User:Peter grotzinger/sandbox

Companies based in Sub-Saharan Africa grew at an astonishing rate of 30% at the time when developed economies were facing a historic downturn and developing economies were facing slow growth. Countries that are considered to be amongst the poorest nations of the world, it is found that MNCs based here are one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

HIV/AIDS Profile HIV rapid test product details: http://www.jn-vaccines.org/JN-hiv_3.pdf

HIV Vaccine Initiative http://www.jn-vaccines.org/JNHIV-DNA-Vaccine.pdf

Tuberculosis Profile The United States-based JN-International Medical Corporation opened its first overseas branch in 2005 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire and later in 2006 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Operating in Africa enables the company to more efficiently store and distribute many of its products. By February 2007, the company plans to supply two million diagnostic tests for Malaria and TB to West Africa.

Tuberculosis: The Tuberculosis epidemic is increasing the spread of multidrug-resistant strains of TB, which kills some 1,500 Africans every day. MDR-TB rates are rising in both Africa and parts of Eastern Europe. Africa is particularly hit because of co-infections with HIV and a lack of health infrastructure to monitor and treat the disease. Despite commendable efforts by countries and partners to control tuberculosis, their impact has not been significant and the epidemic has now reached unprecedented proportions.

TB Rapid Diagnostic: In 2002 JN developed a rapid diagnostic test for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Most standard tests for the detection of Tuberculosis, such as skin tests, X-rays, and DNA techniques, are expensive and time consuming. JN was able to design a test that was ideal for in-the-field diagnosis of Tuberculosis. It is an affordable, accurate, and easy to use immunochromatographic serological assay for the rapid detection of tuberculosis and multi drug-resistant tuberculosis. The TB test showed to be highly effective, with a sensitivity of 99.52% and a specificity of 99.42%. These results, published in Comparative Immunology, Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (2002), show that JN's TB rapid diagnostic tests are an important tool in the first-line testing of suspected TB cases in the field. These tests have been used throughout the world, in locales that include India, South America, and Africa.

TB Vaccine: Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of infectious disease-related mortality worldwide, and vaccines have been the primary preventive therapy for many decades. Currently, Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), an attenuated live bacteria, is the only approved tuberculosis vaccine available. BCG vaccination has variable success in preventing acute tuberculosis infection and after the emergence of Multi Drug Resistant TB strains ((MDR TB), prompting the search for new methods of vaccination. JN has also initiated research on developing an inexpensive DNA vaccine against Tuberculosis that can protect from M. tuberculosis (MDR TB) strains. Initial research on the vaccine done on animals indicates that this vaccine may not only prevent TB but also be effective against MDR TB. Much research remains to be done on this topic, but the scientists at JN remain dedicated to preventing infectious disease throughout the world.