Cases of pneumonia among children in Kilifi have reduced sharply after the introduction of a vaccine in 2011, latest results show.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved an effective and affordable vaccine for meningitis, called MenAfriVac, to be injected on vulnerable children.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is carried asymptomatically in the nasopharyngeal tract. However, it is capable of causing multiple diseases, including pneumonia, bacteraemia and meningitis, which are common causes of morbidity and mortality in young children. Antibiotic treatment has become more difficult, especially that involving the group of beta-lactam antibiotics where resistance has developed rapidly. The organism is known to be highly recombinogenic, and this allows variants conferring beta-lactam resistance to be readily introduced into the genome.

The primary objective was to estimate the burden of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in children aged 1 month to 12 years in South Asian countries.

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Researchers unraveling the complexities of the West African monsoon say they are set to bring major agricultural and health benefits to people in the region — despite setbacks caused by terrorist t

On May 4, 2013, the ministry of health of VietNam suspended Quinvaxem, the pentavalent combination used in that country, after it had caused 12 deaths and nine non-fatal serious adverse events (3). On investigating the reactions caused by the vaccine, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the nine non-fatal cases could correspond to known vaccine reactions, but the fatal cases were not related to the use of the vaccine.

Scrub typhus is prevalent in India although definite statistics are not available. There has been only one study on scrub typhus meningitis 20 years ago. Most reports of meningitis/meningoencephalitis in scrub typhus are case reports A retrospective study done in Pondicherry to extract cases of scrub typhus admitted to hospital between February 2011 and January 2012. Diagnosis was by a combination of any one of the following in a patient with an acute febrile illness- a positive scrub IgM ELISA, Weil-Felix test, and an eschar.

Scrub typhus is prevalent in India although definite statistics are not available. There has been only one study on scrub typhus meningitis 20 years ago. Most reports of meningitis/meningoencephalitis in scrub typhus are case reports. A retrospective study done in Pondicherry to extract cases of scrub typhus admitted to hospital between February 2011 and January 2012. Diagnosis was by a combination of any one of the following in a patient with an acute febrile illness- a positive scrub IgM ELISA, Weil-Felix test, and an eschar.

Shingai Machingaidze and colleagues reflect on the successes and shortfalls of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in Africa, and the considerable challenges that must now be addressed to improve immunization systems.

This new WHO report provides scientific information on the connections between weather and climate and major health challenges. These range from diseases of poverty to emergencies arising from extreme weather events and disease outbreaks.

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