World's first Malaria Vaccine to hit the market next Year...!!!

The world's first malaria vaccine will be available in the market by next year.

Pharma company GSK has submitted a regulatory application to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its malaria vaccine candidate, RTS,S.

RTS,S will be exclusively for use against the Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite, which is most prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Around 90% of estimated deaths from malaria occur in SSA, and 77% of these are in children under the age of 5.

Data from the phase III vaccine trial programme conducted at 13 African research centres in eight African countries (Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Tanzania) including over 16,000 infants and young children have also been included to support the filing.

Results from a large-scale Phase III trial showed that over 18 months of follow-up, children aged 5-17 months at first vaccination with RTS,S experienced 46% fewer cases of clinical malaria, compared to children immunized with a control vaccine.

An average of 941 cases of clinical malaria were prevented over 18 months of follow-up for every 1,000 children vaccinated in this age group.

Severe malaria cases were reduced by 36%; 21 cases of severe malaria were prevented over 18 months of follow-up for every 1,000 children vaccinated.

Trials showed that the vaccine effectively protected young children and infants from clinical malaria up to 18 months after vaccination.

GSK has vowed to sell the vaccine at cost price plus 5%, which it said would fund further research into tropical diseases. The new results are from a study of 15,000 babies and children in seven African countries.

The submission will follow the Article 58 procedure, which allows the EMA to assess the quality, safety and efficacy of a candidate vaccine, or medicine, manufactured in a European Union (EU) member state, for a disease recognised by the World Health Organization as of major public health interest, but intended exclusively for use outside the EU.

This assessment is done by the EMA in collaboration with the WHO, and requires products to meet the same standards as vaccines or medicines intended for use in the EU.

If a positive opinion from the EMA is granted, the WHO has indicated a policy recommendation may be possible by end of 2015.

A positive opinion from the EMA would also be the basis for marketing authorisation applications to National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) in SSA countries.

Dr Sophie Biernaux, head of the Malaria Vaccine Franchise, GSK said "This is a key moment in GSK's 30-year journey to develop RTS,S and brings us a step closer to making available the world's first vaccine that can help protect children in Africa from malaria".

Keep staying Healthy, Informed and Entertained..!!
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Doctors pull out 232 teeth from teenager's mouth..!!

Ashik Gavai's family visited JJ Hospital and came to know that their son is suffering from condition known as complex odontoma.

Later the surgeons in Mumbai operated Ashik and removed 232 teeth from his mouth.

"We operated on Monday and it took us almost seven hours. We thought it may be a simple surgery but once we opened it there were multiple pearl-like teeth inside the jaw bone," said a doctor from the operating team.

Ashik's, Suresh Gavai said that the family had been worried that Ashik's swelling was a cancerous growth, so he bought him to the city.

Doctors' claims Gavai's jawbone structure was maintained during the operation so it should heal without any deformities.

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HIV Virus Found in “Cured” Child, Still Hope for Second Child’s Treatment..!!

Great hopes in the field of HIV/AIDS research and prevention were dashed this week, when an infant thought to have been
cured of the disease showed signs of remission.

Just hours after being born four years ago to an HIV-positive mother, the so
called "Mississippi baby" was started on a powerful three-drug regimen called triple therapy by doctors hoping to attack the
illness early enough in the child's life that they could stamp it out entirely.

The girl continued to receive treatment for a year and a half, and later showed no signs of infection even after a long period of no treatment. Then she and her mother disappeared from the hospital program for ten months. Two weeks ago, however, tests on the now four-year-old girl showed that the virus had in fact resurfaced. She had appeared free of HIV as recently as March.

Antiretroviral drugs can eliminate the virus in the bloodstream, but HIV has hiding places (called "reservoirs") in the intestines and the brain. If treatment stops, the virus can reemerge from these reservoirs and attack the body anew.

Only one adult, Timothy Brown of San Francisco, is currently believed to have been cured of HIV–a result of a bone marrow transplant from a donor with a genetic mutation for HIV resistance.

Another child, this one at a hospital in Los Angeles, was started on treatment right after birth in April 2013 and so far shows no signs of relapse. That child, however, has received ongoing treatment in the intervening time.
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Fake medical director jailed 10 years in Benin....!!!

An Evbuoriaria Magistrates' Court sitting in Benin City
yesterday, sentenced a 32-year-old man, Jeremiah
Onovwata to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour for floating an illegal clinic and parading himself as Chief Medical Director.

The accused was jailed without an option of fine for floating an unregistered private clinic, "Divine Maternity and Clinic, which metamorphosed into "Divine Nursing Home and Maternity," located on Siluko Road, Benin, where he was said to have impersonated as the Chief Medical Director.

Special grade Magistrate, Patricia Igho Braimoh, while
sentencing the accused said the court was satisfied with the, "uncontradicted prosecution evidence" which was corroborated by the evidence of the defence.

The court said the accused was therefore, guilty as charged. The accused, who was found guilty on all the five counts on which he was arraigned, would however, serve only two of the10 years jail term, because the sentences would run concurrently.

Citing relevant sections of the law, the Magistrate said the convict was pardoned for the same offence in 2009, having deposed to an undertaking never to impersonate as the medical director at the clinic and maternity, only to be apprehended for the same offence.

Defence Counsel, Mr Evidence Ejemu Etimbowei, however, pleaded for allocutus to enable the accused who claimed to have attended Edo State School of Health Technology, Benin, meet his family's needs.

Dr (Mrs) Helen Eboreime, Director of Medical services, described the judgement as appropriate considering the determination of the committee to rid the state of quack doctors.

Eboreime, who is also the chairman of Medical Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), the regulatory body of medical practice in the state, urged health practitioners operating in the state without appropriate licence and health practitioners operating beyond their scope of training to retrace their steps.

She observed that most health facilities in the state were operated by male Nurses and other health workers and encouraged the public to always endeavour to seek wise counsel before taking crucial decisions concerning their health.

Keep staying Healthy, Informed and Entertained....