dozens fall sick after consuming anti-elephantiasis pills

dozens fall sick after consuming anti-elephantiasis pills
More than five 60 persons have fallen ill after they consumed the anti-elephantiasis medicines distributed by the District Health Office (DHO), Salyantar, Dhading.

The DHO had distributed medicines to 3,80,000 people of the district free of cost in the last two days.

Altogether 65 persons fell ill no sooner had they consumed the medicines.

According to the health workers, the patients are undergoing treatment in a primary health post at the village.

Meanwhile, medical personnel informed that the common symptoms seen among individuals after consuming anti-elephantiasis pills are nausea, headache, and vomiting and unconsciousness.

Likewise, in Kalikot one more person succumbed to cough and cold well as typhoid that i widespread among the people at Chapre VDC, Kalikot.

The death toll now has reached seven.

51-years old Maharudra Neupane of Chapre-9 died yesterday afternoon.

source:www.kantipuronline.com

Pharma majors open new R&D chapter

Part research being farmed out to medical colleges, universities to cut cost and time.

USV, a Mumbai-based Rs 800 crore drug manufacturer with research expertise in small molecules and proteins, recently decided to venture into the lucrative segment of vaccines.

For that, it decided to tap the expertise at the research wing of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, which has developed an indigenous novel typhoid vaccine.

The partnership saved the company three to four years it would have needed to come up with its own typhoid vaccine, said K G Rajendran, R&D head at USV. Not surprisingly, the company is working on four other similar collaborations.

As Indian pharmaceutical companies pump more resources into drug development, they are increasingly farming out at least a part of the research to medical colleges and universities to save time and money.

Some of the biggest names in the industry – Ranbaxy Laboratories, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Nicholas Piramal and Biocon — have forged such partnerships and are looking for more.

“Such collaboration provides access instantaneously. Access to academic researchers can be very useful. Normally, intellectual property (IP) from academic institutions comes at a very early stage. The risks are rather high and the IP can be in-licensed at relatively low cost,” said Rashmi H Barbhaiya, CEO and managing director of the Tatas-promoted drug discovery outfit Advinus.

Bangalore-based biotechnology company Biocon recently collaborated with the Deakin University, Australia, which has a strong focus on biotechnology and bio-sciences research.

Deakin will set up a Deakin research institute in Bangalore and the two will jointly develop a mammalian cell bio-processing facility in Australia. Deakin, through its metabolic research unit, will undertake research on metabolic (digestion related) diseases on behalf of Biocon.

Two weeks ago, Nicholas Piramal India (NPIL) tied up with Apollo Hospitals for the molecular profiling of tumours so as to identify leads to develop a new drug for cancer.

NPIL is also in talks with Sri Ramachandra Medical College of Chennai to evaluate drug development options in diabetes. The company had established several such collaborations in the past.

“Several products that came out of these research collaborations are undergoing pre-clinical studies, including toxicology and human clinical trials. We expect to launch new chemical entities by 2010,” said Swati Piramal, director, strategic alliance, NPIL.

A few months ago, Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, the pioneer of NCE research in India, chose the University of Auckland, New Zealand, as its partner to develop a first-of-its-kind ‘poly-pill’, that combines four medicines to treat heart ailments.

“It is difficult to have all the expertise in-house in an economically efficient manner. It is important that companies focus on their core competence and access complementary capabilities available with research institutions,” said a senior scientist with Dr Reddy’s.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has for long had such tie-ups. “In the past, CSIR has developed and commercialised more than 30 drugs and most of them were generic products. Now CSIR and our laboratories are focusing on new drug development, in association with the industry, and we are ready to share the risks with the industry,” said Yogeswar Rao, head, technology and business development, CSIR.

It is working on six projects, including two with Lupin for drugs for psoriasis and tuberculosis, and one with Bharat Biotech for an anti-bacterial formulation.

“Most Indian pharmaceutical companies lack adequate research background and resources and therefore the industry can leverage such collaborations through commercially viable projects,” said Rajendran of USV.

Collaborative research with academic institutions is an integral part of the new drug discovery process for research-driven pharmaceutical companies in the US and Europe.

About 15 of the 21 current top-selling drugs in the world, and more than 60 per cent of the new drugs developed so far, originated from the universities and academic research institutions, and not from the laboratories of the pharmaceutical companies.

The National Institute of Health in the US spends over $28 billion on drug research through 28 of its institutes and universities, involving over 600,000 researchers worldwide.

“India has embarked on this path only recently. In due course, academia-industry collaboration will improve and government funds will become available and easily accessible to those who are in a position to contribute to this emerging opportunity,
source:www.business-standard.com

Mysterious Illness Grips Indian Village

An eerie silence prevails at Sindhuvalli village, 15 km from Mysore, off Mysore-Ooty Highway. At least three persons in each household in the village, located near TVS Motor Company, are suffering from a mysterious fever, which the villagers say, is similar to chikungunya.
Though the doctors camping in the village have ruled out the outbreak of malaria or typhoid based on the tests conducted on blood samples, the number of affected persons is constantly increasing, causing panic among the villagers. The fever is spreading fast and there are reports that the villagers are sending their children away from the village.
source:www.freemarketnews.com

City crews respond to flooding

Flooding leads to a smelly situation. We are talking about floodwaters carrying raw sewage into a Tulsa home!



It's happening at a house near 15th Street and Louisville.



Julia Prokopis' mother has been living in this home for more than 40 years. But Julia says constant flooding, often filled with feces, has changed the living environment in their basement. “Oh the smell is horrendous. It smells like waste."



They say the flooding down here has gotten so bad at times they now put stuff up on pallets to keep things away from rising water.



“We've lost antiques, we lost all kinds of things", Julia says.



It's a problem Mark Rogers with Tulsa Public Works says they're looking into. “We had a call here earlier this month. We have to do some more investigation on this problem. Things pointing where it may be other issues."



Rogers says most complaints right now involve sewage backing up into houses. “This is more rain than we've had in probably five years and we're having quite a bit of problems."



He says flooded storm drains are also a serious concern



If you are experiencing flooding inside your home there is a number you can call 24 hours a day. That number is 669-6100.



City workers say if your home has been flooded, you should be extremely careful. They say the waters can carry bacteria and diseases including hepatitis, and even typhoid.

They also say anything touched by the water should be cleaned with a bleach solution in order to get rid of all the bacteria.
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source:www.fox23.com

Typhoid cases grow with temperature rise

With the mercury rising, five to six typhoid cases are reported daily at the city’s hospitals on average. Doctors anticipate the number of patients complaining about this food and water borne disease growing in the coming days, citing the likely increase in water and food consumption as one reason in this regard.

Sharif Astori of Polyclinic said five to seven fresh cases of typhoid are reported daily at the hospital. Doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and the CDA Hospital put the number of typhoid cases reported to them daily at six to seven and four to five respectively. Mostly, children complain about the disease, they said. According to doctors, drinking contaminated water and eating unhealthy food, poor sanitation and people’s neglect of personal hygiene are the major causes of typhoid. They said the increasing consumption of cold beverages prepared on roadsides and food stored in refrigerators spoilt by frequent power outages had lead to an increase in typhoid cases in Islamabad.

They informed Daily Times that their hospitals had typhoid medicines in good supply and had been facing no difficulties in treating patients complaining about the disease.

After the setting in of summer, private hospitals and clinics have also witnessed a gradual surge in the cases of this infectious disease.

Dr Asma Rehman, who runs a private clinic in F-10/3, said she received 12 to 15 patients, mostly children and youths, each week with symptoms of typhoid. She feared the number would further increase in the coming days with the rising temperatures. She said children drinking unboiled water mostly fell victim to the disease. She regretted parents and teachers’ negligence in this respect. Dr Rehman said salmonella typhi bacteria living in human bodies caused typhoid and that people suffering from the disease carried the bacteria in their bloodstream and intestinal tract.

According to doctors carriers recover from typhoid fever in some cases but continue to carry the bacteria. Both ailing people and carriers shed bacteria in stool. Typhoid fever occurs due to the use of food or water, either handled by a contaminated person, or contaminated with sewage.

They said typhoid spreads fast among people and in places where proper sanitation and hygiene are not taken seriously. “In our country, unfortunately, there are several such places where people are subjected to various kinds of fatal diseases, including typhoid due to a lack of awareness,” said Dr Rehman.

She said industrialised countries were free from typhoid but that developing countries were still facing this serious public health problem. Referring to official statistics, doctors said 1,000 in every 100,000 Pakistanis suffered from typhoid each year. They stressed the need for sincere efforts on the part of health authorities to raise awareness about this easily preventable disease. “In this way, people will not only be spared the suffering, but will also be able to save millions of rupees spent on expensive diagnoses and the treatment of typhoid each year,” they said.

Doctors also blamed the Capital Development Authority’s negligence in ensuring clean drinking water to the city and said that drinking water gets contaminated with sewage due to broken pipelines in certain areas.

When a CDA spokesperson was contacted, he acknowledged that the authority had received some complaints regarding a contaminated water supply in some areas. He said orders had been issued for the repair of the broken water pipelines. He added that the CDA had installed water purification plants across the city that were providing adequate drinking water to residents.
source:www.dailytimes.com.pk

Typhoid epidemic spreads in Kangpokpi area

Kangpokpi area of Senapati district is gripped by fear as the number of people affected by a typhoid epidemic, now under treatment at the community health centre, increased.

A total of 12 people suffering from typhoid were brought up and admitted to the Kangpokpi community health centre in the last few days. Out of them, six have been discharge from the centre and one has been referred to the RIMS hospital due to seriousness of the condition. The remaining five are undergoing treatment at the centre, official reports said.

Out of a total of 83 patients admitted at the centre during the current month, most were typhoid patients, hospital sources said.

Typhoid, diarrhea and dysentery are common diseases that have affected the people of Kangpokpi with the advent of monsoon in the past few years, the locals stated.
source:www.kanglaonline.com

Anjaan Rukh now in lab

HOSHIARPUR: Having conducted a DNA study on the sacred Dukhbhanjani Ber in Harmandar Sahib, Amritsar, the Forest Department's Research and Training Wing has turned its attention to another tree revered by Sikhs.
Recently, studies were conducted on a tree standing in the premises of Gurdwara Anjaan Rukh Sahib in Bhamian village, Khamano. Researchers found it contains antibacterial elements that can help fight typhoid.
According to Conservator Harsh Kumar, a comparative study of the leaf and stem extracts of the tree, identified as "lahura (Tecomella undulata)" of the Bignoniacea family, and nine other species belonging to arid zones was conducted, which revealed that the former contained the highest percentage of the antibacterial element that acts against Salmonella typhi, a casual organism of typhoid fever.
"Arid zone plants are known to possess alkaloid and other phyto-chemical contents that have the potential to cure a number of diseases. So we decided to study the tree at Gurdwara Anjaan Rukh Sahib to ascertain its antimicrobial efficacy Harsh Kumar says, adding ," the department may produce replicas of the tree in view of its scientific significance.
source:worldsikhnews.com

Dysentery, Typhoid up in Baglung

The scores of patients suffering from decently and typhoid is on rise in Baglung. Now, the flow of patients of dysentery and typhoid has been up due to the high temperature and contaminated water.

According to Baglung district hospital, most of the patients from Baglung municipality, Bhakunde, Pala, Khunga are found suffering from dysentery and typhoid.

At least 15 patients of typhoid and more than 10 of dysentery are visiting the hospital daily for the treatment last few days, said Dr. Sagar Rajbhandari of Baglung hospital.

In Tulsipur (Dang), people from Gadhawa VDC, Ward Nos 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9 suffer every year from the flood in the Kakrahawa river.

Although a team of local leaders of the seven political parties and civil society had requested Dang DDC to construct an embankment, no concrete step was taken by the DDC in this regard.

A levee in the river at Manpur of Gadhawa VDC-6 at a cost of 147,500 was being constructed with the joint efforts of various organizations in the district and DDC Dang but it was swept away by the torrential rainfall a month ago.

The Gadhawa residents complain that the political leaders never paid attention to their plight regarding the loss of property every year due to the river flood.

Meanwhile, as there is not a bridge over the Sukrahawa river in the section of Gadhawa roadway, even a slight rainfall disrupts transportation resulting in the people to face difficulties.

Moreover, the repetitive commitments made by the political parties to blacktop the roadway in the section of Lamahi-Gadhwa is yet to be materialized.

In Mahottari, locals taking anti-filarial medicines administered by District Public Health Office, Mahottari have been admitted to hospital after they fell sick.

Now they are suffering from nausea along with stomachache and fever after the intake of medicines. Among the medicines users, 15 returned home after treatment being admitted at Jaleswor hospital in two days.

source:www.gorkhapatra.org.np

Nepalese researchers identify cost-effective treatment for drug-resistant typhoid

New research carried out by researchers in Nepal has shown that a new and affordable drug, Gatifloxacin, may be more effective at treating typhoid fever than the drug currently recommended by the World Health Organisation. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, has implications for the treatment of typhoid particularly in areas where drug resistance is a major problem. The results are published today in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

Enteric fever, of which typhoid fever is the most common form, is a major disease affecting the developing world, where sanitary conditions remain poor. The best global estimates are of at least 22 million cases of typhoid fever each year with 200,000 deaths. Drug resistance is becoming a major problem and treatment is becoming increasingly difficult, leading to patients taking longer to recover, suffering more complications and continuing to spread the disease to their family and to their community.

Clinical investigators based at Patan Hospital Lalitpur in Kathmandu, Nepal, and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam have completed a study to see if they can improve the treatment for patients with typhoid fever. Kathmandu has been termed the typhoid fever capital of the world as a result of this disease remaining so common.

“Typhoid fever is a major problem in Nepal and in the developing world and drug-resistant strains are making it even more difficult to tackle," says Dr Buddha Basnyat, senior investigator on the study. "The currently recommended treatment, Cefixime, is relatively expensive and must be administered for a longer duration than is ideal. Clearly there is an urgent need for a treatment that is cost-effective and easy to administer."

The results of the study show that a cost-effective new fluoroquinolone drug, Gatifloxacin, may be a better treatment for enteric fever than Cefixime, which is currently recommended by the World Health Organisation. In addition, Salmonella enterica Typhi and Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyhpi A, the two most common bacteria to cause enteric fever, do not show resistance to Gatifloxacin, unlike for other fluoroquinolones.

"We have shown that Gatifloxacin may be better than an established drug used by many doctors around the world," says Dr Basnyat. "There is currently no resistance to the drug, and at just over US$1 dollar for a seven day treatment course is relatively inexpensive."

"This is an important study with major implications for treating disease widespread in the developing world," says Professor Jeremy Farrar from the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam. "It also shows the major contribution that clinical investigators in Nepal, with the experience and knowledge gained from access to thousands of patients, can help make to improving treatment for our patients and to global health.”

source:www.eurekalert.org

Antimicrobial Resistance Education Alliance (AREA)

What is AREA?
The Antimicrobial Resistance Education Alliance (AREA) seeks to provide education on the appropriate use of antibiotics in inpatient settings to health care providers nationwide.

This website aspires to be the leading resource for health care providers seeking to educate themselves and/or their patients about antimicrobial resistance and appropriate use of antimicrobial agents.

AREA is a collaborative effort between the University of Wisconsin (UW) School of Medicine and Public Health, CME Enterprise, Wisconsin Antibiotic Resistance Network (WARN), and Healthcare Performance Consulting.

See the press release from 8/11/2006.

What is AREAinitiatives.org?
AREAinitiatives.org is a Web portal that:
1. Does not create or disperse original material.
2. Acts as a conduit of knowledge between the intended audience (information seekers) and expert resources (information suppliers).

Although all material linked on AREAinitiatives.org has been reviewed for content validity, it does not necessarily represent all expert viewpoints equally. As the user, you are encouraged to critically evaluate all materials prior to making clinical practice decisions.
source:www.areainitiatives.org

Better and cheaper' typhoid treatment found

Nepalese researchers have identified a new drug that is more affordable and effective at treating drug-resistant typhoid fever than the drug currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The research was published today (27 June) in the open-access journal PLoS ONE.

Typhoid fever is an infection of the digestive system and the blood caused by Salmonella typhi bacteria, which are transmitted to humans by ingesting faeces, most commonly through contaminated water. It is a major problem in Nepal.

Researchers from Patan Hospital, Lalitpur, Nepal and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, compared the currently recommended drug cefixime with gatifloxacin, a new broad-spectrum antibiotic in 390 patients.

Enrolment in the trial was suspended when significant differences were revealed between the two drugs.

They found that gatifloxacin cleared fever more quickly than cefixime — an average of 92 hours versus 138 hours — and had fewer overall treatment failures at 3.5 per cent versus 37.6 per cent.

"We have shown that gatifloxacin may be better than an established drug used by many doctors around the world," said Buddha Basnyat, of Patan Hospital and author of the paper.

There is currently no resistance to gatifloxacin; with the older drug, resistance is becoming a problem. Because of this patients taking longer to recover, suffering more complications and continuing to spread the disease to their family and community.

Gatifloxacin is also cheaper and easier to use than cefixime, at just over US$1 for a seven-day course.

"The present recommended course of treatment [with cefixime] for typhoid fever is 14 days. It is quite expensive for the rural people of Nepal, as they need US$10 to complete a course for treatment of typhoid fever," said Resham Lamichhane, public health inspector from the Nepalese Department of Health Services.

Basnyat said that the drug is not yet available in Nepal, only India, and requested that the Nepalese Department of Drug Administration take notice of the findings.

But Santosh K. C., pharmacist inspector at the Nepalese Drug Information Unit, under the Department of Drug Administration, said the drug registration for gatifloxacin in Nepal is still pending.

Symptoms of typhoid fever include fever, headache, nausea and loss of appetite, sometimes with a cough and constipation or diarrhoea. There are an estimated 22 million cases each year, with 200,000 deaths mostly in developing countries according to the WHO.
source:www.scidev.net

Nepalese Researchers Identify New Treatment for Drug-resistant Typhoid

Nepalese researchers have established that the affordable drug, Gatifloxacin, is a better treatment for drug- resistant typhoid.


The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Dr Buddha Basnyat at Patan Hospital Lalitpur in Kathmandu, Nepal.

As part of the study, researchers compared the effect of the new drug with Cefixime, which is currently recommended by the World Health Organisation for treating enteric fever.

Researchers found that the new cost-effective fluoroquinolone drug, might be better than Cefixime.

"The currently recommended treatment, Cefixime, is relatively expensive and must be administered for a longer duration than is ideal. Clearly there is an urgent need for a treatment that is cost-effective and easy to administer," Basnyat said.

The study also noted that Salmonella enterica Typhi and Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyhpi A, the two most common bacteria to cause enteric fever, do not show resistance to Gatifloxacin, unlike for other fluoroquinolones.
source:www.medindia.net

Nepalese researchers identify new treatment for drug-resistant typhoid

Washington, June 27: Nepalese researchers have established that the affordable drug, Gatifloxacin, is a better treatment for drug- resistant typhoid.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Dr Buddha Basnyat at Patan Hospital Lalitpur in Kathmandu, Nepal.

As part of the study, researchers compared the effect of the new drug with Cefixime, which is currently recommended by the World Health Organisation for treating enteric fever.

Researchers found that the new cost-effective fluoroquinolone drug, might be better than Cefixime.

"The currently recommended treatment, Cefixime, is relatively expensive and must be administered for a longer duration than is ideal. Clearly there is an urgent need for a treatment that is cost-effective and easy to administer," Basnyat said.

The study also noted that Salmonella enterica Typhi and Salmonella enterica serovar Paratyhpi A, the two most common bacteria to cause enteric fever, do not show resistance to Gatifloxacin, unlike for other fluoroquinolones.

The findings of the study were published in journal PLoS ONE.
source:www.areainitiatives.org

Nepalese Researchers Identify Cost-effective Treatment For Drug-resistant Typhoid

New research carried out by researchers in Nepal has shown that a new and affordable drug, Gatifloxacin, may be more effective at treating typhoid fever than the drug currently recommended by the World Health Organisation. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, has implications for the treatment of typhoid particularly in areas where drug resistance is a major problem. The results are published in the June 27th issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE.

Enteric fever, of which typhoid fever is the most common form, is a major disease affecting the developing world, where sanitary conditions remain poor. The best global estimates are of at least 22 million cases of typhoid fever each year with 200,000 deaths. Drug resistance is becoming a major problem and treatment is becoming increasingly difficult, leading to patients taking longer to recover, suffering more complications and continuing to spread the disease to their family and to their community.

Clinical investigators based at Patan Hospital Lalitpur in Kathmandu, Nepal, and the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam have completed a study to see if they can improve the treatment for patients with typhoid fever. Kathmandu has been termed the typhoid fever capital of the world as a result of this disease remaining so common.

"Typhoid fever is a major problem in Nepal and in the developing world and drug-resistant strains are making it even more difficult to tackle," says Dr Buddha Basnyat, senior investigator on the study. "The currently recommended treatment, Cefixime, is relatively expensive and must be administered for a longer duration than is ideal. Clearly there is an urgent need for a treatment that is cost-effective and easy to administer."

The results of the study show that despite high levels of drug resistance, a cost-effective new fluoroquinolone drug, Gatifloxacin, may be a better treatment for enteric fever than Cefixime, which is currently recommended by the World Health Organisation.

"We have shown that Gatifloxacin may be better than an established drug used by many doctors around the world," says Dr Basnyat. "There is currently no resistance to the drug, and at just over US$1 dollar for a seven day treatment course is relatively inexpensive."

"This is an important study with major implications for treating disease widespread in the developing world," says Professor Jeremy Farrar from the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam. "It also shows the major contribution that clinical investigators in Nepal, with the experience and knowledge gained from access to thousands of patients, can help make to improving treatment for our patients and to global health."
source:www.sciencedaily.com