http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Global HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts are missing a major opportunity to significantly improve health conditions in poor countries by simply adding low-cost care for the many other chronic and disabling diseases routinely afflicting and often killing these same patients, according to a panel of disease experts who spoke at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-tropical-disease-experts-opportunity-global.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:24:03 EST news242681025 Fatal snakebites are a bigger-than-acknowledged global health problem that has been vastly under-reported, according to research presented today at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's (ASTMH) annual meeting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-snakebite-victims-absent-health-traditional.html Other Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:48:46 EST news242297315 A comprehensive four-year project including over 10,000 patients in clinical and pharmacovigilance studies for diagnosis and treatment of visceral leishmaniasis (VL, also known as kala-azar) in India and Bangladesh was launched by an international consortium formed last month to support control and elimination strategies in both countries, where the concentration of disease burden is among the world's highest. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-major-treatments-boost-kala-azar-strategies.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:45:19 EST news239863500 The open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases today published a comprehensive report showcasing the disproportionately high burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in India and South Asia. These diseases of poverty continue to plague the 1.5 billion people living in the region, despite the World Bank's recent report that South Asia experienced 7 percent overall economic growth in 2010. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-disproportionate-burden-neglected-tropical-diseases.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 26 Oct 2011 13:47:04 EST news238855616 Pharmaceutical giants and the UN intellectual property agency launched Wednesday a collaboration to share certain patented drug information with public organisations. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-pharma-giants-drug-patents-collaboration.html Medications Wed, 26 Oct 2011 11:12:40 EST news238846347 Chagas disease, a tropical parasitic disease that can lead to life-threatening heart and digestive disorders, may be more widespread in Texas than previously thought, according to research from The University of Texas at Austin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-chagas-disease-threat-south-texas.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 06 Oct 2011 10:36:42 EST news237116160 The open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases will publish an article emphasizing the rising burden of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Central Asia on Tuesday, Sept. 27th. According to the article's co-authors, Dr. Peter Hotez, President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and Dr. Ken Alibek of Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, the region continues to suffer from a post-Soviet economic breakdown that may have contributed to a re-emergence of several NTDs in the area, especially among its most economically disadvantaged groups. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-central-asia-hidden-burden-neglected.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 27 Sep 2011 18:23:14 EST news236366585 A new study published in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases on September 6th presents a key advance in developing a safer cure for sleeping sickness. Led by Professor Peter Kennedy, researchers at the University of Glasgow's Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation have created a version of the drug most commonly used to treat sleeping sickness which can be administered orally in pill form. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-major-advance-sickness-drug-glasgow.html Medical research Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:07:53 EST news234551266 There is a growing body of evidence revealing the connection between neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and HIV/AIDS, prompting experts to call for greater integration of national NTD treatment programs with HIV/AIDS initiatives. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-evidence-ntd-hivaids.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:09:10 EST news230976513 Two studies by a team of researchers led by Luis E. Cuevas and Mohammed Yassin from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and jointly coordinated with Andrew Ramsay at WHO-TDR Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases are published in this week's PLoS Medicine. The studies have important implications for the ways in which diagnosis for the endemic infectious disease, tuberculosis (TB), can be done in poor countries. One study suggests that less sputum tests collected the same day of consultation are needed and the other suggests that a faster laboratory test can be used while maintaining the same level of accuracy for diagnosis. Both studies show that alternative, less labour-intensive tests that are more convenient for patients could be effectively used in poorer countries. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-alternative-methods-smear-effective-tb.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:32:44 EST news229710752 (Medical Xpress) -- Researchers from the Australian Venom Research Unit (AVRU) at the University of Melbourne have collaborated with scientists from the University of Papua New Guinea and the University of Costa Rica, to develop new antivenom against the lethal Papuan taipan. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-antivenom-lethal-snake-countries.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:15:15 EST news228651290 Debate about the public health response to Haiti's cholera epidemic continues as the crisis enters its ninth month, with some experts arguing that a vaccination campaign in Haiti would be neither feasible nor cost-effective, and advocating putting forth other measures. In a viewpoint article published on May 31st in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, a coalition of medical and public health researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, led by Paul Farmer, cofounder of Partners In Health and United Nations Deputy Special Envoy to Haiti, argue that a universal vaccination campaign is essential to ending the crisis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-cholera-haiti-world.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:18:06 EST news226120662 Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Google.org have found web-based search data to be a viable source of information for early detection and monitoring of outbreaks of dengue, an emerging mosquito-borne virus found in tropical areas of the world. Because search data allows the capture of disease-related queries in near real time, it could help public health officials in the more than 100 countries affected by dengue respond more quickly to nascent epidemics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-web-dengue.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 31 May 2011 10:43:15 EST news226057376