The bionomics of Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles funestus inside local houses and their implications for vector control strategies in areas with high coverage of insecticide-treated nets in South-eastern Tanzania.

Background: Residual malaria transmissions in Africa may be associated with improved coverage of insecticide-treated nets, house features, and livestock husbandry. These human-land use activities may drive the ecology and behaviour of malaria vectors which sustain residual malaria transmission. This study was conducted to assess changes in the ecology and behaviour of Anopheles funestus and Anopheles arabiensis in villages with high coverage of insecticide-treated nets to guide the selection of complementary vector control strategies against residual malaria transmission.

Characterization of human exposure to Anopheles and Aedes bites using antibody-based biomarkers in rural zone of Cameroon.

Malaria and Aedes-borne diseases remain major causes of mortality, morbidity, and disability in most developing countries. Surveillance of transmission patterns associated with vector control remains strategic for combating these diseases. Due to the limitions of current surveillance tools used to assess human exposure to mosquito bites, human antibody (Ab) responses to salivary peptides from Anopheles (gSG6-P1) and Aedes (Nterm-34kDa) are increasingly being used to measure direct human-Anopheles or Aedes contact.

"I can't make it safe, so I don't do it": Exploring obstetricians' views on barriers and enablers to promoting vaginal birth after caesarean section in Bangladesh.

The rise in the number of facility-based births in Bangladesh has been accompanied by a caesarean section (CS) epidemic. The current CS rate is 45% and while many are performed when medically unnecessary, there is still maternal mortality due to lack of access to CS. A significant contributor to the rising CS rates in Bangladesh is repeat CS.

Copy number variants underlie major selective sweeps in insecticide resistance genes in Anopheles arabiensis.

To keep ahead of the evolution of resistance to insecticides in mosquitoes, national malaria control programmes must make use of a range of insecticides, both old and new, while monitoring resistance mechanisms. The outdoor-biting malaria vector Anopheles arabiensis is of increasing concern for malaria transmission because it is apparently less susceptible to many indoor control interventions, yet knowledge of its mechanisms of resistance remains limited. Furthermore, comparatively little is known in general about resistance to non-pyrethroid insecticides such as pirimiphos-methyl (PM), which are crucial for effective control in the context of globally high resistance to pyrethroids.

Healthcare providers' and community stakeholders' perception of using drones for tuberculosis diagnosis in Nepal: an exploratory qualitative study.

Background: In rural Nepal, poor road and transport networks and few testing laboratories impede tuberculosis diagnosis. A drone transport system was established to transport sputum samples to laboratories with advanced molecular diagnostic machines - GeneXpert MTB/RIF. This study explored the perceptions of using drones for tuberculosis diagnosis among community stakeholders, female community health volunteers, and healthcare providers from communities with drones implemented and without drone programs.

Larval source management in Ethiopia: modelling to assess its effectiveness in curbing malaria surge in dire Dawa and Batu Towns.

Background: Ethiopia faces several severe challenges in terms of malaria elimination, including drug resistance and diagnostic evasion in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, insecticide resistance in the primary Anopheles malaria vector, and, most recently, the invasion of the Asian malaria vector Anopheles stephensi. Novel malaria control methods are therefore needed, and in this paper, we describe the evaluation of a larval source management (LSM) strategy implemented in response to An. stephensi.

Risk Perception and Psychosocial Factors Influencing Exposure to Antimicrobial Resistance through Environmental Pathways in Malawi.

Antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria are prevalent in household and environmental settings in low-income locations. However, there are limited data on individuals' understanding of AMR bacteria exposure risks in these settings. A cross-sectional study was conducted to identify individual risk perception of AMR bacteria and its associated behavioral determinants at the household level in urban, peri-urban, and rural Malawi.

Community-based psychosocial support interventions to reduce stigma and improve mental health of people with infectious diseases: a scoping review.

Background: Stigma experienced by people with infectious diseases impedes access to care, leading to adverse psychosocial consequences. Community-based interventions could prevent or mitigate these consequences but lack robust evidence. This scoping review aimed to identify and critically appraise community-based psychosocial support interventions to reduce stigma and improve mental health for people affected by stigmatizing infectious diseases including tuberculosis (TB), HIV/AIDS, and leprosy.

Three years of insecticide resistance evolution and associated mechanisms in Aedes aegypti populations of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Background: Resistance to insecticides is spreading among populations of Aedes aegypti, the primary vector of important human arboviruses. The escalating insecticide resistance poses a significant threat to dengue vector control, with an expanding number of countries affected by the disease. To gain a deeper insight into the evolution of insecticide resistance, it is essential to have longitudinal surveillance results, which are currently lacking, particularly from African Ae.

The landscape and level of alcohol policy enforcement in Tanzania.

Harmful use of alcohol causes more deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa than in any other region. In Tanzania, where alcohol use disorders rates are twice the overall African average, harmful alcohol consumption is a public health concern. Given the lack of a contemporary overview of the alcohol policy landscape, we conducted a mixed-methods review of key alcohol-related policies, implementers, and initiatives in Tanzania.

Extended spectrum cephalosporin (ESC) resistant : Trends and seasonality in the Netherlands from 2014 to 2022.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in livestock and the environment likely contribute to the prevalence of AMR in humans with potential detrimental effects on human health. As such, annual mandatory monitoring of AMR in livestock occurs within the European Union (EU), according to harmonised methods. Extended-spectrum cephalosporins-resistant (ESC-resistant) , including extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL), AmpC β-lactamases (AmpC) and carbapenemase producing , are considered of particular importance and are therefore included in the monitoring program.

Ties that bind: understanding One Health networks and participation for zoonoses prevention and control in India.

Background: Cross-sectoral collaborations as exemplified by the One Health approach, are widely endorsed as pragmatic avenues for addressing zoonotic diseases, but operationalisation remain limited in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Complexities and competing interests and agendas of key stakeholders and the underlying politico-administrative context can all shape outcomes of collaborative arrangements. Evidence is building that organised collaborations are complex political initiatives where different objectives; individual and institutional agendas need to be reconciled to incentivise collaborations.

Impact of iron supplementation among anemic voluntary first-time blood donors: Results from the BLOODSAFE pilot trial in Ghana.

Introduction: In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), an adequate supply of safe blood for transfusion is a major developmental challenge. In Ghana, deferral from blood donation for anemia accounts for nearly half of the ineligible blood donors. We conducted a longitudinal two-arm parallel-group non-inferiority trial to test if iron supplementation among blood donors with iron deficiency (ID) or anemia could increase their hemoglobin levels to near those without ID or anemia.

"If they take it without knowing, they will default…": perceptions of targeted information transfer to promote adherence to intermittent preventive treatment with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for the prevention of malaria in pregnancy in western Kenya.

Background: Increasing resistance to sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) threatens the effectiveness of intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp) to prevent malaria in pregnancy. Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine (DP) is the most promising candidate to emerge from clinical trials, but requires a multi-day regimen. Despite being a single-dose regimen, coverage of IPTp-SP remains low, fuelling concerns about adherence to multi-day drug options.

Characterizing the pharmacological interaction of the antimalarial combination artefenomel-piperaquine in healthy volunteers with induced blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum to predict efficacy in patients with malaria.

Background: The combination antimalarial artefenomel-piperaquine failed to achieve target efficacy in a phase 2b study in Africa and Vietnam. We retrospectively evaluated whether characterizing the pharmacological interaction of this antimalarial combination in a volunteer infection study (VIS) would have enabled prediction of the phase 2b study results.

Methods: Twenty-four healthy adults enrolled over three consecutive cohorts were inoculated with Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes on day 0.

Organophosphate and carbamate susceptibility profiling of Anopheles gambiae sl. across different ecosystems in southern Benin.

Background: To overcome the spread of high pyrethroid resistance in the main malaria vectors and malaria disease persistence, it is crucial to look for effective and better resistance management strategies. Understanding the phenotypic profile of against alternatives insecticides like organophosphates and carbamates is crucial.

Methods: larvae and pupae were collected from the breeding sites in rice fields, pineapple crop areas, and peri-urban areas.

Shigella sonnei: epidemiology, evolution, pathogenesis, resistance and host interactions.

Shigella sonnei is a major cause of diarrhoea globally and is increasing in prevalence relative to other Shigella because of multiple demographic and environmental influences. This single-serotype species has traditionally received less attention in comparison to Shigella flexneri and Shigella dysenteriae, which were more common in low-income countries and more tractable in the laboratory. In recent years, we have learned that Shigella are highly complex and highly susceptible to environmental change, as exemplified by epidemiological trends and increasing relevance of S.

Interventions for the management of long covid (post-covid condition): living systematic review.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of interventions for the management of long covid (post-covid condition).

Design: Living systematic review.

Data Sources: Medline, Embase, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to December 2023.

Rationale and Design of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients with Coronary Multi-Vessel Disease (DAPT-MVD): A Multicenter, Randomized, Controlled Trial.

Background: The optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) for patients with coronary multi-vessel disease (MVD) who have received drug-eluting stents (DES) remains unclear.

Hypothesis And Methods: The Dual Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients with Coronary Multi-Vessel Disease (DAPT-MVD) study is a multicenter, open-label, randomized controlled trial designed to assess the efficacy and safety of extended DAPT in MVD patients 12 months following DES implantation. We plan to enroll 8250 patients across approximately 100 sites in China.