Taking sting out of Chikungunya

Scientists begin work on vaccine in Port Blair scientists at the Regional Medical Research Centre (rmrc) of Andaman and Nicobar Islands are all set to begin work on developing a vaccine against Chikungunya, a viral infection that killed over 80 people in India in 2006.

Non-chemical use to contain kala-azar vector

policymakers in India swear by the insecticide ddt to contain sand fly, the kala-azar vector. There are alternatives to using chemicals, a group of researchers has found by studying 50 villages in five kala-azar endemic districts in Bihar. The disease is most prevalent in the state. Critics say the study is not foolproof.

Chikungunya virus gets deadlier

Anthony McMichael on health risks from climate change

What are the impacts of climate change on disease outbreaks? In the past two decades, we have recorded several changes in disease outbreaks across the world. When taken together, it seems they tell us a story about the impacts of climate change. Interviewee:  Anthony Mcmichael

Yellow fever vaccine supply under pressure, says WHO

As the outbreak of yellow fever spreads from Brazil to its neighbouring countries, Argentina and Paraguay, who has said that the world's supply of vaccine against the disease is under extreme pressure.

A new chikungunya strain

reemergence of the chikungunya virus in India in 2005--the first outbreak in 32 years--has baffled the medical community. It is a cryptic genetic puzzle with several plausible explanations but little evidence. The strain causing havoc in India is an African one, never virulent in India and not reported before 2000. There is also evidence of mutation in the strain between 2006 and 2007.

Regional approach required for treatment of malaria

malaria treatment has so far been uniform globally. who guidelines on symptoms of severe malaria are based on symptoms found in children in Africa. They include anaemia, jaundice and hypoglycaemia (low blood glucose level). Scientists say this 'one-size-fits-all' approach should change since children from other regions show different symptoms, sometimes more lethal.

Kala-azar spreads to Gujarat, MP

Chikungunya resurfaces in Maharashtra

chikungunya has re-emerged in Maharashtra, like it had in 2006. This time round, Kolhapur is the worst-affected district with 22 cases reported in April and May, followed by Sangli with four cases, says P P Doke, deputy director of health services, Maharashtra government. There are a total of 30 confirmed chikungunya cases in Maharashtra at present. "Kolhapur has been affected largely because of its geographic position. It is close to the Karnataka border where districts like Belgam are already

Chikungunya reaches the US through tourists

The Chikungunya virus has travelled from south India across the seven seas to the us, piggybacking on travellers to the subcontinent in 2005-06. The alarm was raised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Colorado when it published findings of a serum sample survey in the May 2007 issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (Vol 13, No 5). Doctors detected 35 confirmed samples of the virus from travellers who returned to the us from India and Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Of these, 33 were from India.