CABI Blogs: hand picked... and carefully sorted

Dark chocolate this Christmas?

With a complete lack of imagination, at least one person in my family normally receives a chocolate gift from me each Christmas.

Should I find myself uninspired again this year, maybe I can convince a recipient of some good quality dark chocolate, that I am also thinking of their heart, improving their brain performance, reducing their emotional stress or even protecting their skin?! Read on to find out why.

Flu - can we say goodbye to yearly vaccines soon?

I was at the CDC's session on H1N1 influenza at the American Public Health Association annual meeting in Philadelphia recently and the problems of getting a flu vaccine out to the population fast was brought home to me. It takes about 5-6 months at present to grow and manufacture new flu vaccines and in a pandemic, like the one we have now, a lot of people could die in that time.The main problems are due to antiquated methods of growing viruses, and the need to remake vaccine each year because the virus is constantly changing.

What if one could find a vaccine that didn't need remaking each year and could be used for pandemics caused by new versions of the virus ?

Repelling boarders...

Given a choice, faced with a malaria-carrying mosquito heading in your direction, would you opt for an insecticide that killed it before it reached you,  or one that merely repelled it?

Most of us would plump for the first option I am sure, and this is how insecticide treated bednets (ITNs) work and why they have proved so successful in those malaria endemic regions of Africa where the vector mosquito bites at night. BUT I learnt on Thursday (19/11/09), at the ASTMH 2009 meeting, that entomologists are revisiting a decades old idea of using insect repellents that do not kill. This is not to save MOSQUITO KIND: the fact is that killing mosquitoes with insecticides inevitably leads to insecticide resistance, and apparently there are only 14 safe insecticide compounds approved by the WHO for use in insect vector control, so we need to delay the development of resistance by all means possible. Exploiting non-toxic chemicals which repel, to reduce man-vector contact, adds to our vector control armoury and comes with a number of other benefits: delaying onset of resistance, application suitable for both inside & outside the home, public acceptance.

Legs-up-the-wall pose - Yoga’s cure for almost all complaints

I am a keen yoga follower, who practices yoga regularly, including Tuesday’s lunchtime class here at CABI. I also receive daily yoga insights from the Yoga Journal giving tips on poses to try at home. I thought I’d share today’s tip on Viparita Karani or ‘legs-up-the-wall pose’ with the 'handpicked' readers, as it is a very relaxing pose and, it turns out to be also a useful pose to practice for health. Read on to learn why!

The face of climate change

Is it a polar bear or…a child in Africa?

(image by Just being myself)

Rapid Diagnostic Tools – the End of Traditional Microscopic Diagnosis of Malaria?

Fig. 258.  Plasmodium ovale. Three typical trophozoites that make species diagnosis very easy
Image courtesy of the authors of Atlas of Human Malaria.

From  Zeno Bisoffi  and Giovanni Swierczynski, of the Centre for Tropical Diseases, S. Cuore Hospital, in Negrar (Verona), Italy.

At the recent ECTMIH 2009 in Verona, Italy, a very well attended parallel session discussed the problem of malaria diagnosis. The keynote lecture by Walter Wernsdorfer had the provocative title: The Use of Rapid Diagnostic Tools – the End of Traditional Microscopic Diagnosis of Malaria?

Not surprisingly, the speaker expressed serious concern about totally abandoning microscopy in favor of the "new" rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), and fears that microscopy would become obsolete, although no real demonstration exists of the superiority of the new tools.

A hot debate followed.

Slow progress in tackling world hunger

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) Report  released for World Food Day today shows that progress in fighting hunger remains slow. This year the report released by the International Food Policy Research Institute highlights gender inequality as a factor in food insecurity.

Pass the Chalice?

"Bishops defying swine flu advice" said the headlines recently.

Some bishops in England  have recently reinstated using a shared chalice to distribute communion wine. UK Dept of Health advice is to suspend this practice during the swine flu outbreak to prevent the spread of this disease. I can see why chalices were identified as potentially spreading infections but church goers should take heart because drinking wine from a shared  silver communal vessel may be safer than sharing a cup of water.

Why?

Food Price Hikes – Crisis and Opportunity?

The drastic rises in prices of food during 2007-2008 had severe consequences, but could such rises present an opportunity? Antonio Martuscelli believes “High food prices in the short-run are very damaging for low-income groups of the population in developing countries. At the same time, high prices are an incentive for producers and extremely important for generating an aggregate supply response and to re-establish a long-run equilibrium.” His work is published in CAB Reviews in the run-up to CABI’s Global Summit on “Food Security in a Climate of Change” in London, 19-21 October.

Martuscelli, of the University of Sussex says that it is vital that short- and long-term issues are balanced. “The problem of high prices of basic food commodities exposes governments and societies to a great challenge that can only be addressed by means of a comprehensive food policy for the coming years. The challenge is to address the adverse impact of high food prices in the short run without compromising the long-run equilibrium of agricultural markets.”

Martuscelli’s views are published in one of a series of papers in CAB Reviews (listed below) on the food crises published over the last few months. These reviews look at issues such as the extent to which diversion of resources to biofuel production could be a factor.

Parasite anyone?

European Congress of Tropical Diseases/1^st Mediterranean Travel Medicine meeting

Monday Sept 7 2009

We are in Verona, home of Juliet & Romeo & apparently Pinocchio, if the street sellers are any indication. My companion is tucking warily into her first swordfish meal, a confirmed meat eater up until now. She remarks that her uncle had warned her to eat it well cooked and asked my opinion. My answer was “well cooked” and laughed, as I realised she thought it was a question of taste whereas the truth was I had immediately thought of parasites! This is what attending a tropical disease meeting does for you, so often dominated by parasitic diseases. 

We are here as exhibitors to publicise the Global Health database…and it has been most gratifying that on the first day, we have already met people who know , use and have been delighted with the unique content they have retrieved using Global Health. 

I have managed to attend a couple of specific meetings, pressure group discussions really: one on neglected diseases and one on the future of medical publishing and how it can help “South” researchers progress their careers and build their country’s research capacity.  

Neglected Tropical Diseases(NTDs)? How long is a piece of string? With a disease list ranging from the WHO’s major 10 to  Professor Peter Hotez’s 31, depending on your definition,  the one thing all NTDs do have in common is the fact that they afflict the world’s poorest peoples and keep them poor through their impact. Most of the WHO’s 10 are parasitic and many of these NTDs are appearing, or indeed reappearing, in the “developed” world amongst migrant populations. We heard Dr. Francois Chappuis (MSF) that Chagas disease was no longer confined to South America, thanks to migration. A recent study in Geneva, which has a large no-status Latin American population, found  12% of this group had Chagas and without insurance had  no access to appropriate health care, the local practitioners were unlikely to diagnose it and the drugs to treat it were not yet licensed in Switzerland! 

But I think I will leave you with some relevant food parasite papers to give you nightmares and thank your lucky stars (if you live in urban Europe) that you can eat your fish or meat and know that strict veterinary public health regulations have seen to it that your food is safe. Just remember, in general, it is not just for matters of taste that we need to cook meat & fish thoroughly.

Read on for the reference list....