The Global Fund

March 26, 2015

Bites Attract More Bites

New research has unfortunately revealed bad news about mosquitoes and their habits. A new study done by mBio and reported by Voice Of America News claimed, “A new study finds that the parasite that causes the disease produces an odor which attracts mosquitoes, inviting more bites and infections.” The problem which comes to mind right away is the idea of getting bitten by a mosquito which does not carry Malaria, but it attracts other potential mosquitoes which could potentially carry the deadly virus.

The reason other mosquitoes are attracted to other bites is because of a certain scent which is released (terpenes). When humans are bitten, the odor is released when they sweat or go into motion. This is when the mosquitoes will pick up the scents and are able to find their next potential victim.

Although this could hurt humans by infecting more people, it can also help with research. Researchers are currently undergoing studies to find a way in which they can detect the odor and treat bite victims accordingly before they are attacked by other mosquitoes. Being able to recognize who is affected and who is not affected is a vital key in curbing the spread of the deadly virus.

After identifying these people who have been bit, inhibiting a medicine which is essentially a fly trap which will destroy the mosquito before it can go and infect another member of society. These tactics are still in the research stages, but the researchers are hopeful that they can implement this tactic in the very near future.

For more updates on Malaria and other diseases, please visit Scott Filler‘s official website.

February 23, 2015

Alarming Spread Of Malaria

As soon as the world was starting to believe there was soon to be a cure to the deadly Malaria disease, a new drug resistant parasite has been discovered spreading around the Myanmar and India region. Asian countries should stay on high alert because of the epidemic which broke out over 50 years ago where a similar drug resistant parasite ravaged India and eventually travelled beyond Asia, and claiming millions of lives on its way to extinction.

Professor Mike Turner, the head of infection & immunobiology at the Welcome Trust in the United Kingdom stated, “The new research shows that history is repeating itself with parasites resistant to artemisinin drugs, the mainstay of modern malaria treatment, now widespread in Myanmar.” He also included that thousands are in immediate danger due to the new parasite.

According to Medical News Today, “The team found 39% of samples carried genetic evidence of resistance to artemisinin. They also confirmed resistant parasites were present in samples taken from centers located only 25 km from the Indian border.” Officials are extremely concerned since the proximity the disease is so close to India and the population which could be an epidemic very quickly.

Many doctors and officials are beginning to take precautionary measures as they expect the worst. Even though there is no real cure for this new mosquito, doctors are going to make sure they do all they can do in order to keep the heavily prone areas safe and disease free.

This new outbreak is urging the World Health Organization and The Global Fund to push for a more effective course of action to fight malaria. The bug is expected to be the worst epidemic since the 1960’s. One official claimed, “We need a more vigorous international effort to address this issue in border regions.” These regions are going to face problems for years to come and the best way to solve this problem is to wipe it out completely.

For more news and updates on Malaria, please visit Scott Filler‘s official website.

February 3, 2015

Cerebral Malaria Treatment Discovered?

Recent studies could have came to discover a cure to Cerebral Malaria according to the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. The school explained, “They discovered a novel link between food intake during the early stages of infection and the outcome of the disease, identifying two molecular pathways that could serve as new targets for treatment.”

Cerebral Malaria is considered one of the deadliest forms of Malaria which causes seizures, strokes, and death. This form of Malaria affects children generally and attacks their non-fully developed immune systems. The vaccine with use of “leptin—a hormone secreted from fat tissue with roles in suppressing appetite, but also in activating adaptive immune and inflammatory responses—is increased upon infection in a mouse model of cerebral malaria, and turns out to be a major bad actor in promoting neurological symptoms and death.” The researchers explained that using forms of leptin with a decrease in food intake can slow and potentially rid the Cerebral Malaria virus.

The biggest upside for this potential treatment is that is could be tested on humans since rapamycin is approved by the FDA currently according to article, “The researchers also found that leptin acted primarily on cytotoxic T cells by turning on the well-studied mTOR protein, for which pharmacologic inhibitors are readily available. In their animal model, treating mice with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin protected them against the neurological complications of cerebral malaria. Protection was due in part to a preservation of the blood brain barrier, which prevented the entry of blood cells carrying the parasites into the brain. As rapamycin is already FDA-approved for use in humans, trials in humans for cerebral malaria treatment with this drug may be possible, according to the researchers.”

While this treatment is not expected to be seen on the market any time in the near future, researchers and doctors alike are hoping this could be the break through that begins to fight the Cerebral Malaria virus.

For more, please visit http://scottfiller.net

November 25, 2014

Genetically Altered Mosquitoes. To Wipe Out Malaria?

In 2002 alone, Malaria is the cause for about 627,000 deaths. A majority of these deaths were African children who did not have adequate medicine and access to medicine. The biggest problem with Malaria in Africa is that mosquitos are reproducing with the same genetic gene which carries the deadly disease.

George Church, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School has a new ‘cutting-edge’ mosquito research that could eradicate the Malaria carrying mosquito population completely within a few generations. Church has come with the idea to genetically alter the genes of male mosquitos since they are ones who do not feed on human blood, they feed on plant nectar, which in turn means they do not spread or transmit Malaria.

This process would work based on genetically altering only males with these genetically engineered traits, which are engineered to carry a gene which gives their offspring a better chance of being male. Soon after, these altered male mosquitos breed with female mosquitos to pass their genetically engineered trait along to the offspring. The best case scenario of this alterations is to produce mosquito offspring which are male, killing off the female mosquito, Malaria carrying mosquitos. This could take a few generations and according to the journal Nature Communications this could work,Male mosquitoes feed on plant nectar, not human blood, and thus don’t transmit malaria. These mosquitos were shown to be able to interbreed with wild mosquitos (in cages), passing on their genetically engineered traits. Because they produce so few female offspring, whole mosquito populations could simply die off within a few generations.”

Although, this seems like a viable option to wipe out Malaria, it also posses a danger to the environment. The offspring of these genetically male mosquitos will pollinate for food which is also consumed by various other species in the ecosystem. It could harm these other species indirectly. Also, animals use mosquitoes as a food source, and like the animals which pollinate, it would affect them.

Another downfall to genetically altering gene technology is how easily it would be able to access. Getting this into the hands of everyone could pose a threat to any species which are not liked by anyone based on their own personal reasons.

For more information on the topic, please visit: MotherJones on their take on the subject.

September 26, 2014

SAP and The Global Fund

scottfiller_sap The Global Fund is an international financing organization established in 2002 to fund the fight against AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. SAP recently announced that SAP technology is helping the organization get a better understanding of how their financial investments are being used for disease prevention and treatment. Over a period of four years, SAP committed US$4million to the Global Fund. The Global Fund’s Innovative Coalition unites private sector organizations to tackle significant issues related to the organizations mission of fighting preventable and treatable diseases.

“SAP is all about helping organizations simplify complexity so they can do anything — and it doesn’t get more complicated than fighting persistent and deadly diseases around the world,” said Simon Paris, president of Industry Cloud, SAP. “By providing our technology innovation and leadership, we can help the Global Fund extend their reach and effectiveness. This partnership shows how technology can revolutionize the healthcare industry and save lives.”

The Global Fund acts essentially as a global public-private partnership that funds local organizations across 140 countries engaged in the fight against these three preventable and treatable diseases. In 2013, they disbursed US$3.9 billion worldwide, including private sector money generated by (RED), to create sustainable funding for the fight against AIDS in Africa. In addition to providing a charitable grant, SAP knew it could significantly increase its impact by contributing technology. With analytics technology and services from SAP, the Global Fund is now using grant management dashboards that provide greater visibility into programmatic, financial and management performance indicators, one of the organization’s biggest challenges.

“We would like to thank SAP for their tremendous support and collaboration to fight AIDS, TB and malaria,” said Mark Dybul, executive director, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “We’re very excited about launching the innovation coalition and welcome the meeting this week in Berlin to engage with top German companies and government officials. SAP has demonstrated again its global leadership by creating new innovative solutions to improve the health of people around the world.”

For more information read on at http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/SF20078.htm

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