Archive for the ‘lymphatic filariasis’ category

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UK announces five-fold increase in funding for NTDs

January 23rd, 2012

Over the weekend, Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) announced a five-fold increase in their aid for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).  Between 2011 and 2015, they will increase their support for NTDs to £245 million.

According to Stephen O’Brien, the International Development Minister, this increase in funding will enable Britain to protect and treat 140 million people in the developing world by providing more than four treatments every second for the next four years.

He said, “British support will take the neglected out of neglected tropical diseases and will not just save lives – but transform lives. By preventing the spread of these diseases and treating their victims, we will enable them to go to school and work so that they can help themselves out of poverty and eventually no longer rely on aid.”

The increased aid will be focused on eliminating lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), onchocerciasis (trachoma) and schistosomiasis (snail fever), in addition to Guinea worm.

DFID’s announcement comes in advance of the Gates Foundation conference on January 30, 2012 in London, which will bring together governments, NGOs and the private sector to announce new and renew existing commitments to NTD prevention and treatment.

This is great news for the NTD community as a whole and in particular for The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI), two of the Global Network’s founding partners that will now receive additional funding.  Raising awareness about the need for this type of funding is why we launched our new END7 campaign, so we’re hopeful that many other public and private partners will follow Britain’s lead in the coming months.

Read more about the announcement in their press release here.

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Posted in elephantiasis, lymphatic filariasis, NTDs, Onchocerciasis, Trachoma, UK government

Notes from the Field on Lymphatic Filariasis

October 20th, 2011

Global Health Frontline News is a special reporting unit of Cielo Productions, Inc. They recently launched a blog entitled Notes from the Field which showcases various global health topics, including neglected tropical diseases. Below are recent and interesting reads about lymphatic filariasis:

Photo credit: Global Health Frontline News

The curse of “Big Fut”: Treating Lymphatic Filariasis
October 19, 2011, By David Lindsay, Managing Editor of Global Health Frontline News.
“Fatmata is one of two attractive, intelligent young women, 19 years old, whom we met during a health campaign in Sierra Leone. They had two things in common: They suffered from what locals call “Big Fut,” and it was unlikely that either of them would ever marry or have a family. “Big Fut” is better known as lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis. It’s a dreadful parasitic disease that primarily causes feet, legs and men’s scrotums, to swell to grotesque proportions.” Read the full blogpost here.

Guest Blog: Closing gaps and opening minds: Addressing the psychological burden of lymphatic filariasis in southern Sri Lanka
October 12, 2011, By Lizzie Litt, medical student from the University of Liverpool in the UK.

Photo credit: Global Health Frontline News

“The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classically defined health as: ‘A complete state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ Through physical disability and social stigmatisation, patients with Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) are vulnerable to poor mental states, and subjected to lives lacking all these defining aspects of health. Recent research in Galle, Sri Lanka has established that nothing is being done to identify and address such issues, whilst a solution is within reach. The morbidity management program (MMP), is an aspect of the global program to eliminate LF (GPELF). Although it aims to address the chronic manifestations of LF, it is currently not sensitised to any of the psychological consequences of the disease.’” Read the full blogpost here.

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Posted in lymphatic filariasis, NTDs

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Good News from the Philippines

September 10th, 2011

By: Alanna Shaikh

On August 21, the World Health Organization declared the Compostela Valley of Davao region, Philippines, to be Filariasis free. Considering that ten years ago filariasis was endemic in the Philippines, that’s an impressive accomplishment.

This 2003 article about poverty and filariasis in the Philippines is a useful reminder that eliminating the disease is about more than the direct disfigurement and injury caused by the diseases. The filariasis-endemic provinces in the Philippines are also its poorest. Eliminating LF in the Compostela Valley therefore represents a sign that the government is paying more attention to its poorest citizens and the removal of a barrier to success on the part of poor people. Giant swollen limbs don’t make gainful employment easy, especially in poor areas with low educational attainment.

The Compostela Valley province – known apparently as Comval by Filipinos – certainly fits that bill. It has an economy heavily dependent on agriculture and mining. The day before the LF announcement was made, it saw flash floods that caused 100 families to evacuate to higher ground. The week after, they had to close a high school because of mass possession by malevolent spirits. As you can guess, being afflicted by a severe disabling disease in this region is going to be a serious impediment to financial success or happiness. » Read more: Good News from the Philippines

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Posted in Asia, lymphatic filariasis, NTDs

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Bugs, Animals and NTDs

June 13th, 2011

By: Alanna Shaikh

Animals and insects play a huge role in the transmission of neglected tropical diseases. From the snails that carry schistosomiasis to the wild animals infected with African sleeping sickness, the NTDs rarely travel alone. That means any effort to control and eliminate NTDs must take into account their many vectors and reservoirs of disease.

The NTDs are not zoonoses. That is, they are not diseases that animals can directly infect humans with. It’s more complicated than that. For example, in the case of human African trypanosomiasis, infected animals are bitten by the tsetse fly, which then carries the parasite to human victims. As long as animals remain infected, there is a risk of human infection.

In the case of schistosomiasis, the parasite that causes the disease has to spend part of its life living in certain kinds of snail. In this case, eradicating the snail would probably eliminate the disease, but doing it isn’t essential. They’re not a reservoir for the parasite, just a stopping point at one time in its revolting little life.[1] The animals reservoirs of schistosomiasis are dogs, cats, rodents, pigs, horses and goats[2], who just get infected with the disease the same way people do.

Be they roundworm, hookworm, nematode, or whipworm, the NTDs have got you totally covered for wormy horror.  In possibly the most yucky arrangement of all, many NTDs are causes by actual visible to the eye worms that LIVE INSIDE YOU. I hope my use of all caps conveyed my sheer horror to you. If it didn’t, go take a look at this picture of guinea worm removal, then come back here and try to pretend you aren’t horrified.

» Read more: Bugs, Animals and NTDs

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Posted in African Sleeping Sickness, hookworm, lymphatic filariasis, MDA, NTDs, parasites

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