6320 research outputs found
Sort by
The First Global Forum on Bacterial Infections calls for urgent action to contain antibiotic resistance
No full textSocial determinants of long lasting insecticidal hammock-use among the Ra-Glai ethnic minority in Vietnam: implications for forest malaria control
No full textBACKGROUND: Long-lasting insecticidal hammocks (LLIHs) are being evaluated as an additional malaria prevention tool in settings where standard control strategies have a limited impact. This is the case among the Ra-glai ethnic minority communities of Ninh Thuan, one of the forested and mountainous provinces of Central Vietnam where malaria morbidity persist due to the sylvatic nature of the main malaria vector An. dirus and the dependence of the population on the forest for subsistence - as is the case for many impoverished ethnic minorities in Southeast Asia. METHODS: A social science study was carried out ancillary to a community-based cluster randomized trial on the effectiveness of LLIHs to control forest malaria. The social science research strategy consisted of a mixed methods study triangulating qualitative data from focused ethnography and quantitative data collected during a malariometric cross-sectional survey on a random sample of 2,045 study participants. RESULTS: To meet work requirements during the labor intensive malaria transmission and rainy season, Ra-glai slash and burn farmers combine living in government supported villages along the road with a second home at their fields located in the forest. LLIH use was evaluated in both locations. During daytime, LLIH use at village level was reported by 69.3% of all respondents, and in forest fields this was 73.2%. In the evening, 54.1% used the LLIHs in the villages, while at the fields this was 20.7%. At night, LLIH use was minimal, regardless of the location (village 4.4%; forest 6.4%). DISCUSSION: Despite the free distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and LLIHs, around half the local population remains largely unprotected when sleeping in their forest plot huts. In order to tackle forest malaria more effectively, control policies should explicitly target forest fields where ethnic minority farmers are more vulnerable to malaria
Extension of the intensive phase reduces relapse but not failure in a regimen with rifampicin throughout
No full textRifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis: susceptibility to isoniazid and other anti-tuberculosis drugs
No full text
A novel high-throughput cellular screening assay for the discovery of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors
No full textThe discovery of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors has been enabled by high-throughput screening and rational design of novel chemotypes. Traditionally, biochemical assays focusing on the strand transfer activity of integrase have been used to screen compound libraries for identification of novel inhibitors. In contrast, cellular screening assays enable a phenotypic or multi-target approach, and may result in identification of compounds inhibiting integrase in its natural context, the pre-integration complex. Furthermore, a cellular assay encompassing 3' processing, strand transfer and nuclear import may lead to the identification of compounds with novel mechanisms of action targeting cellular and viral factors. Therefore, a cellular screening assay was developed, which focused on integrase activity, where infection of MT4 cells with an HIV-1 based lentiviral vector was synchronized by temporary arrest at the reverse transcriptase step and subsequent release to enable integration. The assay was validated using a panel of antivirals and proved to be a robust cellular screening assay for the identification of novel integrase inhibitors
Prevalence of pulmonary TB and spoligotype pattern of Mycobacterium tuberculosis among TB suspects in a rural community in Southwest Ethiopia
No full textBACKGROUND: In Ethiopia where there is no strong surveillance system and state of the art diagnostic facilities are limited, the real burden of tuberculosis (TB) is not well known. We conducted a community based survey to estimate the prevalence of pulmonary TB and spoligotype pattern of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates in Southwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A total of 30040 adults in 10882 households were screened for pulmonary TB in Gilgel Gibe field research centre in Southwest Ethiopia. A total of 482 TB suspects were identified and smear microscopy and culture was done for 428 TB suspects. Counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS was done for all TB suspects. Spoligotyping was done to characterize the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates. RESULTS: Majority of the TB suspects were females (60.7%) and non-literates (83.6%). Using smear microscopy, a total of 5 new and 4 old cases of pulmonary TB cases were identified making the prevalence of TB 30 per 100,000. However, using the culture method, we identified 17 new cases with a prevalence of 76.1 per 100,000. There were 4.3 undiagnosed pulmonary TB cases for every TB case who was diagnosed through the passive case detection mechanism in the health facility. Eleven isolates (64.7%) belonged to the six previously known spoligotypes: T, Haarlem and Central-Asian (CAS). Six new spoligotype patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, not present in the international database (SpolDB4) were identified. None of the rural residents was HIV infected and only 5 (5.5%) of the urban TB suspects were positive for HIV. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of TB in the rural community of Southwest Ethiopia is low. There are large numbers of undiagnosed TB cases in the community. However, the number of sputum smear-positive cases was very low and therefore the risk of transmitting the infection to others may be limited. Active case finding through health extension workers in the community can improve the low case detection rate in Ethiopia. A large scale study on the genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia is crucial to understand transmission dynamics, identification of drug resistant strains and design preventive strategies
