Disease/Infection News

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Cholera update in Angola and Sudan

Cholera in Angola: As of 16 May 2006, Angola has reported a total of 35 775 cases and 1298 deaths (case fatality rate (CFR) 4%).

18 May 2006

Seven new cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus in Indonesia

The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed an additional seven cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. Six of the cases were fatal.

18 May 2006

Experts concerned over bird flu 'clusters' in Indonesia

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed five bird flu deaths in Indonesia and says that the disease has now spread to the Horn of Africa.

17 May 2006

Critics say expert's figure of 350,000 Russians with HIV an underestimation

Russia is experiencing a burgeoning epidemic as HIV/AIDS continues to spread beyond the ranks of drug users, gay men and prostitutes, into the larger population.

16 May 2006

Malaria - the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing!

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is quite rightly patting itself on the back because it has persuaded as many as 13 drug companies to abandon the marketing and promotion of monotherapy in the treatment of Malaria.

16 May 2006

Who should get influenza vaccine?

An American flu pandemic would present difficult and tragic choices: As many as 90 million people might become sick, and widespread shortages of vaccine would likely leave more than 90 percent of the population unprotected in the pandemic's first year.

16 May 2006

Simple "dipstick" test could save millions from blindness

A Cambridge University team have developed a simple "dipstick" test to detect the eye infection trachoma, a disease spread by flies, which could potentially help save the sight of millions around the world.

15 May 2006

Fifth from Indonesian family dies from bird flu

According to local health officials a fifth member of an Indonesian family has died of bird flu.

15 May 2006

Thanks to WHO effective combo malaria therapy will be de-rigueur

Following pressure from the World Health Organization (WHO), 13 pharmaceutical companies have agreed to comply with their recommendation that single-drug artemisinin medicines for the oral treatment of malaria need to be phased out.

15 May 2006

Bird flu - the battle could be over

Even though Dr. David Nabarro, chief pandemic flu coordinator for the United Nations says he is encouraged by how both Thailand and Vietnam had responded to the health crisis facing their domestic poultry, and their successful efforts to reduce the threat of the disease, the deadly H5N1 strain still remains a significant threat, especially to Indonesia and Africa.

14 May 2006

Seniors should be last in line when it comes to bird flu jabs

According to two U.S. medical ethicists, because stocks of bird flu vaccine are likely to be in short supply, in the event of a bird flu pandemic, the young should have priority over the elderly, ill and disabled.

14 May 2006

Fifty more deaths in Angola from cholera

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) another 50 people have died from cholera in Angola in the last week.

14 May 2006

Bird flu not spread on the wings of wild birds

According to a Dutch environmental organisation, the on-going fear that flocks of wild birds will spread the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu through Africa and Europe may be ill founded.

14 May 2006

Study holds promise for malarial susceptibility test

Cell and animal studies conducted jointly by scientists at Johns Hopkins, Yale and other institutions have uncovered at least one important contributor to the severe anemia that kills almost half of the 2 million people worldwide who die each year of malaria.

12 May 2006

Climate, deer, rodents, and acorns as determinants of variation in Lyme-disease risk

In the United States, Lyme disease incidence has skyrocketed from 497 cases reported in 1982 (the first year national statistics were collected) to a record 23,763 in 2002.

11 May 2006

First human H5N1 bird flu case in Horn of Africa

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a two-year-old girl in Djibouti has been become infected with H5N1; the girl is the first confirmed human case in the Horn of Africa.

11 May 2006

Fictional bird flu accounts point to need for emergency preparations - not panic

Highly publicized made for television dramas about fictional outbreaks of Asian Bird Flu highlight point to the need for preparation, not panic, Arizona state officials said.

11 May 2006

Routine screening for chlamydia at colleges essential

College freshmen under the age of 20 at several colleges in the southeastern U.S. were almost 70 percent more likely to test positive for chlamydia than students between 20 and 24 years of age, according to findings by Adelbert James, PhD, MPH, senior associate in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine.

10 May 2006

Scientists unlock more secrets of HIV and SARS

UK scientists have cracked one of the key biological processes used by viruses such as HIV and SARS when they replicate according to a paper published in the journal Nature tomorrow (11 May). Viruses are able to interfere with the host cell processes that our bodies use to replicate cells, and protein synthesis is often one of their targets.

10 May 2006

Drought-induced amplification key to West Nile transmission

The spread of West Nile Virus appears to be triggered by a complex interaction of mosquitoes, nesting birds and specific weather patterns, scientists say, which leads to "amplification" of the virus within mosquito populations.

9 May 2006