The most advanced candidate vaccine against dengue viruses, called CYD-TDV, is progressing toward potential registration and review by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2016. CYDTDV is a formulation of four chimeric yellow fever 17D vaccine viruses, each one engineered to express the surface envelope and prM (membrane) proteins from one of the four serotypes of dengue virus. The surface envelope protein is a target of virus-neutralizing antibodies. (Editorial)

The combination of daclatasvir, a hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS5A inhibitor, and the NS5B inhibitor sofosbuvir has shown efficacy in patients with HCV monoinfection. Data are lacking on the efficacy and safety of this combination in patients coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). 

Original Source

In May 2015, the 21st Century Cures Act was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, with the goal of promoting the development and speeding the approval of new drugs and devices.1 Championed by the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and device industries, the bill was approved unanimously (51 to 0) in committee and continues to be debated. If enacted into law, some of its provisions could have a profound effect on what is known about the safety and efficacy of medical products, as well as which ones become available for use. (Perspective)

Many observers were surprised when Indiana Governor Mike Pence issued an executive order on March 26, 2015, declaring a public health emergency after a rapidly escalating outbreak of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was identified in Scott County, a rural region on the Kentucky border. Others, however, had seen it coming. (Perspective)

Yaws, an infectious disease caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, affects mainly children in poor rural communities in tropical countries. This bacterium is transmitted by direct skin-to-skin, nonsexual contact and causes a chronic, relapsing disease that is characterized by highly contagious primary and secondary cutaneous lesions and by noncontagious tertiary destructive lesions of the bones. Cases are reported currently in 12 countries in Africa, Asia, and the western Pacific region, and 42 million people are estimated to be at risk for yaws.

The seventh reported outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the equatorial African country of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) began on July 26, 2014, as another large EVD epidemic continued to spread in West Africa. Simultaneous reports of EVD in equatorial and West Africa raised the question of whether the two outbreaks were linked.

Shortened antituberculosis treatment regimens are expected to improve patient adherence to treatment, thus favoring better case management and disease control and minimizing the risk of drug resistance.1-3 The first indication that fluoroquinolones had the potential to shorten tuberculosis treatment was from an observational study in India4 in which ethambutol was replaced with ofloxacin.

In the 20 years since South Africa underwent a peaceful transition from apartheid to a constitutional democracy, considerable social progress has been made toward reversing the discriminatory practices that pervaded all aspects of life before 1994. Yet the health and well-being of most South Africans remain plagued by a relentless burden of infectious and noncommunicable diseases, persisting social disparities, and inadequate human resources to provide care for a growing population with a rising tide of refugees and economic migrants.

As of September 14, 2014, a total of 4507 confirmed and probable cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD), as well as 2296 deaths from the virus, had been reported from five countries in West Africa — Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. In terms of reported morbidity and mortality, the current epidemic of EVD is far larger than all previous epidemics combined. The true numbers of cases and deaths are certainly higher.

An outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) has jolted West Africa, claiming more than 1000 lives since the virus emerged in Guinea in early 2014.

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