When a human is bitten by a Plasmodium-infected mosquito, the parasite enters the bloodstream and travels to the liver, where it thrives for around ten days without causing any symptoms. After this period, Plasmodium re-enters the bloodstream, where it parasitizes red blood cells. Once inside the red blood cells, the parasites multiply in a synchronized 48-hour cycle. At the end…
The Director General of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), H.E. Dr Jean Kaseya, has called for concerted efforts to protect the African population and ensure citizens have access to high quality health products through strengthening local manufacturing. This, he said, can happen if Africa must decrease its dependence on global agreements,…
At-home high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) sampling kits can help increase cervical cancer screening among under-screened women from low-income backgrounds, according to findings from a US-based clinical trial published in The Lancet Public Health journal. The trial shows mailing kits to low-income, under-screened women and helping them book an in-person clinic appointment led to a two-fold…
Taking a two-week course of metformin, a safe and affordable diabetes medication after testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 leads to 40% fewer long COVID diagnoses over the following 10 months, compared to individuals taking a placebo, finds a new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. The long-term symptoms some people experience after SARS-CoV-2 infection,…
Today the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) signed a new and revised Strategic Framework for Collaboration, designed to build stronger and more resilient health systems and maximize collaboration and impact in support of country, regional and global responses to major communicable diseases. The…
Over 10 million people across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique have been impacted by the 9.4 million euros funding through the Aga Khan Development Network Eastern Africa Regional COVID-19 Response Programme that is set to officially come to an end in June 2023. The project, which was officially launched in December 2020 and jointly funded by…
Tanzania today declared the end of the Marburg Virus Disease outbreak which was confirmed just over two months ago in the north-western Kagera region. It was the country’s first outbreak of the disease. A total of nine cases (eight confirmed and one probable) and six deaths were recorded in the outbreak which was declared on…
Clostridioides difficile infection causes severe diarrhea and is a leading cause of healthcare-associated infections with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is one of the most common hospital-acquired infections. When it relapses, the disease must be treated by fecal microbiota transplantation. This treatment, which is administered via a nasogastric or colorectal tube, is very demanding. Now researchers at the University…
More funding is urgently needed to avert a looming health catastrophe in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps, warns international medical organisation Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) today. A cholera outbreak in the camps has affected 2,786 people so far and there is an imminent risk of outbreaks of other gastro-intestinal diseases, warns MSF, which is…
Influenza epidemics, caused by influenza A or B viruses, result in acute respiratory infection. They kill half a million people worldwide every year. These viruses can also wreak havoc on animals, as in the case of avian flu. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) has identified how the influenza A virus manages to penetrate cells to infect…