The Philippines just declared their first polio outbreak after almost two decades of eradication.
While there are currently only two cases in the country, the event has sparked a widespread vaccination campaign in the region. Officials hope the move will prevent infections of the highly contagious and deadly virus.
The outbreak has also highlighted the need for high vaccination rates. Even areas where a particular illness has been eliminated can see a return if those rates fall.
The United States could soon lose its measles-free status from the World Health Organization.
Through high vaccination rates, the U.S. has remained officially measles-free for 20 years. But, after increased vaccine hesitancy and measles outbreaks around the country, the news may not come as a surprise.
In fact, this news may seem like just another page in the American measles outbreak story. These measles outbreaks have already caused over 1,000 cases of measles in more than half the states this year. But, the loss of this status is a much more troubling sign for the future of measles in the country.
In early September 2019, Kenya became the third country to administer the only licensed malaria vaccine. The first recipients of this vaccine were at-risk children in rural areas.
Malaria is a deadly mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite that kills around 435,000 people each year, with around 92% of those deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of malaria’s victims are children under five. It kills one child every two minutes.
Even with improved treatments around the world, we still seem no closer to eradicating malaria. But, a widely-used vaccine could be the first step in saving another 435,000 lives from the disease.
Increases of measles and hepatitis A have already made their way across the United States. While many mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and Zika aren’t a problem in the U.S., it appears there’s a different illness spreading.
Cities in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Michigan, Massachusetts and Florida, have reported cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), a sometimes-deadly mosquito-borne virus.
Five people across three states have already died from this virus in the U.S. this year. As a result, many states have warned locals to make precautions against the disease.
Due to the CDC’s recent health alert for hepatitis A outbreaks, many people are wondering what makes the main types of hepatitis, A, B and C different.
Is one type more serious than another? Do they all present with the same symptoms? Can you catch each of them the same way? Are there any other notable factors which distinguish them?
Let’s find out.
The vast majority of the world doesn’t currently worry about polio. With outbreaks of measles, hepatitis A and Ebola, most countries don’t need to worry about polio.
But, over 60 years after the vaccine was created, three countries still struggle with the disease. Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the last three countries in the world where polio is still an active threat.
And after years of trying to end the disease in Nigeria, that list could soon get shorter.
The CDC has now issued a health alert amidst the ongoing hepatitis A outbreaks. The outbreaks have already caused more than 25,000 reported cases of illness in the United States since 2016.
Regions on the east coast have been particularly affected with the largest number of cases currently taking place in Kentucky, Ohio and Florida:
For many around the world, plans to stop malaria may seem like a roller coaster.
Hopes build as possible vaccines or methods to fight off mosquitoes progress. But, that optimism is often ruined quickly with news that the disease is still killing millions with no solution planned.
The serious and often fatal disease continues to be one of the world’s most dangerous. Citizens in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia in particular are still rather helpless against the mosquito-borne disease. While the illness is active in more than 100 countries, it’s these regions at the highest risk of malaria. That leaves almost half of the world’s population living in an area at risk of the disease. In 2017, that translated into an estimated 219 million cases and 435,000 deaths.
With these numbers in mind, why are we not on track to eradicate this disease sometime soon?
In 2018 a large outbreak of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) spread across the United States, with a reported 233 cases over the span of 41 states. Going into this year, doctors are looking for answers that we don’t have yet to help prevent AFM.
The cases of AFM peaked in the U.S. in September and October, coinciding with the flu season. As the flu season once again approaches, the CDC hopes to have more help in detecting and collecting samples of AFM. A more prepared and active approach may help us fully understand what causes AFM and what exactly it is.
Doctors first started surveilling AFM back in 2014, but 2018 held the largest outbreak of it yet. Within the last five years, there has been one reported death, with a potential case of two earlier this year (the CDC is still currently looking into this case).
We’ve already seen some steps in using nanotechnology for medicine. And after the flu, it appears the technology may also help us prevent hepatitis B.
A new study out of the Butantan Institute shows promising advances in the use of nanotechnology to help deliver the hepatitis B vaccine.
