In a ground-breaking development for patients with AIDS, the world’s first lateral flow assay able to detect Histoplasma antigen has been launched by MiraVista Diagnostics, based in Indianapolis, USA. Diego Cáceres and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) independently evaluated the new LFA in serum samples from patients and controls in… Read more »
A recent CDC Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report estimated the incidence of candidaemia in the US at around 9/100,000 which equates to >28,000 cases annually, with an overall mortality of 25%. 10% of cases are in IV drug abusers, 33% in diabetics and 17% in cancer patients.
The extra cost to save 1 in 5 deaths from cryptococcal meningitis in AIDS is $973 according to Tinevimbo Shiri and colleagues. Using data from the ACTA trial, and assuming 14 days dual therapy with fluconazole and flucytosine, mortality falls from 53.8% to 35.1% over 10 weeks, and more over the following weeks. The additional… Read more »
At the invitation of the Chair of Global Health sub-committee Heike Baehrens, GAFFI’s plea for more investment into saving lives and reducing symptoms caused by fungal diseases. As part of the One Health concept, GAFFI’s Chief Executive Professor David Denning and Senior Medical Adviser Professor Juan Luis Rodriguez Tudela spoke at the hour-long meeting… Read more »
Estimates of the incidence and prevalence of fungal infections were presented this week at TIMM2019 (Nice, France) for a further 5 countries: Morocco, Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan.
An ad hoc panel of twenty three international medical experts from the fields of mycology, microbiology and dermatology, led by the International Foundation for Dermatology (IFD) and Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections (GAFFI), have put forward methods for developing essential diagnostic strategies for three major skin Fungal Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). You can find… Read more »
September 23rd to 27th is Fungal Disease Awareness Week, an annual campaign to highlight the vital difference early recognition of serious fungal diseases makes in patient outcomes. Killing over 1.5 million and affecting over a billion people worldwide, fungal diseases have been the most neglected topic by public health authorities. In the UK, it is… Read more »
September 3-5th over 60 fungal disease experts from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela convened in Lima, Peru to discuss integration of new diagnostic tools that focus on antigen and antibody detection PCR (commercial and standardized) and MALDI-TOF identification… Read more »
Researchers from Manchester (UK) and Jakarta (Indonesia) have published new prevalence data for histoplasmosis exposure for multiple countries in SE Asia. Sensitivity to the histoplasmin skin test was seen in a large proportion of the population (26-86%), so it is likely that rolling out the Histoplasma antigen test (now on the WHO Essential Diagnostics List) will help to diagnose cases and save lives.
The World Health Organisation has updated its Essential Medicines List to the Histoplasma antigen test, which can be used on urine to diagnose histoplasmosis in 48 hours. Rolling out this test worldwide could save up to 48,000 lives in 5 years.
