BACKGROUND The number of diagnostic assays for the detection of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) antibodies has increased over the years. However, their performance characteristics could vary among global populations. OBJECTIVE To investigate performance of two commercial ELISA kits, HerpeSelect® 1 ELISA and Euroimmun Anti-HSV-1 (gC1) ELISA (IgG); and two commercial immunoblot (IB)/Western...

BACKGROUND In 2001, the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) was tasked to develop, test, license, and introduce a group A meningococcal (MenA) conjugate vaccine for sub-Saharan Africa. African public health officials emphasized that a vaccine price of less than US$0.50 per dose was necessary to ensure introduction and sustained use of this new vaccine. METHODS Initially, MVP envisioned partnerin...

OBJECTIVES To provide an overview of the current level of development and results from the national HIV surveillance systems of the 23 countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and to assess the quality of HIV surveillance systems in the period 2007-2011. METHODS A questionnaire was used to collect the information about the structure, activities and the results of HIV surveillance...

BACKGROUND Gastrointestinal and liver diseases (GILDs) are major causes of death and disability in Middle East and North Africa (MENA). However, they have different patterns in countries with various geographical, cultural, and socio-economic status. We aimed to compare the burden of GILDs in Iran with its neighboring countries using the results of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study in 20...

In the face of European refugee crisis in 2015 and Ukraine conflict 2022, Europe has shown opposite attitudes towards two types refugees. seems to be more welcoming Ukrainian refugees than it is some MENA This study explores reasons behind such “double standards” through religion, language, stereotypes MENA, Eurocentrism. The results show that double standard attitude mainly reflected reports n...