London School Of Hygiene And Tropical Medicine Audio News - Lshtm Podcast

ATLANTA—Efficacy of the RTS,S malaria vaccine for children — vaccinated between six and 12 weeks age — checked-in at around 30 per cent in preliminary findings from Africa released at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference by Dr John Lusingu of Tanzania’s National Institute of Medical Research. He told Sarah Maxwell that although this figure is lower than was hoped the data mean that a third of all cases of malaria are prevented among vaccinated children. Professor Sir Brian Greenwood of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine added his comment.

ATLANTA—Results from the first large study of a vaccine for dengue fever — in 4000 Thai children — show that it is safe to use and effective — raising immunity to three out of the four "serotypes" of this mosquito-borne virus. Although these findings — announced at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual meeting — show that complete protection — against all four virus types — is still not possible, Professor Jeremy Farrar of Oxford University's Unit in Ho Chi Minh city told Peter Goodwin that expectations about the vaccine were perhaps too high, and that the results just announced are encouraging, because the risk of dengue is continually rising as more people travel around the world spreading the infection.

ATLANTA—Schistosomiasis — also known as bilharzia — could be eliminated from Africa and elsewhere by using two actions together: making simple improvements in water-supply sanitation and hygiene and treating infected children with free praziquantel — recently made available by the manufacturers. At the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene annual conference Alan Fenwick, Professor of Tropical Parasitology at Imperial College in London, chaired a symposium reviewing the latest evidence about practical ways of achieving success against this parasitic disease. He discussed the conclusions with Peter Goodwin.

LONDON—A man with no legs and only one arm and a boy crippled by polio have been instrumental in steering a Red Cross team’s work in Afghanistan. The ICRC’s head of Orthopaedics in Kabul, Alberto Cairo, was invited by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to talk about his experience of 22 years’ work with disabled and war-wounded people. Together with Carl Blanchet of the London School’s International Centre for Evidence on Disability he explained to Peter Goodwin why we should see disabled people as a resource, not a liability.

LONDON—A case report in The Lancet has highlighted the threat of fake drugs for malaria — the subject of intensive research at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Dr Harparkash Kaur told Peter Goodwin what her laboratory is doing about the global threat of counterfeit drugs, and what happened in the recent case of the patient with malaria in Spain who had been taking anti-malarial drugs purchased in Equatorial Guinea.

LONDON—The health impact of diet and physical activity may play a part in the marked ethnic differences in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the UK according to research reported at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. In the Pemberton Lecture at the 2012 Meeting of the Society for Social Medicine Professor Peter Whincup of St George’s London University also said that social class has a big effect on health — but not in the same way in all ethnic groups. He explained to Peter Goodwin why the study of ethnicity and health is needed to help reduce inequalities such as a six-fold difference in the incidence of diabetes between communities in the same city.

LONDON—People are now routinely using the internet to find out about health conditions and to share their own experiences with others with similar diagnoses. This is a radical change in how people experience illness. Health professionals and policy makers have much to learn from patients experience websites such as www.healthtalkonline.org about what is important to patients. This was the clear message in the Cochrane Lecture given at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine by Dr Sue Ziebland who specialises in Qualitative Health Research at Oxford University, in the UK. She gave the talk as part of the 2012 meeting of the Society for Social Medicine, after which she told Peter Goodwin about her research findings and the implications these have for health systems everywhere.

RIO DE JANEIRO and LONDON—A call for action on global health has been made in an article published by The Lancet medical journal about the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro. Issues which degrade the planet also degrade human health, according to Professor Sir Andy Haines, OBE, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He talks with Peter Goodwin about the positive actions to be made to help both the planet and public health.

LONDON—One in twenty deaths in English hospitals could be prevented according to research published in the British Medical Journal Quality and Safety. Dr Helen Hogan of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and her colleagues studied the causes of preventable deaths in English hospitals during the year 2009 and estimate that 12 000 preventable deaths occur each year. She discussed the findings and their implications with Sarah Maxwell.

LONDON—Family planning is a key priority for fulfilling global development goals, according to researchers writing in a special series of The Lancet medical journal coinciding with the London Summit on Family Planning. Peter Goodwin hears from one of the Lancet authors, John Cleland, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s Professor of Medical Demography, about the impact family planning has on saving mothers, infants — and the planet.

The experience of pilgrims going to Mecca can help prepare London to host a healthy Olympic Games, according to Dr Ahmad Moolla the London medic and researcher who organised a special expert panel discussion on Mass Gatherings Medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He gave Sarah Maxwell his views on what the experts had to say and how London 2012 is benefiting.

Visitors and resident Londoners are at very low risk of getting ill during the 2012 Olympic Games. This is the conclusion of Dr Val Curtis Director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who summed up evidence on London 2012’s health-system preparedness at an expert panel discussion on mass gatherings medicine.

LONDON—Top medical experts met at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine for an “expert panel discussion” on mass gatherings medicine — which assessed the state of knowledge about managing the health of millions of people in London during the Olympic Games. Professor David Heyman, who chaired the meeting, gave Sarah Maxwell his assessment of the main issues.

LONDON—Britain’s Health Protection Agency has been planning to make sure everybody enjoys good health in London during the Olympic Games. At a discussion forum held at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine the Agency’s London Regional Director, Dr Brian McCloskey — also head of the World Health Organisation’s Collaborating Centre on Mass Gatherings — reassured reporter Sarah Maxwell that public health organisation during the Games is excellent.

LONDON—The British Olympic team’s former doctor Richard Budgett — now chief medical officer for the 2012 Games — explained to an expert panel discussion on Mass Gatherings Medicine, held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, how every medical need of 10 000 athletes, 10 million ticket holders and untold numbers of staff, volunteers and ordinary Londoners is being taken care of to ensure a healthy London 2012.

LONDON—Double-action preventive therapy for pregnant women could prevent the large numbers of stillbirths and neonatal deaths presently being caused by malaria and sexually transmitted and reproductive tract infections in sub-Saharan Africa according to a research report from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Matthew Chico, an epidemiologist and Research Fellow at the London School, told Peter Goodwin about the hopes arising from their findings of disease prevalence that routinely treating expectant mothers could cure these infections before they can affect unborn children.

BANGKOK—Research on influenza pandemic preparedness is helping to explain how best to save lives in each country when disease breaks out. Professor Richard Coker with his colleagues at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine’s unit in Bangkok has found that there are a variety of practical ways of preparing. He told Peter Goodwin that the most important point is to conduct research in your country to identify the measures which can help if ‘flu breaks out, and distinguish these from ones which are ineffective, waste money and resources, or divert healthcare efforts from other sectors.

LONDON—Another year of distance learning has been celebrated by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Audio News hears from the School’s Dean of Studies Sharon Huttly about the continuing and increasing success of the programme in which students in more than a hundred countries outnumber those studying for postgraduate awards at the School’s London campus. Distance learners Priscilla Mulenga, Clarissa Moreira, Kamljit Kaur, Lloyd Mulenga, Mohammed Limbada, Ingeborg Oie and Adeola Oyegbite — who attended a party held at the School to give students and alumni the chance of meeting together in London — add their comments and reflect on their experiences of this form of study.

PHILADELPHIA—Instead of mass treatment of whole populations in areas affected by trachoma it is more cost-effective in many situations to check first which children are infected and treat only these. This is according to research from The Gambia conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and discussed in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. But whether to go for mass treatment or diagnosis depends on costs: and these are changed if the antibiotic treatment for this blindness-inducing disease is donated. Professor Robin Bailey explained to Peter Goodwin how the availability of inexpensive rapid diagnostic tests means that many unaffected children could now be spared treatment.

LONDON—The hazard of passing lethal syphilis infection from mother to unborn child is being targeted by a new partnership combining the efforts of several key health organisations: the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The World Health Organisation, Save the Children, the United States Centers for Disease Control and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Professor Rosanna Peeling explained to Peter Goodwin how the new group could reduce stillbirths and deaths in early life from more than a million pregnancies around the world.