Epoch Times Examines Child Marriage Hearing An Epoch Times article discusses a recent congressional hearing held by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on child marriage. The piece includes comments by representatives from the Department of State, UNICEF, CARE and the International Center for Research on Women who “described the cycle of…

ASTMH Meeting Blog: The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s (ASTMH) “Annual Meeting Blog” has a number of posts from this week’s gathering, including: “The ethics of overseas clinical research”; an interview with John Cook, former ASTMH president; American attention to dengue fever; a profile of Michele Barry, senior…

“An epidemic of dengue fever in India is fostering a growing sense of alarm even as government officials here have publicly refused to acknowledge the scope of a problem that experts say is threatening hundreds of millions of people, not just in India but around the world,” the New York Times reports. Dengue is endemic in half of the world’s countries and continuing to spread, experts say, according to the newspaper. In India’s capital, New Delhi, “where areas of standing water contribute to the epidemic’s growth, hospitals are overrun and feverish patients are sharing beds and languishing in hallways,” the newspaper writes. With officials citing 30,002 cases of dengue in India through October, “a 59 percent jump from the 18,860 recorded for all of 2011,” several experts say the true number of infections in the country is in the tens of millions, the New York Times notes.

The Financial Times has published a special report (.pdf) on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) featuring 10 articles examining issues including prevention, research, and treatment.

“A total of 8,480 people have been affected by dengue fever in Costa Rica” so far this year, representing an increase of 36 percent, or 2,230 more cases than during the same period last year, according to a Ministry of Health report, Xinhua News reports. “Among all the cases so far, only nine people were affected by hemorrhagic dengue fever, which is a more serious and sometimes mortal type of dengue, the report added,” the news service writes (9/17). Health authorities are urging people to eliminate possible sources of reproduction for mosquitoes, including disposing of old tires, according to a health ministry press release (9/11).

“The world’s first vaccine against dengue fever, being developed by French drugmaker Sanofi SA, protected against three of the virus’s four strains in a keenly awaited clinical trial in Thailand,” the company announced on Wednesday, Reuters reports (Hirschler/Regan, 7/25). “The vaccine actually generated antibody responses against all four strains of the virus, but for some reason, one strain was still able to infect children who received the vaccine, the company said, and scientists are now trying to figure out why,” the Los Angeles Times’ “Science Now” blog reports, adding, “Meanwhile, a much larger trial involving 31,000 adults and children is now under way in 10 countries in Asia and Latin America” (Maugh, 7/26). Reuters notes, “Other drug companies are also working on dengue vaccines but Sanofi’s product is several years ahead” (7/25).

“An outbreak of dengue fever across much of Latin America has killed 31 people since the start of the year and is showing no sign of relenting,” Agence France-Presse/News 24 reports in a piece that notes the recent increase in dengue cases in the region over the past few years.

With the start of the rainy season, Francisco Duque III, health secretary in the Philippines, on Tuesday emphasized a continued government commitment to controlling and preventing dengue – a disease for which there is currently no vaccine or specific drug, the Manila Times reports.

“While emerging diseases like influenza A(H1N1), also known as swine flu, continue to dominate the headlines, experts say dengue is not only thriving in many endemic areas, it is also spreading to countries previously unaffected by the disease,” New York Times writes.

U.S. Optimistic About Zimbabwe Health System Revitalization The U.S. plans to support efforts to develop a sustainable health system in Zimbabwe and increase its capacity to treat people, Eric Goosby, U.S. global AIDS Coordinator for PEPFAR, said on Wednesday after a visit to the country with USAID and CDC officials,…