Category: parasitic diseases

Closer than Ever

Some of the world’s most accomplished disease experts—including several of my colleagues in CDC’s Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria (DPDM)—are gathering in Geneva this week at the NTD Summit 2017. Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of parasitic, bacterial, and viral diseases that cause illness and disability in more than 1.5 billion people Read More >

Posted on by CAPT Stephanie Bialek, Chief, Parasitic Diseases, Division of Parasitic Disease and MalariaTags , , , , , ,

The “Ride” To Eliminating Malaria In Haiti

Malaria Zero has one bold goal: to eliminate malaria from the island of Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, by 2020.

CDC works with Haiti and the Dominican Republic to eliminate malaria by 2020. #endmalaria #WMD2016 Tweet This The town of Dame Marie on the southwestern tip of Haiti, is 225 miles from the country’s teeming, chaotic capital Port-au-Prince. But getting there by car—on a good day—can easily take eight hard-fought, kidney-bashing, hairpin-turning hours. That may Read More >

Posted on by Michelle Chang, MD, Medical Epidemiologist/Director of Malaria Zero3 CommentsTags , , , , ,

President Obama’s Call to Accelerate Battle Against Malaria Builds on Impressive Gains

A home in Zambia using a bed net to prevent mosquito bites and therefore prevent malaria transmission. Bed nets have been shown to reduce malaria illness, severe disease, and death due to malaria in regions where the disease persists.

Malaria is a public health issue that has always been one of our highest priorities. Tweet This President Obama’s call to arms to end malaria worldwide as announced during his recent State of the Union address and the Administration’s request to increase resources for malaria control, underscore the remarkable progress made in the fight against Read More >

Posted on by Laurence Slutsker, MD, MPH, Director of CDC Division of Parasitic Diseases and MalariaTags , , , , , , ,

CDC director: What we’re doing about the Zika virus

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden

This blog was originally posted on CNN.com on February 1, 2016 (CNN) Vaccines and antibiotics have made many infectious diseases a thing of the past; we’ve come to expect that public health and modern science can conquer all microbes. But nature is a formidable adversary. And Zika is our newest threat, particularly to pregnant women. New, unfamiliar Read More >

Posted on by CDC Director Dr. Tom FriedenTags , ,

CDC Poised to Answer President Obama’s Call to End Malaria

In his State of the Union address January 12, President Obama issued an emphatic call to arms to end malaria worldwide. Here, at CDC, we know that attacking malaria and moving aggressively to eliminate a disease that killed 438,000 people last year worldwide is a goal worthy of its mention in the State of the Read More >

Posted on by S. Patrick Kachur, MD, MPH, FACPM1 CommentTags , , , ,

World Malaria Day 2015

Figure 2: An antique rug beater.

World Malaria Day falls on Saturday this year, so I’ll spend some part of the day catching up on household chores. I can sometimes find moments of inspiration in the mental space created by simple tasks like running the vacuum cleaner. This year, malaria endemic countries and their global partners are reflecting on the remarkable Read More >

Posted on by S. Patrick Kachur, MD, MPH, FACPM, Chief, Malaria Branch, Division of Parasitic Diseases and MalariaTags

Fulfilling the Decade of Vaccines Vision

As 2014 draws to a close, one theme that has been continuously present is the importance of a strong public health infrastructure in a country to effectively protect against vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs).  Universal access to immunization is the Decade of Vaccines vision, and in order to achieve this, more efforts are needed to build upon the Read More >

Posted on by Rebecca Martin, PhD, Director, Global Immunization Division, Center for Global Health, U.S. CDCTags , ,

What is Rabies?

3 dogs

                              Most people in the United States know rabies as a rare and terrifying disease, ending in almost certain death. However, it’s not usually something they think about, except when the reminder card arrives from their veterinarian that their pet needs Read More >

Posted on by Ryan M. Wallace, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention2 CommentsTags , , , , , ,

CDC Protects Families: My favorite stories

As we celebrate families on Mother’s Day, May 11, and the International Day of Families, May 15, I am especially proud to work in CDC’s Center for Global Health.  As one of the Center’s  health communication specialists, I have the privilege to write or edit many stories about how CDC’s programs impact the lives of Read More >

Posted on by Terri Still-LeMelleTags , ,

Mozambique FELTP fellows evaluate impact of malaria bed net campaign

One thing is to read a protocol, and quite another to write a protocol, do the field work, and see it through to the end" - Geraldo Chambe, FELTP resident

Four Mozambican epidemiologists-in-training spent a month walking up to ten kilometers a day to make sure that one of the most effective malaria control interventions was reaching the poorest Mozambicans. Malaria is the leading cause of death in Mozambique, and insecticide-treated bed nets are one of the key malaria control measures. Since 2007, the U.S. Read More >

Posted on by Mateusz Plucinski, PhD, MPH, Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Malaria BranchTags , , , ,