Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV), The Six-Year Journey from Ibadan to Lokoja

You should all please read this...

Nigeria launched the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)into its childhood immunization schedule in Lokoja, on December 22nd 2014. PCV prevents one of the deadliest bacterial causes of pneumonia, meningitis, blood infections and middle ear infections in children. Before now, only parents with the means could afford to vaccinate their children for thousands of naira in private clinics. But now, government is offering it for free to all kids. This is a big deal, so get excited!

PCV_launch_Nigeria

 A journey that began 6 years ago has finally come to a successful end. But it was not an easy ride. As I think about the road to this introduction, I remember all the twists and turns along the way and marvel at the tenacity and perseverance of the chief actors in this story.

In 2008, I was working for a Johns Hopkins project called Pneumo Adip, which was set up to accelerate the introduction of PCV into African and Asian countries. You may wonder why anyone needs a project to do that, right? Well, it turns out that having a vaccine that works is not enough to get countries to use it, unless the vaccine is for Ebola. I bet countries will scramble for an Ebola vaccine, if it comes. But then most diseases are not like Ebola. For more silent diseases like pneumonia, it takes concerted effort to make the decision makers recognize the burden of the disease, the value of the vaccine and the actions to take on it. For example, it took Nigeria 21 years to adopt the Haemophilus Influenza b (Hib) vaccine into our routine system. The first country to use Hib vaccine in their national program started in 1991, we started 2012.

I remember sitting in the Premier Hotel Ibadan during the 39th Annual General and Scientific Conference of the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PANCONF) in January 2008. The halls were packed, the place was buzzing, the energy was infectious, pediatricians were milling around discussing how to save babies. I had come from Baltimore to field test a pneumonia diagnostic tool and discuss the prospect of Nigeria introducing PCV into the national immunization program.

At one of the session breaks, I cornered Dr. Abanida, then Director of Immunization at NPHCDA and asked him, “Doc, when are we going to introduce penta and PCV?” “Very soon” he replied, “We will apply for both vaccines this year”. This was an unexpected and pleasant surprise. I had predicted he would commit to only penta, but PCV as well? That was great. You see, it was no coincidence that we were coming late to the penta party when countries like Kenya had introduced the vaccine 8 year before. As a country, we had been preoccupied with battling polio, especially after the major polio vaccine rejection of 2004. In addition, our systems were weak. Indeed, before 2005, we would not have been able to apply for Gavi support for new vaccines even our immunization coverage was less than 50%, less than the required threshold. To get Gavi’s help, countries have to meet certain eligibility criteria and they have to formally apply and be approved for support.

Just as Dr. Abanida had declared, in April 2008, Nigeria tendered their first Gavi application for penta and PCV introduction support. In June 2008, the reviewers granted the application a conditional approval.

Disappointed but not deterred, in September 2008, the new vaccine application team led by Dr. Oteri, then Gavi desk officer at NPHCDA, responded to the conditions and queries from Gavi. But the second submission was rejected and the country was asked to re-apply. 

Three things then happened that delayed the process for the next two and half years. First, Gavi suspended all new vaccine applications due to internal processes and funding constraints. No country could apply for new vaccine support in 2009. Second, Gavi revised their new vaccine application policy, now requiring an immunization coverage rate of at least 70% instead of 50%. Third, Nigeria’s vaccine coverage dropped below 50% to 42% according to WHO-UNICEF estimate released in June 2010. This new drop caused Dr. Dorothy Esangbedo, then the President of the Pediatric Association of Nigeria, to lament bitterly and call for stronger action to shore up routine immunization.

Under the new policy and with the lower coverage, Nigeria could not re-apply in 2010. In fact, a workshop in August 2010 convened by NPHCDA to develop the third submission was truncated by the twin news that our coverage rate had dropped and Gavi coverage requirement had increased.

When Gavi began revising their policy, there had been talk and expectation in some quarters that countries such as Nigeria, who were already in the application process before the policy change, would be “grandfathered in”. That did not pan out. To help matters, Gavi delayed the implementation of the new coverage requirement by one year, which left Nigeria with one window of opportunity to apply in May 2011.

But there was one more hurdle to scale. Coverage estimates for 2010 had to be 50% or better. The National Immunization Coverage Survey (NICS), showed coverage to be 71% for 2010, but Gavi only recognizes the WHO/UNICEF estimates, which was still 42% and would only be updated in July. Nigeria needed the updated estimates to apply in May. The update would be two months late. What to do?

The emails and phone calls started going back and forth advocating for a solution. At IVAC we pushed for different options: allow Nigeria use the NICS to apply, allow a phased introduction, so that states that meet the coverage criteria can be supported to introduce the vaccine, while effort be made to raise coverage in the other states. Dr. Mohammad Ali Pate, then Minister of State for Health, was very vocal in his advocacy to find a solution. Eventually and exceptionally, Gavi allowed Nigeria to apply for penta and PCV in May 2011. Then in July 2011, penta was approved and PCV was conditionally approved. All decisions were subject to the 2010 WHO/UNICEF DTP3 coverage estimates being >50%.

After the July 2011 conditional approval for PCV, Nigeria worked on responding to the conditions attached to the approval by strengthening the cold chain system. Then, 15 months later, in October 2012, Gavi gave the final approval for a phased roll out of PCV to begin in 2013. However, due to global supply constraints and other operational issues such as strikes in the Nigerian health sector, the first child could not be vaccinated till December 2014.

I didn’t go for the launch, but my colleagues went, and it was gratifying to see the culmination of everyone’s effort. Big thanks should go to the NPHCDA, Gavi, UNICEF, WHO, Pediatric Association of Nigeria, CHAI and all other groups who have pushed hard to see this happen.

1stChild_PCV_in_Nigeria

First Nigerian Child to receive the Free Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine

As I look at the grainy picture of baby Collins, who is the first child to be vaccinated, cry out in pain from the shots of the first PCV vaccination, I wish I could tell him,

“Baby, don’t cry, laugh instead, even though that injection is painful. You are getting a shot a life. Something that babies before you did not get, but thankfully those after you will receive. If we are able to immunize 87% of your fellow babies every year with this vaccine, we can save about 200,000 lives by 2020. Isn’t that something to laugh or even rejoice about? Yes indeed, it is cause for celebration. I only wish it didn’t take six long years for this to happen. Think of all the babies we could have saved in that time. Anyway, you are too young to understand all this. After all, what do you know? You are just a baby. You probably just want to suck you mother’s breast right now, forget all this noise and go to sleep. So I’ll let you be.”

Dr. Chizoba Wonodi (MBBS, MPH, DrPH),

Nigeria Country Programs Lead, Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Centre, 

Advisor, Saving One Million Lives Initiative, 

Advisor, Gavi’s Strategic Demand Forecast for vaccines.

Gates Foundation head challenges students to pursue big ambitions in public health

April 10, 2015 — As the chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Sue Desmond-Hellmann leads a multi-billion dollar effort to improve health and promote equity for all people around the world. Speaking to a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health audience on World Health Day, April 7, 2015, Desmond-Hellmann recalled her own idealistic student days and made the case for pursuing big ambitions in public health. Her talk was part of the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture series.

Desmond-Hellmann shared the “Big Bet,” an ambitious series of goals issued by Bill and Melinda Gates in their annual letter marking this year’s 15^th anniversary of the Foundation. It states that, “The lives of people in poor countries will improve faster in the next 15 years than at any other time in history. And their lives will improve more than anyone else’s.” Desmond-Hellman challenged Harvard Chan students to help make it a reality.

“I do think it is impatient optimism, but it’s not crazy,” she said, and quoted the Foundation’s favorite African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

View a recording of the lecture.

Desmond-Hellmann praised the often unsung work of epidemiologists, stating that she believes that the best innovations in public health develop from thinking like they do — with an understanding of the patterns and causes of disease.

These days, she is particularly excited about innovations in health care delivery and in promoting behavior change, she said. Two recent examples are the Foundation’s work providing seed funding and support to GAVI, a global alliance to increase access to vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries, and the transformation of the Foundation’s polio operations center in Nigeria into an emergency Ebola care center within just 12 hours, in July after an outbreak was detected in the city of Lagos.

Desmond-Hellmann spoke about the often tough decisions that the Foundation has to make in determining what to fund, and noted that she tries to look for areas where it is uniquely positioned to make a difference, such as infectious disease eradication and maternal health.

Prior to joining the Foundation in 2014, Desmond-Hellmann served as chancellor of the University of California at San Francisco, where she remains a tenured professor. An oncologist, her work in research and development at Genentech helped bring breakthrough cancer drugs to the marketplace.

Dean Julio Frenk praised her depth of experience in his introductory remarks, noting, that “Sue personifies all the career paths that any of our students could hope to achieve in one lifetime.”

– Amy Roeder

Top Tweets On Immunization.

Some Tweets i find very educative and qualitative on Immunization.

UNICEF Uganda ‏@UNICEFUganda  5 hours ago

1. “#Immunization helps #children acquire strong antibodies to defend their body" #Ureporter, #Oyam #InvestInUGchildren pic.twitter.com/rMGlAPk7xw
2. womenshealth.gov ‏@womenshealth  Apr 15
   Babies require persistence, patience, and protection. That’s why nearly all parents choose #immunization. http://bit.ly/1AQJqm2  #vaccinate
3. UNICEF India ‏@UNICEFIndia  Apr 15
   #MissionIndradhanush is a part of special drive of GOI to increase #immunization coverage to more than 90% children: http://unicf.in/MI-MP
4. PIA CEBU ‏@CebuInfocen  Apr 14
   #Immunization is protection for life #kapihan @DOH-7
5. Stephanie Rice ‏@stephrice88  Apr 13
   When will ALL people realize how lucky we are with modern medicine & #immunization? This shouldn't even be a topic of conversation. #TheDrum
6.  MamaYe Nigeria and 3 others follow
   Avon Healthcare ‏@AVONHMO  4m4 minutes ago

   7) #Immunization is one of the most successful & cost-effective investments for future generations. #AvonHMO #WorldImmunizationWeek

Malaria Vaccine a breakthrough despite being partially effective says scientists.

The world's first Malaria vaccine is partially effective and could protect small children from the life- threatening disease according to scientists who have completed the final trials.

The vaccine has been in development for 20 years and has cost more than $500m so far. Hopes that it would save the lives of most of the 500,000 children under five who die from malaria  each year have long been scaled back, but experts say that even a partially effective vaccine is an important breakthrough.

The latest results published in the Lancelet Medical journal show that vaccine worksbetter in children from the age of 5months than it does in younger babies. This is a blow because it cannot be added to the routine infant vaccination schedule alongside the combined diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough jab. The protection the vaccines gives wanes over time which means a later booster shot is needed.

In the trials, children were given three shots of malaria vaccines plus a booster, which is a formidable schedule for some settings in the developing world. Those given the three shots between the ages of 5-17 months  have suffered 36% fewer episodes of clinical malaria by the time they were 4 years old than those not immunized- this was down from the 50% fewer episodes in the first year after vaccination.

Please read more on www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/24/malaria-vaccine-breakthrough-partially-effective-scientists-children

World Immunization Week!

The World Immunization week begins today 24th April 2015 to 30th April 2015.

According to WHO: every year vaccines save up to 3 million lives but there is still a gap. Worldwide 1 in 5 children miss life saving immunizations.

Lets work together to close that gap! Vaccineswork

World Immunization Week!

The World Immunization week begins today 24th April 2015 to 30th April 2015.

According to WHO: every year vaccines save up to 3 million lives but there is still a gap. Worldwide 1 in 5 children miss life saving immunizations.

Lets work together to close that gap! Vaccineswork

Your Shapewear Might Be Doing Really Messed Up Things to Your Body...Could It be damaging your life?

You might credit shapewear for helping you look *~fLawLesS~* in a bodycon dress or super-thin sheath, but some medical experts are saying that stuffing yourself into skintight garments can actually be quite dangerous.

Whether you wear Spanx for vanity's sake or compression leggings to improve your fitness, any clothing that compresses the body could be reason for concern, says Dennis Cardone, D.O., physician and orthopaedic surgeon at the New York University Langone's Hospital for Joint Diseases. Wear your tummy-tamers for too long, and you could develop a condition that's known as meralgia paresthetica, pressure on the nerves that run in front of your hips. This could lead to numbness, tingling, and pain down the front of your thigh to the knee, and it can last for days or weeks, according to Dr. Cardone. It all depends on the fit and whether you wear the garment for a few hours or to work every day. (Longer periods are worse.)

Temporary nerve damage is just part of the problem for women who stuff themselves into shapewear. Jay Kuemmerle, a Virginia-based gastroenterologist, told theLos Angeles Times that putting pressure on the abdomen squeezes internal organs, which can push acid from the stomach into the esophagus to cause reflux and result in stomach pain.

Other doctors told the paper they worry the garments can slow digestion and trigger incontinence. In other words, not much good can come from wearing shapewear — besides a confidence boost.

The same goes for athletes: While you might think compression fitness clothes are made for more flattering gym selfies, many brands design it to improve sports performance. But Dr. Cardone says there's no convincing, statistically significant evidence that working out in these clothes can do any such thing.

The only time compression wear can physiologically help you out is after exercise — and we're not talking about slapping on a pair of Spanx. Compression socks can prevent blood and lactic acid (toxins produced by the muscles) from pooling in your feet, which can help muscles recover — theoretically, Dr. Cardone says.

Another theoretical use case scores the gear a couple of brownie points: Compression may make cellulite look better, according to Joshua Zeichner, M.D., a dermatologist and the director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City. Compression wear helps prevent skin from stretching by keeping it in place, he explains. "By keeping the skin the best possible shape, you allow your natural 'Spanx' (aka your skin) to hold superficial fat in place too, which could make cellulite appear less prominent."

If that makes you want to suck up the other side effects and wear your shapewear all the time, hold up: Overwear it, and oil and sweat could accumulate underneath, which can lead to icky breakouts, redness, and inflammation within a few hours, according to Dr. Zeichner.

In other words? There's still no quick fix to cover your "flaws" without doing your body any harm. Unless, of course, you're in the market for a 100-percent safe muumuu.

Health Advocates Propose Warning Label On Sugary Drinks Over Links To Obesity, Diabetes By Samantha Olson

Imagine your bottle of soda, carrying a warning label...Well thats true because sugary drinks may soon carry a warning label for Public's Health.

Americans have been consuming too much sugar for too long, says the2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. In fact, two-thirds of the adult population is overweight or obese. In response to the country’s health crisis, public health experts have officially announced their support for health warning labels on soda and other sugary drinks. Thelegislation proposed in New York and California outlines labels designed to inform consumers of the risk of diabetes, obesity, and tooth decay.

"Given the federal government's failure to act, it's important that states protect their consumers by giving them this information in a clear, inexpensive way so that adults and children alike could make truly informed choices," the Center for Science in the Public Interest Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson said in a press release. "Soda and sugar drinks promote expensive and debilitating diseases, but unlike most other foods or beverages, have no redeeming nutritional qualities."

Similar to the health warnings found on packets of cigarettes, minus the grotesque images, advocates want a "buyers beware" label in order for the public to make informed decisions on what goes into their bodies. “My hope would be that it would be a national label,” Public health advocate Sharon Akabas, a professor at Columbia University’s Institute of Human Nutrition, told lawmakers Monday.

Labels could discourage the consumption of products linked to expensive and largely preventable health conditions, according to Akabas. Recently, a report from the McKinsey Global Institute found obesity’s global costs have reached $2 trillion — the same level as smoking, war, and terrorism. In 2008, the annual cost of obesity in the United States alone was $147 billion, and the numbers have risen, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors believe there’s no one simple solution to the problem, but suggest the world needs to work together to lower the price it’s costing our health and wallets.

“It’s such a complicated issue,” said Maston Sansom from the Food Industry Alliance of New York State’s grocery store trade group. “There needs to be more focus on education as opposed to just singling out this one product.”

There are warning labels on alcoholic beverages to make consumers wary of overconsumption, operating machinery, and the dangers of drinking while pregnant — but none on sugar-laden beverages. If the currently proposed bill were to pass, any beverages that contain added sugar and 75 calories or more in one 12-ounce serving will require the label. Similar bills have been proposed in the past, like last year when the bill made it through the Senate but was rejected when it reached the State Assembly. This warning label bill stands a better chance than the controversial 2013 soda tax bill because it requires fewer votes to pass with just a majority in the Senate and State Assembly. 

Ebola Virus Found In Survivor's Semen 6 Months After Negative Blood Test By Dana Dovey

The World Health Organization is advising that Ebola survivors use a condom or abstain from sex until further notice, after the virus was found in a man's semen six months after a negative blood test.

Traces of the Ebola virus have been found in the semen of an Ebola survivor six months after being declared virus-free. Doctors are now working to uncover whether or not this is an isolated occurrence, but for the time being health officials are advising all Ebola survivors to either abstain from sex or use condoms until more information is available.   ­

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP in an email that the man, whose identity has not been disclosed, was declared Ebola-free in September via a negative blood test, but his semen sample tested positive for Ebola 175 days later.

Health officials had been aware that the virus could survive in semen after recovery, but not to this extent. Based on these new findings, the World Health Organization has advised that any Ebola survivors should treat the virus as an STD and take necessary precautions during sexual intercourse until further notice. This contradicts the WHO’s previous advisement that condoms be used up to three months following a negative test result.

As reported by the International Business Times, WHO officials are currently discussing whether regular check-ups of Ebola survivors at three-month intervals may be necessary.

“We need to understand better if this particular case is an anomaly or if there really are groups of people who might (carry) parts of the Ebola virus longer,” Jasarevic added.

Ebola was first recognized as a virus in 1976 during an outbreak in what is now the Republic of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Unfortunately, since this time little is still known about the virus, including exactly how long it can remain in a host once recovery is achieved.

As of now, there is no evidence of Ebola existing in vaginal secretions, but Liberian Assistant Health Minister Tolbert Nyenswah still advises that citizens take precaution with all forms of sexual contact, IBTreported. This current outbreak, which started in late 2013, is the most deadly to ever have been recorded. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 10,600 people have died and the outbreak is still yet to be officially declared over. A majority of the factors that make the outbreak so difficult to end include its venues of transmission and long-lasting survival. The virus is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of infected persons but can still survive well past the host's recovery or death.

Bruce Aylward, who heads WHO's Ebola response, told reporters that the WHO continues to investigate.

"We should have answers to allow us to give more definitive advice to survivors very, very quickly," Aylward explained, as reported by AFP.

7 Little Known Facts About Sperm for Men's Health By Lizette Borreli

We all know when a man ejaculates during sex he releases millions and millions of sperm. Although these “sexy swimmers” come in high numbers, only a single sperm can successfully go upstream and fertilize an egg — and there is more to a man’s sperm than just fertilizing the egg to form a fetus.  

Sperm live fast and die young. Men have a constant supply of sperm, producing at least 1,500 sperm cells per second. Since they live briefly, sperm supply must constantly be replaced, hence their astounding production rate. But just how valuable is good sperm health when it comes to creating a healthy fetus?

1. There’s a difference between 'sperm' and 'semen.'

Sperm and semen are mistakenly used interchangeably, but they are not the same substance. Sperm cells are actually a part of the semen, which is the whitish, viscous fluid released from the penis, according to MedlinePlus. Sperm leaves the body through the mix of bodily fluids that makeup semen. This fluid contains fructose and proteolytic enzymes that facilitate the mobility of sperm outside the male reproductive tract.  

2. 90% of sperm ejaculated is deformed.

Not all sperm are created equal. Sperm can have a multitude of defects in the head, neck, or tail, such as two heads, two tails, and coiled tails — to name a few. These defects can potentially affect the ability of sperm to reach and fertilize an egg, but it does not mean men are infertile. Normal sperm, says the Mayo Clinic, have an oval head with a long tail.

3. Sperm is cold.

A man may get caught up in the heat of the moment, but his testicles stay cool. They are about 7 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the rest of the body. This temperature is necessary to help healthy sperm stay chilled compared to the rest of the body. “Radiator-like” veins pull heat away while muscles in the scrotum raise and lower the testicles to bring them either closer to the body’s warmth or further away.

4. Sperm comes in both genders.

Not all sperm are chromosomally male. Several sperm do carry the X chromosome, while others carry the Y chromosome. However, female sperm is actually stronger than male sperm, according to Harvard Health Publications. This means the likelihood of getting pregnant by a female swimmer is higher than a male one. If a father provides an X chromosome, the baby will be female, whereas if he supplies a Y chromosome, the baby will be male.

5. It takes 2 months to make sperm.

It may take a second for a man to release 1,500 sperm cells, but it takes months to mature in the testes. This regeneration cycle takes about two-and-a-half to three months to fully mature. Healthy sperm will not be ready to fertilize an egg until a new set of sperm — developed in healthy conditions — matures.

6. One testicle can make enough sperm to form a fetus.

Men who have one testicle may be just as fertile as a man with two testicles. Typically, a man with two testicles will produce sperm and semen in both. However, if only one testicle is present, it will take over semen and sperm production. Although there may be reduced semen production, a man’s fertility is not affected in most cases.

7. Dead sperm can make healthy babies.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) makes it possible to use dead sperm to help form a healthy fetus. Typically, IVF technicians manually combine an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish and then transfer the embryo to the uterus, according to theAmerican Pregnancy Association. Sometimes, a single sperm being inserted inside an egg may be “killed” after being beaten with a technologically advanced glass straw used for this process.

But as you can see, there's more to men's little swimmers than fertilization.

Lack of Drinking Water Deteriorates Human Body: Adverse Effects Of Dehydration By Lizette Borelli

Many of us believe drinking liquids like fruit juice, tea, or soda will keep the body hydrated as well as water. The truth is these beverages contain copious amounts of sugar and salt that are absorbed and then flushed out of our system with the help of... water. Drinking eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day helps prevent not only a dry mouth and throat, but also the onset of several disease and illnesses.

In the U.S., 3.9 trillion gallons of water are consumed per month, with the average American using 176 gallons of water per day, according to Save The Water. Although we can survive for a month or so without eating food, we can only do a week or so without drinking water. Since the average human body is 75 percent water, with blood 92 percent water, bones 22 percent water, and muscles 75 percent water, it’s no surprise our immune system depends on our water intake.

In Get Skinny Be Happy’s infographic “Got Water? Why Dehydration Is Making You Fat And Sick,” it states the process of dehydration starts even before we begin to feel thirsty. Sipping water throughout the day is the best way to combat thirst. Drinking a nice cool glass of water as soon as we awaken will help boost up blood pressure to normal levels and become a way to prep the stomach before ingesting foods.

Keeping the body fully hydrated is essential for heart health. When the body is dehydrated, the blood becomes thicker causing resistance to blood flow, resulting in elevated blood pressure. Dehydration can also lead to a rise in blood cholesterol. This is the body’s response to prevent water loss from the cells. High cholesterol and high blood pressure can further increase the risk of coronary heart disease, says the American Heart Association.

Dehydration can also lead to an increased risk of obesity, affiliated with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer, among many others. However, this can be prevented by drinking two 8-ounce glasses of water before breakfast, lunch, and dinner, according to a 2010 study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.  This can help keep weight off for at least a year.

Regularly drinking water speeds up our metabolism and makes us feel more “full” while promoting good physical, mental, and emo

Kylie Jenner Challenge: Reality Star's Plump Lips Inspire Risky DIY Lip Enhancement Trend

Celebrities are often inspiration for the latest fashion or cosmetic trend, but when should fanatics draw the line between a matching haircut and an extreme body modification? Although reality star Kylie Jenner insists that she has not undergone any plastic surgery, fans have noticed a recent change in the size of Jenner’s lips. On Sunday, #KylieJennerChallenge started trending on Twitter, and the results could prove to be the most nonsensical celebrity beauty trend to date.

In hopes of matching Jenner’s pouty lips, teenagers have started performing DIY lip enhancements by sucking on a shot glass to purposefully swell up their kisser. Before and after pictures posted to social media show the disastrous results which have parents, doctors, and fellow teens asking: why? These teens may think a little swelling in the lips is nothing to worry about, but health care professionals warn against this senseless beauty practice.

“I can definitely say that this would be dangerous even just to try it, and especially somebody who does it more than once,” cosmetic surgeon Pordiis Kjartansdottir told Metro.co.uk. “The lips turn blue because blood fills up and they could easily become infected and lose all sensation. It is a really dangerous stunt and I’d advise strongly against anybody trying it.”

Hepatitis B Infection 100% Eliminated With Cancer Drug Combination In Preclinical Model

A cancer drug was 100 percent successful in clearing away hepatitis B infections in preclinical models for an Australian study. If researchers successfully replicate the results in human clinical trials, the drug may become the first-ever cure to the hepatitis B virus and may serve as a model for treating other viruses, such as HIV and herpes.

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia used a combination of the cancer drug birinapant and the antiviral drug entecavir to completely eliminate hepatitis B infections in “hundreds of tests in preclinical models,” lead researcher Dr. Marc Pellegrini explained in a press release. Human trials began in December 2014, and drug testing has currently moved on to a phase 1/2a in clinical trials. 

Hepatitis B is a viral infection that attacks the liver. It is transmitted via contact with infected blood or bodily fluids and causes chronic liver infection, which may lead to life-threatening cirrhosis or liver cancer. According to the World Health Organization, there are an estimated 240 million people who are chronically infected with hepatitis B, and around 780,000 people die from complications due to their infection each year.

Although a vaccine against the virus has been available since 1982, treatment of those who are already infected is limited. This is because the virus is able to override the liver’s self-preservation mechanism. Normally, at the sign of infection, the liver will switch on a signal that tells cells to self-destruct in order to prevent further infection, Pelligrini explained. The hepatitis B virus destroys this communications switch and tells the cells to ignore rather than fight the infection. Birinapant is able to reverse this viral override, and restore the liver’s natural infection-fighting defense.

"Birinapant flips the cell survival 'switch' used by the virus, causing the infected cell to die," Pelligrini said.

The team also found that when birinapant was used in combination with entecavir, the infection was cleared twice as fast. 

Drug resistance is an ever-present challenge for doctors when it comes to treating viruses. A virus learns to adapt to drugs and then becomes resistant to their defense. However, because the new combination indirectly attacks the virus by changing the way the body responds, this problem will most likely not exist.

“The virus relies on the survival mechanisms of the host, so if it can't exploit them, it dies. Such a monumental change in the virus's environment may be too big a hurdle for it to adapt to,” Pelegrini added.

The team believes the unique method in which the drug works could be used to explore effective treatments for other viruses such as HIV, herpes, dengue fever, and even bacterial infections such as tuberculosis.

Pellegrini, Dr. Greg Ebert, and their colleagues at the institute have published their research on the new drug combination in two papers in the online journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Patients are being recruited to partake in the clinical trials in hospitals located in Perth and Adelaide, Australia. 

Source: Pellegrini M, et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2015.

Climate Change is Affecting Disease- carrying mosquitoes and other Insects by Sarah Craig

This could be good news after all...but go on and read...

Insect-borne diseases—such as malaria, dengue, West Nile and the newly emerging chikungunya—infect a billion people every year; more than a million die each year and many more are disabled. The effects of climate change, according to Edwin Michael, professor of biological sciences and member of the Eck Institute for Global Health at the University of Notre Dame, mean these deadly diseases are no longer reserved for the developing world.

Michael is working with an international team of researchers to project how climate change will affect mosquitoes, flies and ticks that carry diseases afflicting humans. Recently published in a special issue of Philosophical Transactions B, a peer-reviewed publication of The Royal Society, the collective research from this international consortium delivers the bad news that insect-borne diseases are emerging and, in some regions, having a resurgence. The research highlights and points to the critical need to take into account the interactive, contributory roles that climate, epidemiological, environmental and socioeconomic factors play in diseasetransmission when forecasting the future impact of these diseases around the globe.

According to Michael, "There is no easy fix, and the complex problem is getting worse. Different vectors respond differently to changing weather and climate patterns. Human societies also demonstrate variable vulnerability to this change. We, however, now have numerous resources including the mathematical models we have developed as tools to predict, assess risk and map how different vectors and disease patterns are likely to alter due to changing climates."

The spread into regions including Europe and the United States will cause and force significant public health interventions to address this emerging global problem.

"The results of this research will have real and profound impacts on the mitigation of the spread of mosquito-borne diseases that is currently being exacerbated by climate change," said Robert J. Bernhard, vice president for research at the University of Notre Dame. "I applaud Edwin Michael and his international colleagues for taking on this challenge and look forward to the positive, real-world outcomes of their research."

Mosquitoes are known to be very sensitive to temperature changes and rainfall. Researchers agree that climate changes will affect many, if not all, of these diseases. According to Michael's collaborator, Paul Parham, University of Liverpool, the next step includes determining "the extent to which climate impacts will be important compared to many other factors that contribute to the risk of becoming infected in certain regions."

'Exercise is Good! But it wont help you loose weight' Doctors say....

Being dangerously overweight is all down to bad diet rather than a lack of exercise, according to a trio of doctors who have reopened the debate about whether food, sedentary lifestyles or both are responsible for the obesity epidemic.

In an article for a leading health journal the authors – who include British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra, an outspoken critic of the food industry – accuse food and drink firms such as Coca-Cola of having wrongly emphasised how physical activity and sport can help prevent people becoming very overweight.

The truth, they say, is that while physical activity is useful in reducing the risk of developing heart disease, dementia and other conditions, it “does not promote weight loss”.

“In the past 30 years, as obesity has rocketed, there has been little change in physical activity levels in the western population. This place the blame for our expanding waistlines directly on the type and amount of calories consumed.”

The authors add: “Members of the public are drowned by an unhelpful message about maintaining a ‘healthy weight’ through calorie counting, and many still wrongly believe that obesity is entirely due to lack of exercise.”

That “false perception”, they claim in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, “is rooted in the food industry’s public relations machinery, which uses tactics chillingly similar to those of big tobacco … denial, doubt, confusing the public and even buying the loyalty of bent scientists, at the cost of millions of lives.”

Given the worsening scale of obesity “let us bust the myth of physical activity and obesity. You cannot outrun a bad diet”, say Malhotra and his co-authors.

They challenge conventional wisdom further by arguing that those who want to avoid excess weight gain should adopt a diet that is high in fat but low on both sugar and carbohydrates.

Athletes and others about to do exercise should ditch high-carbohydrate intake regimes and instead eat more fat, they say, because “fat, including ketone bodies, appears to be the ideal fuel for most exercise. It is abundant, does not need replacement or supplementation during exercise, and can fuel the forms of exercise in which most participate.”

In a broadside against food industry practices, they also urge celebrities to stop promoting sugary drinks, call on health clubs and gyms to stop selling them and denounce “manipulative marketing” for sabotaging government efforts to introduce taxes on those drinks and to ban the advertising of junk food.

But their comment piece was dismissed by the food industry and divided opinion among experts in diet, obesity and health.

“The benefits of physical activity aren’t food industry hype or conspiracy as suggested. A healthy lifestyle will include both a balanced diet and exercise, as Change4Life summarises: eat well, move more, live longer”, said Ian Wright, director general of the Food and Drink Federation, a trade association which represents producers and retailers.

Catherine Collins, of the British Dietetic Association, said the doctors had downplayed the metabolic and physical health benefits of undertaking even moderately intense exercise and had used “incomplete evidence” to make their case.

Professor Susan Jebb, professor of diet and population health at Oxford University, who also chairs the food network of the government’s Responsibility Deal, said: “The authors fail to note that weight loss programmes which combine diet and physical activity are the most successful route to weight loss in both the short (three to six months) and medium term (12 months)”.

However, Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said: “The junk food and drinks industry has known for years just what is has do to make its products healthy, but persists in not doing it. The coalition has so far colluded with this through its inept attempts to challenge the producers to be responsible.

“The next government has to crack down on junk if obesity is to be halted and the NHS not brought to its knees. Whitehall could also crack down on commercial sponsorship of sport – but it won’t. Funding sport makes corporations feel good about themselves and they know it’s good for business. They have the cash and the public purse doesn’t”, added Fry, who is also an expert adviser to the Action on Sugar campaign group.