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Jamaica and Malaria

The Ministry of Health of Jamaica has confirmed 280 cases of malaria due to Plasmodium falciparum on the island between 6 November 2006 and 3 February 2007.

11 Feb 2007

Faith-based organizations play a major role in HIV/AIDS care in Zambia and Lesotho

According to an important study released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) at the National Cathedral in Washington DC, efforts are needed to encourage greater collaboration between public health agencies and faith-based organizations (FBOs), if progress is to be made towards the goal of universal access towards HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.

8 Feb 2007

Link between British and Hungarian bird flu outbreaks now suspected

Scientists in Britain investigating the outbreak of bird flu in a flock of turkeys in Suffolk now say there may be a link with an outbreak in Hungary in January.

8 Feb 2007

Fighting influenza with 40,000 blood samples

Four million people die every year from respiratory diseases such as viral influenza. For elderly people in particular, an infection can be dangerous. What is more, the flu vaccine is not as effective with this risk group as it is with younger people.

7 Feb 2007

Second worker tested for bird flu on British farm

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) in the UK has announced that the vet who became ill after working on the farm where an outbreak of bird flu has occurred, has tested negative for the virus.

7 Feb 2007

Rift Valley Fever crosses into Somalia and Tanzania as Kenyans get tough

The major outbreak of Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in Kenya has now claimed 139 lives and authorities say the highly-contagious disease has spread into neighbouring Tanzania.

7 Feb 2007

Worker involved in British bird flu outbreak undergoing tests for the virus

According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in Britain one of the workers who had been dealing with the bird flu outbreak in Suffolk in England has been admitted to hospital.

7 Feb 2007

Demand for male circumcision increases across Swaziland

Data from two studies conducted in Kenya and Uganda released in December 2006 by NIH indicate that routine male circumcision could reduce a man's HIV infection risk through heterosexual sex by about 50%.

7 Feb 2007

Bush's budget proposal would allocate $5.4 billion for the "President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief"

President Bush on Monday released his $2.8 trillion fiscal year 2008 budget proposal, which would allocate $5.4 billion for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the Wall Street Journal reports.

7 Feb 2007

Washington County records four cases of drug-resistant HIV

Four men in King County, Washington, have been diagnosed with a strain of HIV that is resistant to at least two types of antiretroviral drugs, and health officials on Thursday said they are concerned the strain could spread, the Seattle Times reports.

7 Feb 2007

Chinese authorities prevent HIV/AIDS advocate from coming to U.S.

Chinese HIV/AIDS advocate and retired physician Gao Yaojie last week was put under house arrest by Chinese authorities to prevent her from visiting the U.S. next month to accept an award from the group Vital Voices Global Partnership, the New York Times reports.

7 Feb 2007

UNAIDS to introduce HIV testing guidelines in India that recommend provider-initiated testing

UNAIDS in March plans to introduce new HIV testing guidelines in India that recommend health care providers initiate testing and counseling, the Hindustan Times reports.

7 Feb 2007

Gambian President claims three day HIV/AIDS cure

Leading South African HIV/AIDS experts are shocked and dismayed by a claim by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh that he can cure AIDS in three days.

6 Feb 2007

British experts baffled by bird flu outbreak

Although more than 150,000 turkeys have been slaughtered at a farm in Suffolk in England in order to curb the spread of the deadly bird flu virus, officials remain baffled as to the source of the outbreak.

5 Feb 2007

Hurricane style warning system will help U.S. cope with a bird flu pandemic

The plan is an early-warning ranking system similar to that deployed at times of hurricanes and is intended to protect and mobilize the country against a flu pandemic.

4 Feb 2007

Brits on high alert as bird flu kills thousands of turkeys

British health officials have confirmed that the avian flu virus which killed 2,600 turkeys at a farm in Lowestoft, Suffolk was indeed the H5N1 virus.

4 Feb 2007

Scientists change bird flu virus and stop it spreading

Scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have found that just two small changes in the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic stopped it from jumping between mammals in the laboratory.

4 Feb 2007

Indonesia comes up with bird flu vaccine

The head of Indonesia's national committee on avian influenza has announced that scientists there have developed a bird flu vaccine for humans.

1 Feb 2007

UK scientists reverse symptoms of mad cow disease

The researchers at University College, London, believe they have found a way to treat the disease in humans as long as it is detected before it has done harm to a large number of brain cells.

1 Feb 2007

Nigeria confirms avian influenza infection in woman from Lagos

The government of Nigeria has announced the death from suspected avian influenza infection in a 22-year-old female from Lagos. She died on 16 January 2007.

31 Jan 2007