Historical overview of studies on Japanese Encephalitis Virus in northern Vietnam, 1964 – 1978
In northern Vietnam from April to September every year, children often have had a malignant syndrome called Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). From 1965 to 1977, the total number of AES in children was 22,545 cases, from whom 4,774 died. Before 1964, the etiology of AES in northern Vietnam has not yet been identified; so the […]
Science Café
Science Cafés are events which facilitate the public to engage in conversations about scientific topics outside of the usual academic settings. Science Cafés, also known as Café Scientifique, started in the UK in the 1990s and have now spread to over 30 countries around the world. Science Cafés offer a forum for debating issues of […]
Double dose of antiviral drug offers no added benefit in severe influenza
Giving double doses of the antiviral drug oseltamivir, or Tamiflu, offers no clinical or virological advantages over a standard dose for patients admitted to hospital with severe influenza infection, according to a randomised trial published today and funded by the Wellcome Trust, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the Singapore National […]
Study defines level of dengue virus needed for transmission
Researchers have identified the dose of Dengue virus in human blood that is required to infect mosquitoes when they bite. Mosquitoes are essential for transmitting the virus between people so the findings have important implications for understanding how to slow the spread of the disease. By defining the threshold of the amount of virus needed […]
Science theatre
Comedy theatre plays are touring Southern Vietnam, entertaining and educating primary school children about science and health. – OUCRU partnered with the Thai Duong Theatre Company to develop a comedy play for children aged 6-12 years old about enteric disease, food hygiene and antibiotic resistance. The play called ‘An Amazing Battle’ incorporated famous Vietnamese folklore […]
Exchanges at the Frontier with Jeremy Farrar…
What happens when a philosopher interviews a scientist about their work? On November 22nd, our Director, Jeremy Farrar found out he was interviewed by philosopher AC Grayling and a public audience about our work in a medical research unit in Southeast Asia. Jeremy talked about the Hospital and Unit’s groundbreaking work on a number of […]
Risk factors for Salmonella in Vietnamese children
In recent work published from the Enterics group at OUCRU, non-typhoidal Salmonella were found to be an important cause of paediatric gastroenteritis in Ho Chi Minh City. Non-typhoidal Salmonella are an important but poorly characterised cause of paediatric diarrhoea in developing countries. From a large hospital based case-control study in Ho Chi Minh City, 5% […]