High case-fatality rate of adults with dengue hemorrhagic fever during an outbreak in non-endemic Taiwan: risk factors for dengue-infected elders.
Abstract: In 2002, a dengue outbreak occurred in Taiwan with 5336 confirmed cases, 242 DHF and 21 death, the case fatality rate reached 8.7% (21/242). The demographic data of these age-specific dengue patients showed that dengue virus infection caused symptom primarily occurred in adults. A comparative analysis of clinical...

International spread of disease threatens health, economies, and security.
More than at any previous time in history, global public health security depends on international cooperation and the willingness of all countries to act effectively in tackling new and emerging threats. That is the clear message of this year's World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Report, A Safer Future,...

'Private firms to gain from AIDS initiative'.
NEW DELHI: While the government is still grappling with the controversy around HIV/AIDS in India, a new World Bank report released on Wednesday says, India's private sector will gain considerably from supporting interventions aimed at preventing HIV both at the workplace and in local communities. Businesses have...

Crippling Corporate.
TATS speak. There was a reason to cheer when in July this year, the National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco), supported by UNAIDS and WHO, released estimates that indicated that national adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%, which corresponds to an estimated 2 mn to 3.1 mn people...

Spreading tentacles more disturbingly.
Byline: Amitabh Baxi Communicable diseases are no strangers to India and strike at an alarming regularity every year. In fact, both morbidity and mortality rates have once again been soaring, not only because of the AIDS epidemic, but because of the emergence of drug-resistant strains of diseases...

Molecular characterization of chikungunya virus from Andhra Pradesh, India & phylogenetic relationship with Central African isolates.
Background & objectives: Chikungunya virus has caused numerous large outbreaks in India. Suspected blood samples from the epidemic were collected and characterized for the identification of the responsible causative from Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. Methods: RT-PCR was used for screening of suspected blood samples. Primers were...

Epilogue: homegrown in PNG--rural responses to HIV and AIDS.
INTRODUCTION 'As for me, I can give out the condoms to the men, but we don't give them out to women. The nursing sisters say 'no, you must follow God's law', that "it will only encourage the women to have sex again anyway"' (STD clinic employee, Enga...

Chikungunya virus infection--a resurgent scourge.
Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an arbovirus that belongs to the genus Alphavirus (family Togaviridae). The major vectors are Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes. Chikungunya was first described in Tanzania, Africa in 19521. The viral genome consists of a single--stranded, positive-sense RNA molecule of approximately 11.8 kb. Genetic analysis...

Wealth, wealth indices and HIV risk in East Africa.
For nearly two decades, the conviction that poverty fuels the spread of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa has been ubiquitous among epidemiologists and development workers. (1-3) In 2005, however, a team of epidemiologists (4) published a comment in The Lancet drawing attention to some surprising findings: Demographic and Health Survey...

The immune system.
'The immune system' is a term many people use freely, but often without an understanding of the multiple levels on which the body's system of defense actually works. We think that if we take some extra Vitamin C and zinc, our immune systems will be fine. But today we...