BIRCH team
Syphilis Infectious Disease Sheila Lukehart Pathobiology
August 18, 2016 | Health News

The Globe and Mail: University of Victoria Researcher Close to Developing Syphilis Vaccine

By Andrea Woo

A University of Victoria researcher says she and a colleague are close to developing a vaccine for syphilis, a disease that has reached its highest rates in B.C. in 30 years.

Microbiologist Caroline Cameron and Sheila Lukehart, a professor in the University of Washington’s department of global health, have received a nearly $3-million grant from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. The grant will help fund preclinical trials.

BIRCH team
Sheila Lukehart Syphilis Infectious Disease Pathobiology
August 18, 2016 | Health News

Times Colonist: As Syphilis Cases Rise, UVic Leads Search for a Vaccine

By Richard Watts

A University of Victoria microbiologist and her American colleague are looking for a vaccine to prevent syphilis, a venereal disease on the rise worldwide.

UVic’s Caroline Cameron, a professor of biochemistry and microbiology, is joining with University of Washington’s Sheila Lukehart, a professor of medicine and global health, to develop a vaccine to stop syphilis before it gets started in a body.

“It’s a preventive treatment, not a cure,” Cameron said.

BIRCH team
Zika Virus IHME David Pigott
August 16, 2016 | Health News

Wired: The Price of Zika? About $4 Million Per Child

By Emma Grey Ellis

To talk about Zika virus control is to talk about money. Vaccine development, mosquito abatement, and even the distribution of DEET repellant takes (and currently lacks) major federal dollars. When, last week, the US Department of Health and Human Services declared Zika a public health emergency in Puerto Rico, it was in part a means to a better-funded end.

Measuring a child
Patricia Pavlinac Judd Walson Diarrheal Disease Global WACh Christine McGrath
August 10, 2016 | Department News

Department Part of Major Study to Test Antibiotics as a Treatment for Diarrheal Disease in High-Risk Children in Low Resource Settings

By Amelia Vader

Researchers at the University of Washington and Kenya Medical Research Institute are working to determine if antibiotics could help save thousands of children from dying of diarrheal disease thanks to a four-year $2.5 million grant from the World Health Organization.

The Antibiotics for Children with Severe Diarrhea (ABCD) Trial is the largest clinical trial addressing diarrhea management to date; and it will not only answer the question of the potential benefits of antibiotics it will also address any potential harm, such as antibiotic resistance.

Global Health Minor Students Alumni
August 04, 2016 | Department News

Global Health Minor Alum to Compete in Decathlon at Rio Olympics

Jeremy Taiwo is one of 550 people competing this year on the U.S. Olympic team. The games get underway Friday night in Rio. Based in Seattle, and a former student of Latin American studies and global health at the University of Washington, Taiwo will be competing in the decathlon, one of the most physically challenging events of the Olympics. Athletes must perform in ten different track and field events, including running, jumping, pole vault, javelin, and discus.

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