News Scan for Oct 29, 2013

News brief

Report: R&D funding for TB dropped almost 5% last year

Global funding for the research and development (R&D) of new tuberculosis (TB) drugs, vaccines, and rapid diagnostic tests dropped 4.6% in 2012, to $627.4 million, after rising every year since 2005, according to a report from the New York–based Treatment Action Group (TAG), which focuses on AIDS and TB.

In addition, the $627.4 million in spending falls far short of the $2 billion funding target called for by the Stop TB Partnership's Global Plan to Stop TB, 2011-2015, TAG said in a press release today. The decline was led by cuts in spending from the private sector, TAG said.

"Pharmaceutical companies spent 22% less on TB R&D in 2012 than they did in 2011," said TAG's executive director, Mark Harrington. "Big Pharma has always trailed far behind the public sector in funding TB research, and now their wavering support is placing greater pressure on public institutions in the US and Europe, which are battling short-sighted budget cuts due to sequestration and fiscal austerity."

"It's a pretty grim landscape," Harrington said in a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article today. "We're worried last year's trend will accelerate."

The largest global funder of TB R&D, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), actually increased its budget 7.3% in 2012, to $169.1 million, the WSJ reported. But NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, MD, said, "If we have a continuation of sequestration I doubt very seriously it will be increased."
Oct 29 TAG press release
Oct 29 WSJ report
Full TAG report

 

Cholera outbreak in Mexico grows to 176 cases

The cholera outbreak that began in Mexico in early September has grown to 176 cases, with 5 new cases since Oct 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday.

The latest five cases occurred in the geographic zone of la Huasteca, along the Gulf of Mexico, where urbanization, availability of drinking water, and sanitation services are limited, the WHO said.

Of the 176 cases, 2 are in the Federal District, and the rest are in the states of Hidalgo (157), Mexico (9), San Luis Potosi (2), and Veracruz (6), the agency reported. Fifty-seven patients have been hospitalized.

The strain involved in the outbreak is Vibrio cholerae O1 Ogawa toxigenic. Testing by the Institute of Epidemiological Diagnostics and Reference showed that the strain is susceptible to doxycycline and chloramphenicol but has reduced susceptibility to ciprofloxacin and is resistant to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.

Doxycycline is the recommended first-line antibiotic treatment for cholera in most countries, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Rehydration is the mainstay of cholera treatment, but supplementary antibiotic treatment is used in severe cases.

The current outbreak marks the first local transmission of cholera in Mexico since an epidemic that lasted from 1991 to 2001. The strain is a 95% match to the strain circulating in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba.
Oct 28 WHO statement

 

WHO: H3N2 continues to dominate global flu activity

The H3N2 strain continues to dominate global influenza activity so far this year, the WHO said in a virologic update yesterday.

Of 15,330 specimens tested worldwide through Oct 18, 598 were positive for flu, the agency noted. Of those, 420 (70.2%) were typed as influenza A and 178 as influenza B. Of 363 specimens that were subtyped, 266 (73.3%) were H3N2 and 97 (26.7%) were 2009 pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1).

The agency also pointed out that flu activity is low both north and south of the equator, with decreased activity in Oceania. H3N2 was dominant in most global regions, the WHO said, but in Australia H3N2 and pH1N1 were co-circulating, and in New Zealand influenza B was predominant.
Oct 28 WHO update

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