Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2019/08/stewardship-resistance-scan-aug-22-2019
Stewardship / Resistance Scan for Aug 22, 2019
Antimicrobial resistance grants; Resistant malaria in Africa
Filed Under:
Antimicrobial Stewardship; Malaria
[h=3]Pfizer Foundation to fund groups fighting infectious diseases, AMR[/h] The Pfizer Foundation this week announced $2 million in grants to help non-governmental organizations, non-profits, and social enterprises in low- and middle-income countries address infectious disease challenges, including the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
According to a Pfizer Foundation press release, the 20 recipients of the 1-year Global Health Innovation Grants will each receive $100,000 to develop sustainable solutions to overcome infectious diseases, which cause an estimated 8.4 million deaths annually. The focus of the projects is on strengthening local healthcare systems and building capacity to fight infectious diseases in low-resource settings.
Among the grant recipients is Nepal's Group for Technical Assistance, which will develop and implement an e-learning platform and website to help health facilities across the country set up AMR programs.
"Mounting infectious disease outbreaks and the threat of large-scale antimicrobial resistance are increasingly becoming some of the most challenging global health needs of our time," said Pfizer Foundation president Caroline Roan. "We are dedicated to working with individuals and organizations in local communities as they rethink and scale innovative solutions to fight infectious diseases and from the ground up, providing effective solutions to those patients most in need."
Aug 20 Pfizer Foundation press release
[h=3]African study finds multiple malaria populations, indicators of resistance[/h] A large genomic study of malaria parasites in sub-Saharan Africa has identified several genetically distinct populations in different regions of the continent, along with genomic signatures that indicate selection by current antimalarial drugs. The findings appeared today in Science.
In the study, researchers with the Plasmodium Diversity Network Africa analyzed whole-genome sequences of 2,263 Plasmodium falciparum isolates from 15 African countries and identified genetically distinct subpopulations in West Africa, Central Africa, South Central Africa, East Africa, and Southeast Africa, plus a highly divergent population in Ethiopia. The researchers believe the emergence of these different parasite populations followed patterns of human migration on the continent, including migration brought on by colonization and slavery.
The analysis also found an extensive flow of genetic material across the region in all directions, including genes that confer resistance to antimalarial drugs. P falciparum isolates from two countries, Malawi and Ghana, shared changes in genomic region that could compromise the efficacy of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), which are the first-line treatment for uncomplicated P falciparum malaria.
"Whatever the historic factors affecting the flow of genes between the distinct P. falciparum populations, the multi-directional flow we've identified raises the prospect of continental spread of resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies, which could arise from anywhere in Africa," study co-author Alfred Amambua-Ngwa, Phd, a professor at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in a press release from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where the genomes were sequenced.
Amambua-Ngwa and his colleagues say the findings signal the need for broader molecular surveillance of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa to track the emergence and spread of ACT resistance.
Aug 22 Science study
Aug 22 Wellcome Sanger Institute press release
Stewardship / Resistance Scan for Aug 22, 2019
Antimicrobial resistance grants; Resistant malaria in Africa
Filed Under:
Antimicrobial Stewardship; Malaria
[h=3]Pfizer Foundation to fund groups fighting infectious diseases, AMR[/h] The Pfizer Foundation this week announced $2 million in grants to help non-governmental organizations, non-profits, and social enterprises in low- and middle-income countries address infectious disease challenges, including the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
According to a Pfizer Foundation press release, the 20 recipients of the 1-year Global Health Innovation Grants will each receive $100,000 to develop sustainable solutions to overcome infectious diseases, which cause an estimated 8.4 million deaths annually. The focus of the projects is on strengthening local healthcare systems and building capacity to fight infectious diseases in low-resource settings.
Among the grant recipients is Nepal's Group for Technical Assistance, which will develop and implement an e-learning platform and website to help health facilities across the country set up AMR programs.
"Mounting infectious disease outbreaks and the threat of large-scale antimicrobial resistance are increasingly becoming some of the most challenging global health needs of our time," said Pfizer Foundation president Caroline Roan. "We are dedicated to working with individuals and organizations in local communities as they rethink and scale innovative solutions to fight infectious diseases and from the ground up, providing effective solutions to those patients most in need."
Aug 20 Pfizer Foundation press release
[h=3]African study finds multiple malaria populations, indicators of resistance[/h] A large genomic study of malaria parasites in sub-Saharan Africa has identified several genetically distinct populations in different regions of the continent, along with genomic signatures that indicate selection by current antimalarial drugs. The findings appeared today in Science.
In the study, researchers with the Plasmodium Diversity Network Africa analyzed whole-genome sequences of 2,263 Plasmodium falciparum isolates from 15 African countries and identified genetically distinct subpopulations in West Africa, Central Africa, South Central Africa, East Africa, and Southeast Africa, plus a highly divergent population in Ethiopia. The researchers believe the emergence of these different parasite populations followed patterns of human migration on the continent, including migration brought on by colonization and slavery.
The analysis also found an extensive flow of genetic material across the region in all directions, including genes that confer resistance to antimalarial drugs. P falciparum isolates from two countries, Malawi and Ghana, shared changes in genomic region that could compromise the efficacy of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), which are the first-line treatment for uncomplicated P falciparum malaria.
"Whatever the historic factors affecting the flow of genes between the distinct P. falciparum populations, the multi-directional flow we've identified raises the prospect of continental spread of resistance to artemisinin-based combination therapies, which could arise from anywhere in Africa," study co-author Alfred Amambua-Ngwa, Phd, a professor at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in a press release from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where the genomes were sequenced.
Amambua-Ngwa and his colleagues say the findings signal the need for broader molecular surveillance of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa to track the emergence and spread of ACT resistance.
Aug 22 Science study
Aug 22 Wellcome Sanger Institute press release