Malaria has become a serious public health concern in Burundi. An outbreak that has the potential to evolve into an epidemic has eradicated nearly as many individuals as the Ebola crisis within the adjacent Democratic Republic of the Congo. The government's delay to announce a national crisis, increased breeding sites as a result of flooding, and the presence of multi-drug resistant malaria have exacerbated the burden. With a concurrent COVID-19 pandemic, economic complications, and overlap of symptoms between both diseases, these challenges are complex, but not unfamiliar. Organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières have carried out spraying campaigns, and the government is actively mitigating efforts to handle the pandemic. That being said, there is still a need to enhance preventive measures such as increasing technological capacity and epidemiological surveillance to better withstand challenges.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.afjem.2021.10.006 | DOI Listing |
PLoS Biol
January 2025
RNA Virus Replication Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom.
Coronaviruses express their structural and accessory genes via a set of subgenomic RNAs, whose synthesis is directed by transcription regulatory sequences (TRSs) in the 5' genomic leader and upstream of each body open reading frame. In SARS-CoV-2, the TRS has the consensus AAACGAAC; upon searching for emergence of this motif in the global SARS-CoV-2 sequences, we find that it evolves frequently, especially in the 3' end of the genome. We show well-supported examples upstream of the Spike gene-within the nsp16 coding region of ORF1b-which is expressed during human infection, and upstream of the canonical Envelope gene TRS, both of which have evolved convergently in multiple lineages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNarra J
December 2024
Center of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
The global malaria program has faced setbacks due to disruptions in health services caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these challenges, Asia that primarily comprised of low and middle-income countries (LMICs), continues to make strides towards malaria elimination. This scoping review explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria control programs in Asian countries with varying levels of malaria endemicity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVet Parasitol
January 2025
Biological Sciences Department, New York City College of Technology, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY, United States; Biology PhD Program, CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY, United States. Electronic address:
Heartworm infection caused by Dirofilaria immitis induces a devastating disease that greatly affects the global canine population. The mechanism leading to heartworm pathology has been attributed to be mostly by mechanical damage of the worm to the dog´s vascular system and immune-mediated, but the latter processes are not completely understood. Autoantibodies targeting host molecules such as lipids and nucleic acids have been described with pathological roles during malaria and COVID-19 and mediating anemia and thrombocytopenia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Exp Med
January 2025
Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia, Cairo, 11566, Egypt.
The demand for sensitive, rapid, and affordable diagnostic techniques has surged, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, driving the development of CRISPR-based diagnostic tools that utilize Cas effector proteins (such as Cas9, Cas12, and Cas13) as viable alternatives to traditional nucleic acid-based detection methods. These CRISPR systems, often integrated with biosensing and amplification technologies, provide precise, rapid, and portable diagnostics, making on-site testing without the need for extensive infrastructure feasible, especially in underserved or rural areas. In contrast, traditional diagnostic methods, while still essential, are often limited by the need for costly equipment and skilled operators, restricting their accessibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Med Educ
January 2025
Department of International Public Health, Emergency Obstetric and Quality of Care Unit, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembrooke Place, L3, 5QA, Liverpool, UK.
Background: The blended learning (BL) approach to training health care professionals is increasingly adopted in many countries because of high costs and disruption to service delivery in the light of severe human resource shortage in low resource settings. The Covid-19 pandemic increased the urgency to identify alternatives to traditional face-to-face (f2f) education approach. A four-day f2f antenatal care (ANC) and postnatal care (PNC) continuous professional development course (CPD) was repackaged into a 3-part BL course; (1) self-directed learning (16 h) (2) facilitated virtual sessions (2.
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