July 08, 2019
Viruses account for the majority of childhood pneumonia cases in LMICs. Researchers from the Pneumonia Etiology Research for Child Health (PERCH) group conducted a case-control study across seven low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to estimate the causes of severe childhood pneumonia. The study found that 61.4 percent of hospitalized pneumonia cases were caused by viruses and 27.3 percent were caused by bacteria. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was the leading cause of severe pneumonia among the 4,232 cases in the study. [The Lancet]
GARDP calls for five new treatments by 2025 to combat AMR. The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) announced its ‘5 BY 25’ strategy last month, with the goal of developing and delivering five new treatments by 2025 to tackle the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). To reach this goal, GARDP is calling on the community, including Member States of WHO’s Global Action Plan on AMR and other global organizations to help raise €500 million. [GARDP]
HPV vaccine significantly reduces associated disease. Researchers from the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination Impact Study Group reported results from a meta-analysis study of the effectiveness and impact of the HPV vaccine on HPV-associated disease. Their analysis, which included 60 million individuals, found that the prevalence of HPV 16 and 18 decreased significantly among females aged 13-19 and 20-24 (RR= 0.17, 0.34), 5-8 years after they had been vaccinated. The prevalence of anogenital warts decreased significantly among girls and boys aged 15-19 (RR=0.33, 0.52) and women and men aged 20-24 (RR=0.46, 0.68), while histologically confirmed CIN2+ also decreased among screened females 15-19 and 20-24 (RR=0.49, 0.69), 5-9 years following vaccination. [The Lancet]
Candida auris fungus spreads via skin shedding. Scientists from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the City of Chicago Public Health Department assessed the transmission of the multidrug-resistant fungus, Candida auris via skin shedding. The findings, which were presented last month at the American Society of Microbiology’s ASM Microbe conference, revealed a significant correlation between the levels of C. auris on patient skin swabs and the presence of C. auris on nearby hospital surfaces, suggesting that skin shedding acts as a route of transmission for the deadly fungus. [ASMicrobe]
Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing among Indonesian children with dengue. Researchers at Dr. Hasan Sadikin General Hospital in Bandung, Indonesia evaluated the use of antibiotics among children hospitalized with dengue virus across teaching and private hospitals in Bandung in 2015. Across both types of hospitals, 17.5 percent of children received antibiotics, and the researchers found inappropriate antibiotic use common at private hospitals. Presumed bacterial upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and typhoid fever were seen in 0.6 percent and 3.4 percent of cases at teaching hospitals, respectively, compared to 11.2 percent and 6.5 percent of cases at private hospitals. Diagnosis of typhoid fever among dengue patients at private hospitals lacked laboratory confirmation in 60.6 percent of cases. [PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases]
Health-related suffering projected to increase drastically by 2060. Researchers from King’s College London used mortality projections from the World Health Organization (WHO) and symptom prevalence estimates of illnesses that are commonly linked to palliative care to estimate the global burden of serious health-related suffering through 2060. The study indicates an 87 percent increase in global deaths with serious health-related suffering from 2016 to 2060. Serious health-related suffering is projected to increase across all geographical regions and age groups, but low-income countries and people 70+ years old will see the largest increases (155 and 183 percent, respectively). [The Lancet Global Health]
Updated nasal flu vaccine linked to improved immune response. In a phase 4 observational study in The Gambia, a team of researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine assessed the immune response of a nasal flu vaccine (the Russian-backbone trivalent live attenuated influenza vaccine) with the updated 2009 pandemic H1N1(pH1N1) strain. The updated vaccine, which was administered to children between 2017 and 2018, was associated with an increase in pH1N1 shedding (p<0.0001), improved seroconversion (p=0.011), and improved CD4+ t-cell response (p=0.00028) compared to the control vaccine, which was administered between 2016 and 2017. [The Lancet Respiratory Medicine]
US flu vaccine ineffective during second half of flu season. According to an influenza activity update from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the overall effectiveness of the US flu vaccine dropped to 29 percent, following the second wave of an Influenza A strain from February to May of this year. The vaccine was 47 percent effective during the first half of the flu season, but the effectiveness dropped to 9 percent, with no evidence of protection, during the second half. This drop in effectiveness was due to a mismatch between the strains the vaccine protected against and the flu strain that was common between February and May. [CDC, US News]
Poliovirus reported across 5 countries. According to an update last month from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), 10 new polio cases were reported in one week across five countries. Two wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported in Afghanistan, three WPV1 cases were reported in Pakistan, one circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) case was reported in Nigeria, four cVDPV2 cases were reported in the DRC, and three cVDPV2 isolates were reported from healthy case contacts in Ethiopia. The DRC is currently experiencing 6 separate outbreaks of cVDPV2. [GPEI]
CDDEP Awards in Antimicrobial Resistance. CDDEP Awards in Antimicrobial Resistance will sponsor two individuals for the best-accepted abstracts addressing AMR in low- or middle-income countries for the 19th International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID). The awards consist of reimbursement of travel, accommodation, and registration expenses for the 19th ICID in Kuala Lumpur, February 20-23, 2020. Submit your abstract addressing AMR in LMICs by Oct. 25, 2019. [ICID]
Photo: GARDP
