Diseases

Global report on neglected tropical diseases 2024

This document is the second in a series of global reports describing progress towards the 2030 targets set in Ending the neglect to attain the Sustainable Development Goals: a road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021–2030. It describes a wide range of activities, accomplishments and challenges across the portfolio of …

Bioterrorism? Child`s play

At a recent meeting of the World Medical Association in usa, doctors warned that terrorists could very easily get hold of biological weapons. Donald Henderson, senior advisor on bioterrorism to the us government, said: "At the top of the list is smallpox, followed by anthrax, plague and botulinum toxin.' According …

Perseverance pays

Neurologist Hugo Moser's unveiling of a 10-year-long study into the effects of Lorenzo's oil has shown that perseverance and logic are a powerful substitute to conventional research. When Lorenzo, the son of Augusto and Michaela Odone, was diagnosed with adrenoleukodystrophy (ald), there was no cure for the disease. Unable and …

Perpetually ill prepared

it was in October 2002 that media reports surfaced about children succumbing to a mysterious infectious fever in Saharanpur town of western Uttar Pradesh (up). The disease struck neighbouring districts too. Within the first two weeks the toll reportedly mounted to 100 in the area. The local administration first denied …

Best among the worst

just 10 avoidable risk factors, including malnutrition, unsafe sex, smoking and poor sanitation, account for 40 per cent of global deaths each year. This was stated in the latest World Health Report of the World Health Organisation (who). According to the organisation, cheap remedies exist for many ailments and governments …

Of plants and bees

Of late, even the largest honey-producing habitat in the Indian sub-continent

Recurrent scourge

kerala is once again in the grip of leptospirosis, commonly known as rat fever. According to P K Sivaraman additional director, ministry of health, Kerala, though 1,621 cases of the disease have been reported from different parts of the state this year, only 68 have been confirmed till now. Leptospirosis, …

Genes and dreams

with the recent genome decoding of both the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and its vector Anopheles gambiae, scientists have got a vital framework for exploring new ways to block disease transmission at molecular and cellular levels. The feat is particularly significant as both the parasite and the vector are associated …

Waterhunt

The backwater islet of Kaavaalam has settled into an uneasy sleep. Some time past midnight they wake up to a much-awaited call: " Vellam vannoo, vellam vannoo

Encephalitis returns to haunt Assam

japanese encephalitis has claimed more than 100 lives in Assam recently. But more than the disease, official apathy and poor preventive measures are responsible for the deaths. Because, though the disease is an annual occurrence, the state authorities have been unable to devise adequate measures to combat the disease. Unofficial …

Elusive cause

THE IRRITABLE HEART: THE MEDICAL MYSTERY OF THE GULF WAR Jeff Wheelwright . W W Norton & Company . New York . 2001 . 427 pages Bill is 46 and a military veteran in the United States. In February 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, he was based north of …

The ill effects

climate change is triggering widespread outbreaks of diseases among wildlife along with spreading tropical diseases in human habitations previously unaffected by them. These were the findings of a comprehensive two-year study conducted by National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (nceas), a California-based research institute. The study is the first …

Row over review

Two years ago, a report in the New England Journal of Medicine created a flutter in medical circles. It said that at least 54 deaths and about 1,000 reports of complications have been linked to ephedra, a plant product that is a source of ephedrine alkaloids. An amphetamine-like compound, ephedra …

Containing the contagion

The foot-and-mouth disease has reared its ugly head once again in South Korea. Tens of thousands of pigs have been slaughtered in the country as the dreaded disease has shown signs of spreading. The outbreak is more pronounced in pig farms close to Seoul. Hundreds of troops have been mobilised …

Successful fighting

India is making dramatic progress in its fight against tuberculosis. The disease infects two million Indians each year

Deadly predictions

Anger and loneliness are just some of the feelings people express when they discover they have Alzheimer's. But what if you knew 20 years beforehand that this was to be your fate? This disturbing possibility has moved a step closer with researchers from St Louis-based Washington University School of Medicine …

Rat chronicles

Most people go about their lives unaware of the world of rats and the ingenious ways of this common rodent. Not Ishwar Prakash, principal investigator, desert regional station, Zoological Survey of India, Jodhpur. Prakash is, in fact, one of the few rat experts in the country. Every detail he collected …

Deadly solutions

for the past several decades, a killer had been let loose in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh. Perfidiously, ruthlessly it strangled its victims. None dared to charge him guilty. But now it has been caught red handed. For the first time, a report has nailed down exposure to pesticides as …

In sight, but out of mind

around a billion people in the developing world are victims of so-called

Never ceasing wonder

Already hailed as a wonder drug, the humble aspirin can also combat common viruses, reveals research carried out by Thomas Shenk and his team at Princeton University in New Jersey, USA. The researchers have found that close relatives of aspirin can block common viruses known as the human cytomegaloviruses (CMV), …

Mapping the fission yeast

Scientists have mapped all the genes of the fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe), which they hope will provide new insights into basic cell biology. An international team led by Paul Nurse of Cancer Research Centre, the UK, has done the sequencing. S pombe is the sixth organism to have its genome …

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