics List) will help to diagnose cases and save lives.

The World Health Organisation has updated its Essential Medicines List to the Histoplasma antigen test, which can be used on urine to diagnose histoplasmosis in 48 hours. Rolling out this test worldwide could save up to 48,000 lives in 5 years.

Lateral flow rapid diagnostics are sorely needed for many fungal infections. Scientists at the University of Manchester evaluated LDBio’s Aspergillus IgG test on patients at the National Aspergillosis Centre (UK). Compared to existing diagnostics, this test was more sensitive (91.6%) and more specific (98.0%) for chronic pulmonary aspergillosis.

Swarup Sarkar is an Indian physician, epidemiologist, public health professional and diplomat known for his works in the field of Infectious Diseases and HIV/AIDS in particular. Sarkar served as the Director of Communicable Diseases of the World Health Organization, South East Asia Regional Office (WHO SEARO) and is currently an advisor to international health agencies…. Read more »