Disease/Infection News

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One week after Katrina and many still without clean water as disease spreads

According to health officials, people still stranded by Hurricane Katrina face a serious risk of dysentery and other diseases from contaminated water, and there have already been reports of an outbreak of dysentery in Biloxi, Mississippi.

5 Sep 2005

Greater public awareness needed after death of woman from rabies

Scientists in the UK who have been looking into the death of a British woman from rabies are now demanding greater public awareness of the very real dangers posed by the infection.

5 Sep 2005

South Sudan in the grip of an HIV/AIDS epidemic

According to a United Nations report, Southern Sudan is in the midst of an HIV/AIDS epidemic and most of its people are without clean water, sanitation or education services.

5 Sep 2005

GenoMed has announced that it successfully treated its thirteenth patient with presumed West Nile virus encephalitis

The patient is a previously healthy man from Aberdeen, South Dakota who developed fever and headache and was diagnosed by his physician as having West Nile virus on Monday of this week. South Dakota has about 50 times higher incidence of West Nile virus this summer than California.

1 Sep 2005

Deadly health crisis imminent in New Orleans

In New Orleans, as a result of hurricane Katrina, health specialists are predicting a vast and potentially deadly crisis for residents.

1 Sep 2005

New strategies to fight the most dangerous infectious disease

It has been identified by the World Health Organization as the most dangerous infectious disease, causing more deaths -- more than 2 million a year -- than any other single infection. Approximately one-third of the world's population is already infected.

31 Aug 2005

U.S. to toughen mad cow safeguards after case in Texas

The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) has now formally closed its investigation of the first native U.S. case of mad cow disease, in June this year.

31 Aug 2005

Tourists to India need vaccination against Japanese encephalitis

Doctors in India are advising tourists to seek appropriate vaccination against Japanese encephalitis before visiting the country.

31 Aug 2005

West Nile virus hits Toronto - two deaths reported

Health officials in Canada have reported that there have been two deaths related to the West Nile Virus, the first for three years in Canada's largest city, Toronto.

31 Aug 2005

Data show that HIV-infected older people not taking HAART have double the risk of death

HIV is often regarded as a disease of young people, due to its status as a drug-related or sexually transmitted disease. However, the number of people over age 50 who are infected with HIV is significant--and growing--according to an article in the Sept. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

30 Aug 2005

A far wider range of wildlife species could be at risk from bird flu

Dr Diana Bell, of UEA's School of Biological Sciences, says the discovery that avian flu was responsible for the death of three rare civet cats in Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam, raises important questions about the range of wildlife species which could now be at risk from this virus.

30 Aug 2005

Good old fashioned soap and water the answer for "superbug"

Superbugs are bacteria that have mutated to become resistant to common antibiotics which are no longer any use against them.

30 Aug 2005

Indonesia to immunize 24 million children

To combat Indonesia's largest recorded polio epidemic, which now threatens a broad swath of countries across Asia, on 30 August, 24 million children will be immunized during the country's largest-ever mass immunization campaign.

29 Aug 2005

Tuberculosis emergency in Africa

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), African health ministers have declared a tuberculosis emergency to order to rally greater political commitment in the fight against one of the continent's top killers.

29 Aug 2005

Over 200 dead as Japanese encephalitis spreads further in India

The outbreak of Japanese encephalitis has now spread further in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

29 Aug 2005

Previously unknown family of plague virulence factors identified

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have identified a previously unknown family of virulence factors that make the bacterium responsible for the plague especially efficient at killing its host.

28 Aug 2005

Compound might defeat African sleeping

One of the most devastating diseases in sub-Saharan Africa almost disappeared in the late 1950s.

26 Aug 2005

Austrian authorities find mad cow disease in Slovenian cattle

The health ministry says a case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), was found in a Slovenian animal that had been brought to the southern city of Graz to be slaughtered, but says there is no risk to consumers.

25 Aug 2005

Children are worst hit as India's encephalitis toll reaches 175

Reports say the number of deaths from an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis in India's Uttar Pradesh state has now risen to at least 175.

25 Aug 2005

Better late than never - Hong Kong and China improve communications on disease issues

A run of food scares in Hong Kong in recent weeks has seen the population frightened to eat pork because of swine flu and eels, and now fish, because of a carcinogenic chemical, plus the ever present worry of bird flu, all of which have emanated from China.

24 Aug 2005