The Lancet ~ Infectious Diseases ~ June 2009 Volume 9 Number 6 Pages 331 - 392

The Lancet ~ Infectious Diseases ~ June 2009 Volume 9 Number 6 Pages 331 - 392

http://www.book4doc.com/16446

June
2009

Volume 9
Number 6
Pages 331 - 392








Leading Edge
331
Putting influenza A H1N1 in its place
The Lancet Infectious Diseases






Writing in London's Guardian newspaper on May 6, the columnist Simon Jenkins rails against how the dangers of the current influenza A H1N1 outbreak have been exaggerated by the mass media and scientists. He calls for an inquiry into this fiasco and, paraphrasing Voltaire, suggests shooting the occasional virologist and perhaps an editor too, to encourage the others. Although nominations of colleagues to take a bullet to restore the damaged reputation of our professions may be many, Jenkins seems to have confused scientific uncertainty with hype.


Reflection and Reaction
332
Immunointervention for patients with HIV and tuberculosis
Janakiraman Vani, Kushagra Bansal, Michel D Kazatchkine, Srini V Kaveri, Jagadeesh Bayry



Therapeutic options aimed at confronting the HIV pandemic face many obstacles. Current opinion on HIV-induced pathogenic immune activation and strategies aimed at eliminating HIV, including a potential role for non-neutralising antibodies as part of a therapeutic vaccine option, was elegantly reviewed by Martin Cadogan and Angus Dalgleish.1 It is important to note that, for eliciting such antibody responses in patients, functionally fit antigen presenting cells and effector T and B cells are crucial.


333
Global burden of herpes simplex type 2
Rebecca L Gorton, Samuel E Moses, Mark Zuckerman
|




The recent report by Kathryn Senior1 highlights the worldwide burden of herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 2 infection, commenting on the varying patterns across different regions of the world. We agree with Senior that most genital HSV infections are not associated with typical genital vesicular lesions, and we would like to highlight the importance of diagnosing genital HSV infection during pregnancy.


334
European Union conference on poverty-related diseases research
Bruno Gryseels, Alimuddin Zumla, Marita Troye-Blomberg, Marie Paule Kieny, Gianluca Quaglio, Andreas Holtel, Hannu Laang, Manuel Romaris, Maria Teresa De Magistris, Ana Nieto Nuez, Ole F Olesen, Rachida Ghalouci, Anna Lönnroth






The European Commission (EC) organised a conference on poverty-related diseases (PRDs) in Brussels, Belgium (Nov 1314, 2008), entitled Challenges for the future: research on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. It brought together more than 350 representatives from 63 countries, including a broad swathe of disease-endemic countries. AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis kill 5 million people each year. We have not forgotten the importance of battling the diseases that affect the poorest among us the hardest.


Cross-talk
338
The future of history
Bernard Dixon






Amazing, isn't it, what molecular archaeologists are getting up to these days? Hot on the heels of their diagnosis of the exact cause of dysentery among 12th and 13th century crusaders (Lancet Infect Dis 2008, 8: 530), they have now confirmed that bubonic plague killed several Benedictine nuns and priests in 17th century France (J Archaeol Sci 2009, 36: 61621).


Newsdesk
339
Preparation for a pandemic: influenza A H1N1
Priya Shetty
|




Influenza A H1N1 (swine flu) has spread around the world with what has, at times, felt like horrifying speed, but there is a feeling that many of us have dodged a bullet. Of the 2384 laboratory-confirmed cases reported in 24 countries, as TLID went to press, there had been 44 deaths, 42 of which were in Mexico. These numbers are far lower than the annual toll from seasonal influenza, which kills hundreds of people every day in the peak season.


341
Hopes that US law change will kickstart harm reduction in Asia
Georgina Kenyon
|



The provision of substitute drugs and sterile equipment to reduce the risks of injected-drug use is a popular idea in some regions of the world, and can have a substantially positive effect on the incidence of HIV/AIDS, but in southeast Asia this form of harm reduction remains unpopular. Many countries retain punitive laws against drug users, with many Asian countries having some of the strictest laws prohibiting needle exchanges.


342
Optimism over World Malaria Day challenge
Kelly Morris





A year after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced global targets to tackle malaria, the international malaria community is hopeful of achieving the provision of universal coverage of malaria-control interventions, and halving the cases of, and deaths from, malaria by the end of 2010. Counting malaria out, is the theme of the second World Malaria Day (April 25), which stresses the importance of accurate and timely data in the push to achieve worldwide goals.


343
Infectious diseases surveillance update
Onisillos Sekkides
|



In the Brazilian state of Bahai, 50 864 cases of dengue were registered in 2009 to April 10, a 266% increase over the same period of 2008. 41 people died in 2009. In the sate of Mato Grosso, ten deaths from suspected dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) have been registered. The total number of cases in Mato Grosso is 353.For the first quarter of 2009, the Chad Ministry of Health has reported 922 suspected cases of meningococcal disease, including 105 deaths (an 114% case-fatality rate). So far, three districts have crossed the epidemic threshold.


344
Infectious disease in pregnancy
Kathryn Senior





The recent Africa First Ladies Health Summit in Los Angeles brought together wives of African heads of state to raise the profile of HIV, but there was also an important sub-agenda: maternal and child health. Of the 536 000 maternal deaths in the world in 2005, 99% were in developing countries and Ida, wife of Kenya's prime minister Raila Odinga, highlighted the problem still facing Africa when she said that more than 15% of women in Kenya suffer life-threatening complications due to pregnancy and childbirth-related causes.


345
Research brief
Jane Bradbury
|



Influenza vaccines are currently injected intramuscularly or given by nasal spray. But, suggests a recent animal study, cutaneous delivery with solid metal microneedle arrays could provide a simpler vaccine delivery method. Researchers coated an array of five 500 μm long microneedles with 10 μg of an inactivated influenza virus and then pressed the device into the skin of mice for 5 min. A single immunisation with vaccine-coated microneedles induced antibody responses similar to those induced by intramuscular injection with the same dose of vaccine, and protected the mice from lethal challenge with mouse-adapted influenza virus.


Media Watch
346
Humanity's burden: a global history of malaria
Talha Burki





The third work by Jim Webb (Colby College, Maine, USA), Humanity's Burden: A Global History of Malaria begins by establishing malaria's longevity: a primordial companion of our distant protohuman ancestors and an even earlier companion of the chimpanzees from which we branched off six or seven million years ago.



Review
347
Clinician's guide to human papillomavirus immunology: knowns and unknowns
Mark H Einstein, John T Schiller, Raphael P Viscidi, Howard D Strickler, Pierre Coursaget, Tina Tan, Neal Halsey, David Jenkins
|



Oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common genital infection that has the potential to develop into cervical cancer in some women. This Review summarises current knowledge on the mechanisms of host immunity that help prevent and control HPV infection and the viral factors that exist to avoid immune surveillance. Although most women clear the infection within a few months, the virus induces a shift towards immune tolerance that can facilitate persistence and permit tumorigenesis. Mechanisms used by HPV to avoid immune surveillance and control include infecting only the basal layer of the cervical epithelium, limiting expression of viral proteins until later stages of epithelial differentiation, undergoing non-lytic replication, and downregulating the expression of important receptors on cells of the innate immune system.


357
Factors affecting the reversal of antimicrobial-drug resistance
Pål J Johnsen, Jeffrey P Townsend, Thomas Bøhn, Gunnar S Simonsen, Arnfinn Sundsfjord, Kaare M Nielsen






The persistence or loss of acquired antimicrobial-drug resistance in bacterial populations previously exposed to drug-selective pressure depends on several biological processes. We review mechanisms promoting or preventing the loss of resistance, including rates of reacquisition, effects of resistance traits on bacterial fitness, linked selection, and segregational stability of resistance determinants. As a case study, we discuss the persistence of glycopeptide-resistant enterococci in Norwegian and Danish poultry farms 12 years after the ban of the animal growth promoter avoparcin.


365
Climate change and infectious diseases in Europe
Jan C Semenza, Bettina Menne
|



Concerted action is needed to address public health issues raised by climate change. In this Review we discuss infections acquired through various routes (arthropod vector, rodent, water, food, and air) in view of a changing climate in Europe. Based on an extensive review of published work and expert workshops, we present an assessment of the infectious disease challenges: incidence, prevalence, and distribution are projected to shift in a changing environment. Due to the high level of uncertainty on the rate of climate change and its impact on infectious diseases, we propose to mount a proactive public health response by building an integrated network for environmental and epidemiological data.


376
Cerebral phaeohyphomycosisa cure at what lengths?
Dong Ming Li, G Sybren de Hoog





Cerebral phaeohyphomycosis is a fungal infection of the brain typically caused by Cladophialophora bantiana, Exophiala dermatitidis, and Rhinocladiella mackenziei, all of which belong to the order Chaetothyriales. The disease results in black, necrotic brain tissue, black pus, and black cerebrospinal fluid. Pathogens usually reach the brain through the bloodstream or lymphatic fluid and occasionally through direct spreading or accidental inoculation. Patients can present with hemiparesis, tonic spasm, headache, fever, sensory variation, cerebral irritation, and even psychotic behavioural changes.


Grand Round
384
Emergence of community-acquired meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain USA300 as a cause of necrotising community-onset pneumonia
Alicia I Hidron, Cari E Low, Eric G Honig, Henry M Blumberg
|



Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), usually known as a nosocomial pathogen, has emerged as the predominant cause of skin and soft-tissue infections in many communities. Concurrent with the emergence of community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA), there have been increasing numbers of reports of community-acquired necrotising pneumonia in young patients and others without the classic health-care-associated risk factors. Community-onset necrotising pneumonia due to CA-MRSA is now recognised as an emerging clinical entity with distinctive clinical features and substantial morbidity and mortality.



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