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New Delhi , August 13, 2018 :
Around the globe
- FDA announced approval of a vaginal ring designed by the global nonprofit research organization the Population Council. Called Annovera, the device is “the first vaginal ring contraceptive that can be used for an entire year,” the FDA said.
- An app designed to track fertility and prevent pregnancy in women 18 and older is the first to win US Food and Drug Administration approval to be marketed as a contraceptive, the agency announced Friday. The Natural Cycles app was approved as part of the agency’s new Digital Health Innovation Action Plan, designed to fast track approval for new low-to-moderate-risk devices.
- Onpattro (patisiran) infusion for the treatment of peripheral nerve disease (polyneuropathy) caused by hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR) in adult patients has been approved by the FDA. Polyneuropathy caused by hATTR, a rare, debilitating and often fatal genetic disease characterized by the buildup of abnormal amyloid protein in peripheral nerves, the heart and other organs.
- Non-Clostridium difficile enteric infections were present in almost one in five patients with symptomatic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in a study reported in The American Journal of Gastroenterology. “Our data suggest that enteric infection may trigger or coexist with flares of disease,” the study’s lead author, Jordan E. Axelrad, MD, MPH, of NYU Langone Health and Columbia University in New York City.
- 52% of the patients afflicted with the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus may persist with chronic articular pain or arthritis after acute infection, suggests a systematic review and meta-analysis. Despite the high incidence of these symptoms there is no specific treatment besides hydration and analgesics (Joint Bone Spine 2018).
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New bed net to prevent malaria: Lancet
Now a new bed net with a specific combination of an insecticide and insect growth regulator can prevent millions of cases of malaria as per The Lancet.
The net contains a pyrethroid insecticide, which repels and kills the mosquitoes, and an insect growth regulator — pyriproxyfen — which shortens the lives of mosquitoes and reduces their ability to reproduce. Compared to conventional nets, this new type of mosquito net reduced the number of cases of clinical malaria by 12 per cent.
In areas with new combination beds, there was also a 51 per cent reduction in risk of a malaria infective mosquito bite. Children sleeping under the new bed nets were 52 per cent less likely to be moderately anaemic.
Insect growth regulators pyriproxyfen (in a sand granule formulation) may also be used in water-filled pits to prevent metamorphosis from larva to pupa to adult. This technique was used in Sri Lanka, where malaria eradication was nearly achieved in the 1960s but disease persisted in areas where pits were dug in search of gems (subsequently, the pits filled with rainwater and became breeding sites for malaria vectors). Treatment of all the pits in four villages achieved reduction in incidence of malaria cases (compared with untreated villages). Retreatment two to three times a year was sufficient.
The Foundation for Disease Elimination and Control of India (FDECINDIA) recommends that bed nets should be available in the open market. As on today they are only under a government supply.
Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri Awardee
Vice President CMAAO
President HCFI
HealthySoch
