News

International travel and NTDs
The world NTD day, 30th January, is an important day as it highlights diseases that are neglected, especially since those affected live in low-income countries. In marking the world NTD day, Prof. Achim Hoerauf, Director IMMIP and Speaker DNTDS, had an interview on NTDs. In his interview, he introduced NTD, their distribution as a whole and the global burden of the disease, where more than 1 billion people are affected. Prof. Hörauf also highlighted the impact of climate change on the increase in NTDs. Listen to the whole interview here…

Lymphatic filariasis: Simple Measures with a Big Impact
The investigated disease management is based particularly on hygiene measures. The swellings and wounds, which usually occur on the feet and legs of patients, must be carefully cleaned once or twice a day and treated with antiseptic ointments if necessary. Other measures such as light physical activity, elevation of the affected leg and simple massage techniques - as well as wearing appropriately adapted footwear - are also necessary. In addition to the hygiene measures, some patients also benefit from taking the antibiotic doxycycline.
“Conducting our studies was extremely challenging. Our study teams travelled long, and sometimes dangerous, distances to visit the affected population in the often difficult-to-reach villages and communities and trained them in disease management,” says Hörauf. “This was successful: in total, we were able to include around 1,400 patients suffering from advanced lymphatic filariasis in the studies - and comprehensively track their disease progression over two years. This is very important data, that is incorporated into the WHO's treatment recommendations, for example.” Continue reading...

Photo: Dr. Christoph Hoffmann MdB, Deputy Chairman of the AWZ and Prof. Achim Hörauf
DNTDs in the German Parliament - Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development
Berlin, 06.11.2024 - The German Network against Neglected Tropical Diseases (DNTDs) was invited to speak to the Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development of the German Bundestag about strategies to combat neglected tropical diseases and their financing. Prof. Dr. Achim Hörauf, Director IMMIP, gave an outline of the status quo and presented recommendations for action as an expert and spokesperson for the DNTDs. In particular, he addressed the strengthening and further development of NTD programs, the integration of NTD programs into other sectors, the improvement of access to drugs, the continuation of the promotion of drug development against NTDs and the promotion of innovative financing approaches for incentive systems for drug development and marketing of NTD programs. Continue reading

Clinical Trials to Assess Effectiveness of Treatment Guidelines for Lymphedema Induced by Lymphatic Filariasis
The LeDoxy trials have published their joint study on Lymphedema management using hygiene measures and doxycycline administration. The multi-centre, multi-country clinical trial, was conducted in 5 country, Ghana, Tanzania, Mali, Sri Lanka and India. The trials were a collaborative effort between COR-NTD (TaskForce for Global Health, Atlanta, USA) and IMMIP (Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, The German Center for Infection Research, Bonn-Cologne site, Germany). Trials in Ghana and Tanzania were funded by The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through its Neglected Tropical Diseases Program through their support of the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD) grant (AID-OAA-G-14-00008), funded those conducted in Mali, Sri Lanka and India. IMMIP’s institute director Prof. Achim Hoerauf is the co-coordinator of the TAKeOFF consortium and Dr. Ute Klarmann-Schulz the Bonn PI. Continue reading
Code for a Cure: Combating River Blindness with Data & AI
A team of experts at Capgemini, in collaboration with University Hospital Bonn and Amazon Web Services, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that will accelerate the speed of clinical trials aiming to establish new treatments for River Blindness, a neglected tropical disease which affects over 20 million people globally. Currently, the specialist work of clinical trials can only be carried out manually by a handful of global experts, so the winning model could save years of work and speed up the development of new treatments.Continue reading

Effective early warning system for tuberculosis infections
The German-West African Centre for Global Health and Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC), one of four DAAD-funded Global Centres for Health and Pandemic Prevention, offers the Ghanaian epidemiologist ideal conditions for her PhD work. “I am researching a mobile interactive voice response system that is intended to support the work of voluntary health workers, especially in remote communities with patchy healthcare coverage,” says Fortress Yayra Aku.
The Search for New Treatment for River Blindness
The World Health Organization estimates that 1.15 million people have lost their vision due to river blindness, while 220 million require preventive therapy against onchocerciasis. For over 25 years, the Institute of Medical Microbiology Immunology and Parasitology, at the University Hospital Bonn and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, in Kumasi Ghana have been conduction clinical trials in river blindness and lymphatic filariasis... Continue reading