Recent News

By Region: Africa

Paving the way for drug and vaccine development with first controlled malaria infection trial in Africa

(Medical News Today) The innovative PfSPZ Challenge is key to success for speedier testing of new malaria vaccine and drugs. An international research team reports the first-ever clinical trial demonstrating controlled malaria infection in an African nation in the modern era. The study, published online in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (AJTMH) Read More »

July 30, 2014
| Filed under Africa, Agents & Toxins, Biotechnology, International, Public Health, and Research
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West African countries announce new measures to stop Ebola spread

(The Guardian) Authorities across west Africa have announced a series of measures aimed at stopping the spread of the Ebola virus, which reached a fourth country last week with a death in Lagos, Africa’s most populous city. Nigeria closed and quarantined the hospital where a man died on Friday in the country’s first recorded case Read More »

July 30, 2014
| Filed under Africa, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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First case of ebola reported in Africa’s most populous city Lagos

(The Guardian) A man has died of ebola in Lagos, the first confirmed case of the highly contagious and deadly virus in Africa’s most populous metropolis. Patrick Sawyer, a 40-year-old Liberian civil servant, collapsed on arrival in Nigeria’s main airport on Sunday, health officials said. His condition rapidly deteriorated before he died, said Abdulsalami Nasidi, Read More »

July 28, 2014
| Filed under Africa, Agents & Toxins, International, and Public Health
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West Africa Ebola outbreak total tops 1,000

(University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy) As 67 new Ebola virus disease (EVD) illnesses in Sierra Leone and Liberia pushed the outbreak total to 1,048 cases, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned about the risk of virus transmission from wildlife, especially fruit bats. Along with new infections, 19 Read More »

July 23, 2014
| Filed under Africa, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, International, and Public Health
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FAO warns of fruit bat risk in West African Ebola epidemic

(FAO) Increased efforts are needed to improve awareness among rural communities in West Africa about the risks of contracting the Ebola virus from eating certain wildlife species including fruit bats, FAO warned today. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are struggling to contain the world’s deadliest recorded outbreak of the virus, which is transmitted by direct Read More »