Ebola virus is back, this time in West Africa, with over 350 cases and a 69% case fatality ratio at the time of this writing. The culprit is the Zaire ebolavirus species, the most lethal Ebola virus known, with case fatality ratios up to 90%. The epicenter and site of first introduction is the region of Guéckédou in Guinea's remote southeastern forest region, spilling over into various other regions of Guinea as well as to neighboring Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Introgressing anti-pathogen constructs into wild vector populations could reduce disease transmission. It is generally assumed that such introgression would require linking an anti-pathogen gene with a selfish genetic element or similar technologies. Yet none of the proposed transgenic anti-pathogen gene-drive mechanisms are likely to be implemented as public health measures in the near future. Thus, much attention now focuses instead on transgenic strategies aimed at mosquito population suppression, an approach generally perceived to be practical.

Infectious diseases of poverty, also labeled tropical diseases or neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and caused by pathogenic agents (viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other parasites), are viciously more prevalent among poor people. Though being preventable for the most part in a cost-effective way, they are devastating. These are, to name a few, Chagas disease, schistosomiasis, malaria, leprosy, visceral leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis, Buruli ulcer, and onchocerciasis.

The recent finding that dengue fever has emerged in Houston, Texas—the first major United States city in modern times with autochthonous dengue—adds to previous evidence indicating that the Gulf Coast of the Southern US is under increasing threat from diseases thought previously to affect only developing countries.

In late 2010, Haitian immigrants began to arrive at remote river border crossings in the western Brazilian Amazon. Attracted by the prospect of work in Brazil's burgeoning economy, thousands of Haitians paid large sums to people traffickers, known as “coyotes,” to arrange their journey to Brazil. They entered Brazil through the border towns of Tabatinga (Amazonas state) and Brasileia (Acre state). Their journeys from Haiti were complex and involved travel by air, road, river boat, and on foot. Between four and six thousand Haitians have arrived in Brazil since 2010.

Human African trypanosomiasis, better known as sleeping sickness, nowadays ranks among the more neglected diseases in the countries of Africa where it is found. Though it still kills many people every year, it cannot compete for celebrity with such major killers as malaria and AIDS. Yet that was not always the case. A hundred years ago, sleeping sickness attracted considerable scientific research and political attention because of its importance to the conquest of sub-Saharan Africa by the European colonial powers.

Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness, is a neglected disease that impacts 70 million people distributed over 1.55 million km2 in sub-Saharan Africa. Trypanosoma brucei gambiense accounts for almost 90% of the infections in central and western Africa, the remaining infections being from T. b. rhodesiense in eastern Africa. Furthermore, the animal diseases caused by related parasites inflict major economic losses to countries already strained. The parasites are transmitted to the mammalian hosts through the bite of an infected tsetse fly. Know More: http://www.ploscollections.org/article/browse/issue/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371...

There is much uncertainty about the future impact of climate change on vector-borne diseases. Such uncertainty reflects the difficulties in modelling the complex interactions between disease, climatic and socioeconomic determinants. We used a comprehensive panel dataset from Mexico covering 23 years of province-specific dengue reports across nine climatic regions to estimate the impact of weather on dengue, accounting for the effects of non-climatic factors.

Despite World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification of two safe and effective oral cholera vaccines (OCV), concerns about the acceptability, potential diversion of resources, cost and feasibility of implementing timely campaigns has discouraged their use. In 2012, the Ministry of Health of Guinea, with the support of Médecins Sans Frontières organized the first mass vaccination campaign using a two-dose OCV (Shanchol) as an additional control measure to respond to the on-going nationwide epidemic. Overall, 316,250 vaccines were delivered.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral disease endemic in many countries in the tropics and sub-tropics. The disease affects mainly children, but in recent years it is becoming more of an adult disease. Malaysia experienced a large dengue outbreak in 2006 to 2007, involving mostly adults, with a high number of deaths. The authors undertook a retrospective study to examine dengue death cases in our hospital from June 2006 to October 2007 with a view to determine if there have been changes in the presentation of severe to fatal dengue.