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Water park closed after 700 become sick

A fun park has been forced to close after more than 700 people, mostly children and teenagers, became sick with a gastrointestinal illness.

21 Aug 2005

Pregnancy fears on drinking water byproducts may be overstated

Fears that chemical byproducts resulting from purifying drinking water with chlorine boost the chances that pregnant women will miscarry were not supported by the results of a major new study. If such threats exist at all, which is uncertain, they likely are modest, it concludes.

1 Aug 2005

U.S. beaches getting dirtier and some are disappearing

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has said this week that more and more U.S. beaches are being closed due to contamination, partly because there is more pollution and partly because of better monitoring.

31 Jul 2005

FDA approves treatment for diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium infection

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Alinia (nitazoxanide) tablets and oral suspension for treating diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium parvum infection in adults and children 12 years and older. The product, already approved to treat the same infection in younger children, received a priority review by FDA.

19 Jun 2005

Basic sanitation must reach 138 million more people every year through 2015

...close to 2 billion in total - to bring the world on track to halve the proportion of people living without safe water and basic sanitation, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF warn in a new report.

6 Jun 2005

Hong Kong looks at relationship between climatic factors and infectious diseases

The relationship between climatic factors and infectious diseases is being studied by the Hong Kong Government to see whether there is a major or direct link, Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food Dr York Chow says.

11 May 2005

Two more Polio cases reported in Indonesia

Health Officials are still investigating other suspected cases which have been reported in the same area of a West Javanese province.

5 May 2005

Polio threat originates in Nigeria 2 years after it was banished in most countries

Almost two years after radical Islamic preachers in Nigeria influenced parents against having their children vaccinated against polio for fear it was part of a U.S. plot against Muslims, a Nigerian strain of the virus that causes the crippling disease has occurred as far away as Indonesia.

4 May 2005

Exposure to air pollutants increases the risk of fatal myocardial infarction

Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of death in Sweden and other Western European countries. Known risk factors include age, gender, hereditariness, smoking, hypertension and high blood lipid levels.

22 Apr 2005

Breakthrough in the understanding of the spread of cholera

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholera and is spread by contaminated water and food. Scientists from the University of Haifa and Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, have reported in Environmental Microbiology, an important breakthrough in our understanding of the continental and intercontinental distribution of cholera.

3 Apr 2005

Norovirus found to cause traveler's diarrhea

A majority of traveler’s diarrhea cases among U.S. travelers to Mexico and Guatemala were attributed to Norovirus, a common cause of nonbacterial gastroenteritis outbreaks usually associated with developed countries, according to a new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions.

8 Mar 2005

Screening for toxoplasmosis for all pregnant women and newborns is necessary

Physicians found that signs, symptoms and identifiable risk factors are absent in more than half of the mothers of infants with congenital toxoplasmosis in a national study of children with this disease.

9 Feb 2005

Aircraft drinking water contaminated with bacteria

A second round of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) testing shows that 17.2 percent of 169 randomly selected passenger aircraft carried water contaminated with total coliform bacteria.

19 Jan 2005

PAHO urges donors to wait for assessment of Asian tragedy's needs

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is urging all citizens, organizations and governments wishing to help the tsunami victims in southern and Southeast Asia to wait for an assessment of what's needed before sending anything.

28 Dec 2004

UN Population Fund warns women, girls especially vulnerable

In the aftermath of devastating tsunamis that struck several South and South-East Asian countries on Sunday, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is calling on governments, sister United Nations agencies and other humanitarian partners to ensure that the special needs of women and girls are factored into all short- and medium-term relief planning.

28 Dec 2004

Red Cross Red Crescent launches appeal for victims of the Bay of Bengal earthquake and tsunamis

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched a preliminary appeal for 7.5 million Swiss francs to assist some 500,000 people and bring immediate support to relief operations of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and other countries in the region after the strongest earthquake in 40 years caused massive tidal waves

27 Dec 2004

Scientists decode the genome sequence of Cryptosporidium hominis, one of the most common causes of waterborne diseases in humans

A team of scientists at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine has helped decode the genome sequence of Cryptosporidium hominis, an insidious parasite identified as one of the most common causes of waterborne diseases in humans and classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a potential bioterrorist agent.

29 Oct 2004