ATLANTA—Efficacy of the RTS,S malaria vaccine for children — vaccinated between six and 12 weeks age — checked-in at around 30 per cent in preliminary findings from Africa released at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference by Dr John Lusingu of Tanzania’s National Institute of Medical Research. He told Sarah Maxwell that although this figure is lower than was hoped the data mean that a third of all cases of malaria are prevented among vaccinated children. Professor Sir ...
Nov 20, 2013•6 min
ATLANTA—Results from the first large study of a vaccine for dengue fever — in 4000 Thai children — show that it is safe to use and effective — raising immunity to three out of the four "serotypes" of this mosquito-borne virus. Although these findings — announced at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting — show that complete protection — against all four virus types — is still not possible, Professor Jeremy Farrar of Oxford University's Unit in Ho Chi Minh city told ...
Dec 11, 2012•4 min
ATLANTA—Schistosomiasis — also known as bilharzia — could be eliminated from Africa and elsewhere by using two actions together: making simple improvements in water-supply sanitation and hygiene and treating infected children with free praziquantel — recently made available by the manufacturers. At the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual conference Alan Fenwick, Professor of Tropical Parasitology at Imperial College in London, chaired a symposium reviewing the latest evidenc...
Nov 27, 2012•5 min
LONDON—A man with no legs and only one arm and a boy crippled by polio have been instrumental in steering a Red Cross team’s work in Afghanistan. The ICRC’s head of Orthopaedics in Kabul, Alberto Cairo, was invited by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to talk about his experience of 22 years’ work with disabled and war-wounded people. Together with Carl Blanchet of the London School’s International Centre for Evidence on Disability he explained to Peter Goodwin why we should see...
Sep 25, 2012•6 min
LONDON—A case report in The Lancet has highlighted the threat of fake drugs for malaria — the subject of intensive research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Dr Harparkash Kaur told Peter Goodwin what her laboratory is doing about the global threat of counterfeit drugs, and what happened in the recent case of the patient with malaria in Spain who had been taking anti-malarial drugs purchased in Equatorial Guinea.
Sep 25, 2012•5 min
LONDON—The health impact of diet and physical activity may play a part in the marked ethnic differences in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the UK according to research reported at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. In the Pemberton Lecture at the 2012 Meeting of the Society for Social Medicine Professor Peter Whincup of St George’s London University also said that social class has a big effect on health — but not in the same way in all ethnic groups. He explained...
Sep 24, 2012•5 min
LONDON—People are now routinely using the internet to find out about health conditions and to share their own experiences with others with similar diagnoses. This is a radical change in how people experience illness. Health professionals and policy makers have much to learn from patients experience websites such as www.healthtalkonline.org about what is important to patients. This was the clear message in the Cochrane Lecture given at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine by Dr Su...
Sep 24, 2012•5 min
RIO DE JANEIRO and LONDON—A call for action on global health has been made in an article published by The Lancet medical journal about the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro. Issues which degrade the planet also degrade human health, according to Professor Sir Andy Haines, OBE, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He talks with Peter Goodwin about the positive actions to be made to help both the planet and public health.
Jul 29, 2012•5 min
LONDON—One in twenty deaths in English hospitals could be prevented according to research published in the British Medical Journal Quality and Safety. Dr Helen Hogan of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and her colleagues studied the causes of preventable deaths in English hospitals during the year 2009 and estimate that 12 000 preventable deaths occur each year. She discussed the findings and their implications with Sarah Maxwell.
Jul 11, 2012•4 min
LONDON—Family planning is a key priority for fulfilling global development goals, according to researchers writing in a special series of The Lancet medical journal coinciding with the London Summit on Family Planning. Peter Goodwin hears from one of the Lancet authors, John Cleland, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s Professor of Medical Demography, about the impact family planning has on saving mothers, infants — and the planet.
Jul 10, 2012•5 min
The experience of pilgrims going to Mecca can help prepare London to host a healthy Olympic Games, according to Dr Ahmad Moolla the London medic and researcher who organised a special expert panel discussion on Mass Gatherings Medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He gave Sarah Maxwell his views on what the experts had to say and how London 2012 is benefiting.
May 23, 2012•2 min
Visitors and resident Londoners are at very low risk of getting ill during the 2012 Olympic Games. This is the conclusion of Dr Val Curtis Director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who summed up evidence on London 2012’s health-system preparedness at an expert panel discussion on mass gatherings medicine.
May 22, 2012•2 min
LONDON—Top medical experts met at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine for an “expert panel discussion” on mass gatherings medicine — which assessed the state of knowledge about managing the health of millions of people in London during the Olympic Games. Professor David Heyman, who chaired the meeting, gave Sarah Maxwell his assessment of the main issues.
May 21, 2012•3 min
LONDON—Britain’s Health Protection Agency has been planning to make sure everybody enjoys good health in London during the Olympic Games. At a discussion forum held at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine the Agency’s London Regional Director, Dr Brian McCloskey — also head of the World Health Organisation’s Collaborating Centre on Mass Gatherings — reassured reporter Sarah Maxwell that public health organisation during the Games is excellent.
May 20, 2012•2 min
LONDON—The British Olympic team’s former doctor Richard Budgett — now chief medical officer for the 2012 Games — explained to an expert panel discussion on Mass Gatherings Medicine, held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, how every medical need of 10 000 athletes, 10 million ticket holders and untold numbers of staff, volunteers and ordinary Londoners is being taken care of to ensure a healthy London 2012.
May 19, 2012•2 min
LONDON—Double-action preventive therapy for pregnant women could prevent the large numbers of stillbirths and neonatal deaths presently being caused by malaria and sexually transmitted and reproductive tract infections in sub-Saharan Africa according to a research report from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Matthew Chico, an epidemiologist and Research Fellow at the London School, told Peter Goodwin about the hope...
May 10, 2012•4 min
BANGKOK—Research on influenza pandemic preparedness is helping to explain how best to save lives in each country when disease breaks out. Professor Richard Coker with his colleagues at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s unit in Bangkok has found that there are a variety of practical ways of preparing. He told Peter Goodwin that the most important point is to conduct research in your country to identify the measures which can help if ‘flu breaks out, and distinguish these from...
Apr 06, 2012•5 min
LONDON—Another year of distance learning has been celebrated by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Audio News hears from the School’s Dean of Studies Sharon Huttly about the continuing and increasing success of the programme in which students in more than a hundred countries outnumber those studying for postgraduate awards at the School’s London campus. Distance learners Priscilla Mulenga, Clarissa Moreira, Kamljit Kaur, Lloyd Mulenga, Mohammed Limbada, Ingeborg Oie and Adeola...
Mar 30, 2012•5 min
PHILADELPHIA—Instead of mass treatment of whole populations in areas affected by trachoma it is more cost-effective in many situations to check first which children are infected and treat only these. This is according to research from The Gambia conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and discussed in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. But whether to go for mass treatment or diagnosis depends on costs: and these ...
Mar 30, 2012•3 min
LONDON—The hazard of passing lethal syphilis infection from mother to unborn child is being targeted by a new partnership combining the efforts of several key health organisations: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The World Health Organisation, Save the Children, the United States Centers for Disease Control and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Professor Rosanna Peeling explained to Peter Goodwin how the new group could reduce stillbirths and deaths in early life from ...
Mar 30, 2012•4 min
PHILADELPHIA— Scientists in Zambia have reported significant progress in tracking asymptomatic malaria infection — a pre-requisite for eliminating the disease — to the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene annual conference in Philadelphia. Gillian Stresman from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine explained to Peter Goodwin that the research involved analysing patterns of infection from blood tests among people who have no malaria symptoms and checking on other mal...
Mar 30, 2012•4 min
PHILADELPHIA—Vaccinating populations after an outbreak of cholera has already begun could be a powerful way of controlling the growth of an epidemic according to scientists reporting to the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene here. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine MSc graduate Rita Reyburn — who’s been researching epidemics in Zimbabwe, Zanzibar and Calcutta with the International Vaccine Institute of Korea and working with Lorenz von Seidlein from the Menzies Schoo...
Mar 30, 2012•4 min
PHILADELPHIA—Boiling water may not be the best policy for making it safe to drink, according to scientists who reported their research findings from Zambia to the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual conference. Rebecca Psutka of the University of Otago in New Zealand, who works with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, explained to Peter Goodwin that the problem is not the boiling but the storage of drinking water after it’s been sterilised.
Mar 30, 2012•5 min
PHILADEPHIA—A way of making malaria control more effective was proposed at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual conference in Philadelphia, namely: to target the most concentrated areas of infection — known as malaria hot-spots. Jacklin Mosha from Tanzania, and Teun Bousema from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine discussed the evidence for using this strategy with Peter Goodwin.
Mar 30, 2012•6 min
LONDON—Scientists in Britain have found that an altered gene affects oestrogen in young women and is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer before the menopause. The research could lead to a better understanding of how to prevent the disease in young women and design drugs acting on the hormonal triggers of breast cancer. Professor Isabel Dos Santos Silva of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine explained to Peter Goodwin why the findings are important.
Mar 19, 2012•5 min
PHILADELPHIA—Pharmaco-vigilance was being urged here — as a key part of the strategy to improve malaria control in Africa and elsewhere — in a special session devoted to malaria drug safety at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual conference. With the battle against malaria slowly being won in Africa, the safety of anti-malarial drugs is of paramount importance now they are being used more widely than ever. Session chair Professor David Schellenberg of the London School of...
Jan 22, 2012•6 min
PHILADELPHIA—Scientists in the UK and Uganda have now completed a three year study showing that young children are at continued risk of intestinal schistosomiasis — also known as bilharzia — between the ages of 6-months and five years. In fact, these children should be treated routinely with the anthelminthic praziquantel, just as in older children and adults, for it is proven both safe and efficacious. The Schistosomiasis In Mothers and Infants (SIMI) study was conducted by the Liverpool School...
Jan 22, 2012•6 min
PHILADELPHIA—Research findings on gene changes enabling malaria parasites to resist anti-malarial drugs were discussed at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in Philadelphia. This has come in the midst of worries about the slow rise in resistance to the most modern group of drugs — artemisinin combinations — in Cambodia and Thailand. Professor David Conway of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine gave Peter Goodwin some of the details.
Jan 22, 2012•7 min
PHILADELPHIA—The recently-introduced rapid diagnostic test kits for malaria are saving lives — and not just among patients with malaria. In research for the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, scientists in Tanzania have found that patients whose fevers are not caused by malaria benefit from potentially life-saving treatments sooner if the cause is recognised by doing an actual test rather than just assuming all fever is malaria. Dr Florida Muro from the Kilimanjaro Christian Medic...
Jan 03, 2012•4 min
LONDON—The ‘Welfare State’ can be sustained globally — even in the rapidly ageing societies of low- and middle-income countries. Social protection should not be delayed until a country is rich, and should be a state obligation. These views came out of the Global Health Lab symposium entitled: “Is the welfare state sustainable with an ageing society?” hosted by Professor Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Dr Richard Horton, Editor of the Lancet. The experts p...
Dec 21, 2011•10 min
