Health

Cholera Vaccine

NAIROBI (IRIN) - Trials of a cholera vaccine manufactured in Vietnam at a cost of only about US 20 cents a dose have produced encouraging results, especially for children, according to a press statement from the United Nations' World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday, 8 February. The research team concluded that the vaccine was "safe and immunogenic" and "could elicit robust immune responses", especially in children, for whom the risk of endemic cholera is highest, but also in adults, WHO stated. The research results were encouraging, "particularly because of its low cost of production", it...

HIV/AIDS - A race against time

Izelle Theunissen, MRC News With HIV/AIDS infection rates showing no signs of abating, the urgency for a preventive vaccine has never been greater. Dr Tim Tucker, recently appointed head of the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI), shares some thoughts on the vaccine trials and the road ahead. "We believe that the only way to eradicate HIV/AIDS or to dramatically reduce the number of infections is by making a good HIV vaccine." Speaking is Dr Tim Tucker, who recently took over from Dr Walter Prozesky as head of SAAVI. This initiative was launched in 1999 and was tasked by Government...

Aflatoxin in peanut butter: MRC policy brief

PROMEC Unit, Medical Research Council, PO Box 19070, Tygerberg, 7505 South Africa; tel. (021) 938-0290. During May 2001 several reports appeared in the news media in South Africa about the "poison in the peanuts". These related to high levels of aflatoxin that were allegedly found in peanut butter given to school children in the Eastern Cape under the Primary Schools Nutrition Programme (PSNP). The PROMEC Unit of the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), an internationally recognised centre of excellence on toxins produced by fungi (mycotoxins), including aflatoxin, decided to prepare...

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