UNICEF launches groundbreaking cholera toolkit
UNICEF (press release, 15 May 2013)
As part of its effort to reduce cholera in the world, UNICEF has responded to the growing threat of this disease by launching the UNICEF cholera toolkit, which will help UNICEF staff and partners prevent, prepare for and respond to the disease.
Mobile Phone Data Proves Humans Are Predictable During Chaos
Fast Company (14 May 2013)
Public health researcher Linus Bengtsson made waves by tracking displaced people via their mobile phones, and using that data to predict cholera outbreaks. Now the latest results from his research into the civil war in Cote D’Ivoire show that people's movements are as predictable after a human conflict as they are after a natural disaster.
Big Data from Cheap Phones
MIT Technology Review (23 Apr 2013)
Collecting and analyzing information from simple cell phones can provide surprising insights into how people move about and behave—and even help us understand the spread of diseases.
Edible malarial vaccine can help protect against cholera
Zee News (20 Apr 2013)
Biologists at UC San Diego demonstrated last May that algae can be engineered to produce a vaccine that blocks malaria transmission. The same method may work as a vaccine against a wide variety of viral and bacterial infections.
Haiti Cholera Mutations Could Lead to More Severe Disease
Northwestern University (16 Apr 2013)
The cholera strain that transferred to Haiti in 2010 has multiple toxin gene mutations that may account for the severity of disease and is evolving to be more like an 1800s version of cholera, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.
Revealing the weapons by which bacteria fight each other
Umea University (4 Apr 2013)
A new study which was performed jointly at Umeå University and the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, discovered that bacteria can degrade the cell membrane of bacterial competitors with enzymes that do not harm their own membrane.
Haiti recycles human waste in fight against cholera epidemic
The Guardian (10 Mar 2013)
Faeces processed to produce valuable fertiliser for crops and new forests – and eliminate source of disease.
Predatory virus could fight cholera bug
Times of India (28 Feb 2013)
Research has now exposed the predatory instincts of a virus, one that hijacks the cholera bugs' immune system. The bacteriophage (virus infecting and replicating within bugs), called phage in short, turns the hijacked system to disable the cholera bugs' defence mechanism so that they can replicate and kill more cholera bugs.
This discovery by a team led by Andrew Camilli, professor of molecular biology and microbiology from Tufts University School of Medicine, could open the way to effective targeting of superbugs, which are extremely resistant to current antibiotics, the journal Nature reports.
'Blinkered' approach on cholera questioned
ABC Online (Anna Salleh, 13 Feb 2013)
More strains of cholera bacteria, than currently believed, could cause disease, suggests new research. The discovery increases our understanding of the disease and it may explain cholera symptoms cases that occur without the known bacteria strains being present. Microbiologist Professor Hatch Stokes, from the University of Technology, Sydney, and colleagues, report their findings today in the journal Open Biology.
Software Predicts Tomorrow’s News by Analyzing Today’s and Yesterday’s
MIT Technology Review (1 Feb 2013)
Researchers have created software that predicts when and where disease outbreaks might occur based on two decades of New York Times articles and other online data. The research comes from Microsoft and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.
Designer Bacteria May Lead to Better Vaccines
University of Texas (15 Jan 2013)
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a menu of 61 new strains of genetically engineered bacteria that may improve the efficacy of vaccines for diseases such as flu, pertussis, cholera and HPV.
Haiti cholera: less than 50% vaccination needed to halt spread
News-medical.net (14 Jan 2013)
Researchers have used a mathematical model to show that a surprisingly low level of vaccination coverage would stem the spread of cholera in Haiti that has followed the 2010 earthquake. The findings add fuel to an ongoing debate about the types of public health intervention that should be used to contain the epidemic.
True solution to cholera is improving access to safe water, sanitation
News-medical.net (11 Jan 2013)
"Even when it is not covered in the news or noticed by the public, cholera occurs regularly in the developing world, and the annual number of cases reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) has increased over the past few years to more than half a million cases and 7,816 related deaths reported from all regions in 2011," Ronald Waldman of George Washington University, Eric Mintz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Heather Papowitz of the U.N. Children's Fund write in a New England Journal of Medicine perspective piece.
Gates Foundation grant to promote effective use of new cholera vaccine
News-medical.net (28 Dec 2012)
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was awarded a four-year, $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote the effective use of oral cholera vaccine around the world. The Delivering Oral Vaccine Effectively (DOVE) program will provide relief agencies and governments with technical assistance on how to use oral cholera vaccine, evaluate current vaccine-use practices and develop new field surveillance methods for monitoring and controlling outbreaks of the disease.
Cholera Pipeline Review, H2 2012 New Report
SBWire (press release, 17 Dec 2012)
Naperville, IL -- Cholera - Pipeline Review, H2 2012, provides an overview of the indication’s therapeutic pipeline. This report provides information on the therapeutic development for Cholera, complete with latest updates, and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects. It also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Cholera.
PaxVax Presents Phase 1 Clinical Trial Data for Single-Dose Cholera Vaccine
MarketWatch (press release, 14 Nov 2012)
PaxVax Inc, which develops and commercializes innovative vaccines against infectious diseases in a socially responsible manner today announced results from a Phase 1 clinical trial of PaxVax's single-dose oral cholera vaccine candidate at the 2012 American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Meeting in Atlanta.
A plan to stop cholera’s spread
Harvard Gazette (24 Oct 2012)
A Harvard medical specialist suggested Monday that relief workers and peacekeepers from cholera-endemic countries should be treated with antibiotics before they serve in other nations, to avoid repeating the Haitian epidemic that has killed thousands.
Cholera discovery could revolutionize antibiotic delivery
Simon Fraser University (19 Oct 2012)
Three Simon Fraser University scientists are among six researchers who’ve made a discovery that could help revolutionize antibiotic treatment of deadly bacteria. Lisa Craig, Christopher Ford and Subramaniapillai Kolappan, SFU researchers in molecular biology and biochemistry, have explained how Vibrio cholerae became a deadly pathogen thousands of years ago.
Cholera Vaccine Another Element of Battling Disease
WaterWorld (Nancy Palus, 20 Sep 2012)
The cholera vaccine is emerging as a prominent tool in the fight against the disease that the World Health Organization says kills at least 100,000 people every year. WHO is creating a cholera vaccine stockpile that countries can tap into during outbreaks.
X-ray chemist solves cholera mystery
University of Oslo (Yngve Vogt, 27 Aug 2012)
The likelihood of becoming seriously ill from cholera depends on your blood group. It is possible to find a new remedy for the feared illness by studying the molecular structure in the toxin in the cholera bacteria.
Use of Oral Vaccine can Complement Cholera Elimination Efforts on the Island of Hispaniola
Pharmaceutical Processing (16 Aug 2012)
Washington, D.C. (PAHO/WHO) — Elimination of cholera transmission on the Island of Hispaniola can be achieved by increasing and sustaining access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation, according to experts of the Pan American Health Organization's Technical Advisory Group on Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (TAG).
Cellphone-style algorithm reveals cholera source
New Scientist (16 Aug 2012)
Choler is spreading through the villages of South Africa. Malicious rumours are proliferating on Facebook. These may be disparate situations in scope and impact, yet an algorithm similar to the one a cellphone uses to find its location can home in on the source of grief in both.
How climate change is increasing cholera outbreaks in northern Europe
Daily Mail (Claire Bates, 23 Jul 2012)
Climate change could be driving an increase in illnesses such as cholera and gastroenteritis in northern Europe, scientists have warned... Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change the authors, from Britain, Finland, Spain and the U.S., said: 'There is increasing concern regarding the role of climate change in driving bacterial waterborne infectious diseases.' Read the article
Source of Haiti cholera bug goes under microscope
Huffington Post (17 Jul 2012)
Port-au-Prince, Haiti - The death rate from the Haiti cholera epidemic that has killed more than 7000 people over the past two years has finally ebbed, but the debate about the source of the disease has only grown more heated.
Bacterial gene 'therapy' to combat cholera
Phys.org (9 Jul 2012)
Cholera is an extremely virulent intestinal infection caused by ingestion of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae). EU researchers elucidated the molecular mechanisms behind expression of virulence genes with important implications for new therapies.
Professor Virginia Cornish Chemically Engineers Yeast to Detect Cholera
Columbia News (19 Jun 2012)
The problem was cholera, which infects about four million people annually and kills at least 100000, most of them children under age 5. Inspired by a research...
University of Maryland researchers detail 2010 Haitian cholera
EurekAlert (press release - 18 Jun 2012)
A new study by an international team of scientists led by researchers from the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Maryland, College Park, and CosmosIDTM Inc., College Park, have found two distinct strains of cholera bacteria may have contributed to the 2010 Haitian cholera outbreak. The team published its results June 18, 2012 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
50-Year Cholera Mystery Solved by Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas (29 May 2012)
For 50 years scientists have been unsure how the bacteria that gives humans cholera manages to resist one of our basic innate immune responses. That mystery has now been solved, thanks to research from biologists at The University of Texas at Austin.
Zooming in on bacterial weapons in 3D
Nanowerk LLC (21 May 2012)
The plague, bacterial dysentery, and cholera have one thing in common: These dangerous diseases are caused by bacteria which infect their host using a sophisticated injection apparatus. Through needle-like structures, they release molecular agents into their host cell, thereby evading the immune response. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen in cooperation with colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin and the University of Washington in Seattle (USA) have now elucidated the structure of such a needle at atomic resolution (see paper in Nature: "Atomic model of the type III secretion system needle").
Researchers use game to change how scientists study disease outbreaks
University of Florida (3 Apr 2012)
University of Florida biologist Juliet Pulliam is among an international team of scientists who teach a workshop annually in South Africa that helps epidemiologists improve mathematical models they use to study outbreaks of diseases like cholera... Read the article
PaxVax announces FDA acceptance of IND for PXVX-0200 cholera vaccine
News-medical.net (19 Mar 2012)
PaxVax Corporation, developer of innovative and socially responsible oral vaccines against infectious diseases, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its investigational new drug (IND) application for its single-dose oral cholera vaccine, clearing the way to begin clinical trials. The company intends to begin Phase 3 trials later this year. News release
Discovery Could Reduce Chemo's Side Effects
DukeHealth.org (11 Mar 2012)
A team of researchers at Duke University has determined the structure of a key molecule that can carry chemotherapy and anti-viral drugs into cells, which could help to create more effective drugs with fewer effects to healthy tissue (...) The article was published in Nature online on March 11. View the abstract
Bill Gates investit dans... les toilettes !
Informaticien (2 mar 2012)
Près de 2,6 milliards de personnes dans le monde n'ont pas accès à des latrines. (…) Un problème en faveur duquel la Fondation Bill et Melinda Gates a décidé de s'engager...
High-tech tea bags transform dirty water
ABC News (28 Feb 2012)
South African scientists have developed a high-tech tea bag-like filter that fits into the neck of a bottle and turns polluted water clean as you drink from it. (...) Waterborne diseases like cholera kill thousands of people in Africa every year. Last year there were more than 85,000 cases of cholera reported in 10 countries from Mali to Congo and almost 5 per cent of cases were fatal...
Frontal attack or stealth? How subverting the immune system shapes the arms race between bacteria and hosts
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência - Press Release (27 Feb 2012)
Why is it that Mycobacterium tuberculosis can cause tuberculosis with as little as 10 cells, whereas Vibrio cholerae requires the host to ingest up to tens of millions of cells to cause cholera? Read the article
Cholera’s Nano-Dagger
Focushms.com (27 Feb 2012)
Using imaging techniques, researchers observe how cholera decimates competing bacteria and human cells.
Bacteria live in a state of perpetual warfare, with different species battling for dominion over their competitors and when pathogen, over their infected host. New research suggests that the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, which causes the disease cholera, kills off its microbial rivals by jabbing them with a spring-loaded poison dagger (...) The results were published online February 26 in Nature. View the abstract
Disease Sleuths Surf For Outbreaks Online
KERA News (23 Feb 2012)
John Brownstein and Rumi Chunara, researchers from Harvard Medical School, traced the cholera outbreak in Haiti by gathering data from all over the Web. Instead of counting search terms, they collected thousands and thousands of Twitter posts...
High population density is greatest risk factor for water-linked diseases
OSU Research news (14 Feb 2012)
Ohio State University scientists constructed a massive database containing information about 1,428 water-associated disease outbreaks that were reported between 1991 and 2008 around the world. By combining outbreak records with data on a variety of socio-environmental factors known about the affected regions, the researchers developed a model that can be used to predict risks for water-associated disease outbreaks anywhere in the world... Read the article.
Decoding the molecular machine behind E.coli and cholera
QMUL (10 Feb 2012)
Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London have discovered the workings behind some of the bacteria that kill hundreds of thousands every year, possibly paving the way for new antibiotics...
Scientists reveal how cholera bacterium gains a foothold in the gut
University of York (27 Jan 2012)
A team of biologists at the University of York has made an important advance in our understanding of the way cholera attacks the body. View the abstract.
Researchers develop computer model that can predict cholera outbreaks 11 months in advance
Medical Xpress (24 Jan 2012)
A new University of Michigan computer model of disease transmission in space and time can predict cholera outbreaks in Bangladesh up to 11 months in advance, providing an early warning system... Read the article.
Combating cholera with cell phones
Partners in Health (20 Sep 2011)
In early September, 29 community health workers (CHWs) began using Nokia cell phones as the latest tool in the fight against cholera. The specially programmed phones help track information about cholera patients in isolated communities throughout Haiti’s Central Plateau – an important step in gathering the up-to-date infection data that could prevent more deaths...
Follow Africhol on Twitter