Esther Ellen Freeman | |
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Born | 1979 (age 45–46) |
Alma mater | |
Scientific career | |
Institutions |
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Thesis | The role of herpes simplex virus Type 2 in the spread and control of HIV in four Sub-Saharan African Cities (2006) |
Esther Ellen Freeman (born 1979) is an American physician who is an Associate Professor of Dermatology at the Harvard Medical School and Director of Global Health Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her research considers HIV infection with AIDS-defining malignancies, including Kaposi's sarcoma. During the COVID-19 pandemic Freeman established the American Academy of Dermatology register of COVID-19 skin complaints, through which she identified novel symptoms of COVID-19 in the skin.
Freeman attended Milton Academy. [1] As a child she was a competitive skier, and competed in the national championships at the age of twelve. [1] [2] By the age of fifteen Freeman was a member of the United States freestyle skiing team. [1] Freeman earned her undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College. [1] Throughout her college career she skied in World Cup competitions and was a member of the Dartmouth sailing team. [1] During her studies at Dartmouth, Freeman spent time in Kenya and Mexico. In 2002 she was selected as a Marshall Scholar, and moved to the United Kingdom to complete her graduate studies. [1] She was a graduate student at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, where she studied HIV epidemiology. [3] After completing her doctorate Freeman returned to the United States, where she started a medical degree at Harvard Medical School, and soon after completed her specialist training in dermatology, at the Harvard Combined Dermatology Residency Training program.[ citation needed ]
In 2011 Freeman began work with the World Health Organization, drafting guidelines on how to treat skin conditions that were associated with HIV in the developing world. [4] For these efforts she was awarded the 2012 American Academy of Dermatology Members Making a Difference Award. [5]
In 2013 Freeman was appointed Director of Global Health Dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Here she continued to investigate HIV dermatology, with a particular focus on Kaposi's sarcoma. [6] She serves on the leadership team of the International Alliance of Global Health Dermatology(GLODERM). [7]
Freeman was a member of the American Academy of Dermatology task force on coronavirus disease. [8] As part of this effort, she launched and helped to compile a registry of skin complaints of COVID-19 patients, identifying several new symptoms of COVID-19 that present in the skin. [9] [10] [11] Freeman has since been involved in leadership for several other outbreaks, including the global Mpox outbreak in 2022, where she served on the WHO Clinical Guidelines Committee for Mpox and also compiled an international registry to more deeply characterize skin manifestations of the virus. Her work on outbreaks has been features in the Washington Post and NPR, among others. [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
Aciclovir, also known as acyclovir, is an antiviral medication. It is primarily used for the treatment of herpes simplex virus infections, chickenpox, and shingles. Other uses include prevention of cytomegalovirus infections following transplant and severe complications of Epstein–Barr virus infection. It can be taken by mouth, applied as a cream, or injected.
The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS had killed approximately 40.4 million people, and approximately 39 million people were infected with HIV globally. Of these, 29.8 million people (75%) are receiving antiretroviral treatment. There were about 630,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS in 2022. The 2015 Global Burden of Disease Study estimated that the global incidence of HIV infection peaked in 1997 at 3.3 million per year. Global incidence fell rapidly from 1997 to 2005, to about 2.6 million per year. Incidence of HIV has continued to fall, decreasing by 23% from 2010 to 2020, with progress dominated by decreases in Eastern Africa and Southern Africa. As of 2023, there are about 1.3 million new infections of HIV per year globally.
WHO Disease Staging System for HIV Infection and Disease in Adults and Adolescents was first produced in 1990 by the World Health Organization and updated in September 2005. It is an approach for use in resource limited settings and is widely used in Africa and Asia and has been a useful research tool in studies of progression to symptomatic HIV disease.
The CDC Classification System for HIV Infection is the medical classification system used by the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to classify HIV disease and infection. The system is used to allow the government to handle epidemic statistics and define who receives US government assistance.
A vertically transmitted infection is an infection caused by pathogenic bacteria or viruses that use mother-to-child transmission, that is, transmission directly from the mother to an embryo, fetus, or baby during pregnancy or childbirth. It can occur when the mother has a pre-existing disease or becomes infected during pregnancy. Nutritional deficiencies may exacerbate the risks of perinatal infections. Vertical transmission is important for the mathematical modelling of infectious diseases, especially for diseases of animals with large litter sizes, as it causes a wave of new infectious individuals.
Eczema herpeticum is a rare but severe and contagious disseminated infection that generally occurs at sites of skin damage produced by, for example, atopic dermatitis, burns, long-term usage of topical steroids or eczema. It is also known as Kaposi varicelliform eruption, Pustulosis varioliformis acute and Kaposi–Juliusberg dermatitis.
Herpes simplex virus1 and 2, also known by their taxonomic names Human alphaherpesvirus 1 and Human alphaherpesvirus 2, are two members of the human Herpesviridae family, a set of viruses that produce viral infections in the majority of humans. Both HSV-1 and HSV-2 are very common and contagious. They can be spread when an infected person begins shedding the virus.
Genital herpes is a herpes infection of the genitals caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV). Most people either have no or mild symptoms and thus do not know they are infected. When symptoms do occur, they typically include small blisters that break open to form painful ulcers. Flu-like symptoms, such as fever, aching, or swollen lymph nodes, may also occur. Onset is typically around 4 days after exposure with symptoms lasting up to 4 weeks. Once infected further outbreaks may occur but are generally milder.
Herpes gladiatorum is one of the most infectious of herpes-caused diseases, and is transmissible by skin-to-skin contact. The disease was first described in the 1960s in the New England Journal of Medicine. It is caused by contagious infection with human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), which more commonly causes oral herpes. Another strain, HSV-2 usually causes genital herpes, although the strains are very similar and either can cause herpes in any location.
Clarence Chabala Kaunda
A sexually transmitted infection (STI), also referred to as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and the older term venereal disease (VD), is an infection that is spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, oral sex, or sometimes manual sex. STIs often do not initially cause symptoms, which results in a risk of transmitting them on to others. The term sexually transmitted infection is generally preferred over sexually transmitted disease or venereal disease, as it includes cases with no symptomatic disease. Symptoms and signs of STIs may include vaginal discharge, penile discharge, ulcers on or around the genitals, and pelvic pain. Some STIs can cause infertility.
Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is a type of cancer that can form masses on the skin, in lymph nodes, in the mouth, or in other organs. The skin lesions are usually painless, purple and may be flat or raised. Lesions can occur singly, multiply in a limited area, or may be widespread. Depending on the sub-type of disease and level of immune suppression, KS may worsen either gradually or quickly. Except for Classical KS where there is generally no immune suppression, KS is caused by a combination of immune suppression and infection by Human herpesvirus 8.
Herpes simplex, often known simply as herpes, is a viral infection caused by the herpes simplex virus. Herpes infections are categorized by the area of the body that is infected. The two major types of herpes are oral herpes and genital herpes, though other forms also exist.
A cold sore is a type of herpes infection caused by the herpes simplex virus that affects primarily the lip. Symptoms typically include a burning pain followed by small blisters or sores. The first attack may also be accompanied by fever, sore throat, and enlarged lymph nodes. The rash usually heals within ten days, but the virus remains dormant in the trigeminal ganglion. The virus may periodically reactivate to create another outbreak of sores in the mouth or lip.
Zeda Fran Rosenberg is an American microbiologist and epidemiologist, active in HIV biology and prevention. She is the chief executive officer of the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM). IPM was founded by Rosenberg in 2002 and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing microbicides and other innovative HIV prevention products and making them available for women in developing countries.
The ChemDB HIV, Opportunistic Infection and Tuberculosis Therapeutics Database is a publicly available tool developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to compile preclinical data on small molecules with potential therapeutic action against HIV/AIDS and related opportunistic infections.
Almyra Oveta Fuller was an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at University of Michigan Medical School. She served as the director of the African Studies Center (ASC), faculty in the ASC STEM Initiative at the University of Michigan (U-M) and an adjunct professor at Payne Theological Seminary. Fuller was a virologist and specialized in research of Herpes simplex virus, as well as HIV/AIDS. Fuller and her research team discovered a B5 receptor, advancing the understanding of Herpes simplex virus and the cells it attacks.
Judith Glynn is a Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She worked on the Karonga Prevention Study on HIV and Tuberculosis in Malawi. She is also a sculptor.
Cutaneous manifestations of COVID-19 are characteristic signs or symptoms of the Coronavirus disease 2019 that occur in the skin. The American Academy of Dermatology reports that skin lesions such as morbilliform, pernio, urticaria, macular erythema, vesicular purpura, papulosquamous purpura and retiform purpura are seen in people with COVID-19. Pernio-like lesions were more common in mild disease while retiform purpura was seen only in critically ill patients. The major dermatologic patterns identified in individuals with COVID-19 are urticarial rash, confluent erythematous/morbilliform rash, papulovesicular exanthem, chilbain-like acral pattern, livedo reticularis and purpuric "vasculitic" pattern. Chilblains and Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children are also cutaneous manifestations of COVID-19.
Syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection, is a major danger to public health, particularly in developing countries, including those in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease, whose origin is contested amongst researchers, arrived in Africa no later than the 16th century. Since then, it has spread to individuals across the continent. It heavily affects pregnant women, who can end up miscarrying or giving birth to a child already infected. Its relationship with factors such as circumcision, education, and the availability of screening have all been researched.