Cholera News and Research

Latest Cholera News and Research

Government, humanitarian agencies respond to flooding in Philippines, warn of disease threat

"Philippine authorities are warning of the spread of diseases in cramped evacuation centers, days after flash floods hit the southern Philippines and claimed more than a thousand lives," ABC/Asia Pacific News reports, noting that flooding also has affected the country's northern provinces, displacing at least 50,000 people.

22 Dec 2011

Cholera education campaign launched in Somali capital

Health ministry officials on Friday launched a cholera education campaign in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, "which aims to educate at least one person in every household on preventing the disease and what to do when symptoms occur," Agence France-Presse reports.

21 Dec 2011

Paul Farmer discusses equity in international health with Scientific American

In this Scientific American "60-Second Health" podcast, journalist Katherine Harmon interviews Paul Farmer, a Harvard professor and co-founder of the non-profit Partners in Health, who is "famous for his health work in Haiti."

15 Dec 2011

TIME examines lawsuit against U.N. alleging responsibility for cholera outbreak

"The question of who is responsible for Haiti's cholera epidemic -- the first that the Caribbean nation, the western hemisphere's poorest, has seen in a century -- has raised tempers since the first case was detected in October 2010," TIME reports in an article examining a lawsuit filed against the U.N. claiming it is responsible for bringing the disease into the country and seeking damages for cholera victims and their families.

15 Dec 2011

Study to establish zebrafish as functional animal model for V. cholerae

A small fish may prove useful to understanding a worldwide health problem, if a Wayne State University researcher is correct.

13 Dec 2011

U.N. seeks aid money for Zimbabwe, half for food; WHO says country must spend more on health

"The United Nations said on Friday it was seeking $268 million for aid efforts in Zimbabwe next year, with half the money to be used to buy food for more than 1.4 million people facing shortages" in 2012, Reuters reports.

13 Dec 2011

Fatal snakebites 'vastly underreported,' researchers report at annual ASTMH meeting

"Fatal snakebites worldwide have been vastly underreported because many die before seeking or reaching medical care, researchers" from the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, Germany, reported on Monday at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's (ASTMH) annual meeting, UPI.com writes.

8 Dec 2011

MSF addresses Cameroon cholera epidemic

This post on Medecins Sans Frontiere's (MSF) website describes the humanitarian organization's activities in Cameroon to address a 14-month-long cholera epidemic.

30 Nov 2011

Balanced approach needed to fight cholera outbreaks in Haiti

Jason Nickerson, a respiratory therapist and doctoral candidate in Population Health at the University of Ottawa, in this Global Health Hub post, recounts recent controversy surrounding "the health and humanitarian response to the earthquake and cholera outbreaks" in Haiti, noting tension "between the provision of [a cholera] vaccine as opposed to spending the money on improvements to water and sanitation" in the country.

23 Nov 2011

U.N. appeals for $5.5M to fight cholera in DRC

The U.N. and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to fight an outbreak of cholera that has infected more than 17,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) need an additional $5.5 million to help their efforts.

21 Nov 2011

U.S., U.N. food agencies downgrade three Somalia famine zones to emergency status

U.S. and U.N. food agencies on Friday said three famine zones in Somalia had been downgraded to emergency status, as aid had reduced death rates, but "three other areas -- including the refugee communities of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu -- remain in the famine zone," the Associated Press/CBSNews reports.

19 Nov 2011

UVA develops new and faster method to track superbugs

University of Virginia Health System researchers are the first in the world to develop a new and faster method to track major infection-causing "superbugs" - a major key in preventing the spread of deadly infections.

19 Nov 2011

Doctors, aid workers warn of disease threats to displaced persons in Somalia

Inter Press Service examines how doctors and aid workers in and around Mogadishu, Somalia, "are warning that famine victims in internally displaced camps have become vulnerable to contagious diseases like cholera and measles, as conditions here are ripe for an outbreak."

18 Nov 2011

Health officials report more than 200 cases of typhoid in Zimbabwe's capital

"Health authorities say 207 cases of typhoid are being treated in Zimbabwe's capital after a prolonged spell of unusually hot weather amid acute water shortages," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports. Prosper Chonzi, Harare city council health director, "said Tuesday the disease will be difficult to contain in impoverished townships relying on water from shallow, makeshift wells and marshlands," and that "humanitarian agencies have been asked to help provide clean water," the news service writes.

17 Nov 2011

Cholera outbreak hits Kenya's largest refugee camp

"Cholera has broken out in the world's largest refugee camp in Kenya, home to nearly 500,000 Somali refugees, the United Nations said on Tuesday," Reuters reports.

17 Nov 2011

Health of millions of children in East Asia, Pacific at risk due to climate change, UNICEF report says

"Climate change is expected to worsen the plight of millions of children in East Asia and the Pacific who already lack food and clean water and are vulnerable to disease, ... UNICEF said Monday ... in its report 'Children's vulnerabilities to climate change and disaster impacts in East Asia and the Pacific,'" AlertNet reports.

16 Nov 2011

Some public health experts raise concerns over plans to immunize Haitians against cholera, AP reports

The Associated Press/Washington Times reports on a pilot project plan by Partners In Health (PIH) and GHESKIO to vaccinate Haitians against cholera, which "has set off a debate among some public health experts who question the wisdom of the program that will inoculate only one percent of the population and could deplete the world's stock of available cholera vaccine, potentially putting people at risk in other vulnerable places."

16 Nov 2011

IVI receives WHO prequalification for new oral cholera vaccine

Shanchol-, a new oral cholera vaccine developed through the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), an international organization established by the United Nations and based in Seoul, recently received prequalification from the World Health Organization.

13 Nov 2011

Rights group files claim with U.N. seeking reparations for Haitians affected by cholera

The Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti on Tuesday "filed claims with the United Nations seeking damages on behalf of more than 5,000 Haitian cholera victims and their families," the Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle reports.

10 Nov 2011

New York Times reports on Cuba's role in Haiti's fight against cholera

One year after cholera was detected in Haiti, the New York Times reports on how, "[a]s the epidemic continues, the Cuban medical mission that played an important role in detecting it presses on in Haiti, winning accolades from donors and diplomats for staying on the front lines and undertaking a broader effort to remake this country's shattered health care system."

9 Nov 2011