Recent News

By Region: Middle East

Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Egypt and northern Africa

(FAO) Since issuing an emergency alert on 22 March about the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in Egypt and Libya, FAO has been engaging countries throughout the region to provide support in preventing the spread of FMD. According to FAO analysis of formal and informal trade movements, the outbreaks in eastern Libya in the Benghazi area Read More »

April 20, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Middle East, and Agriculture
Share

The trouble with American military laboratories

(Democracy & Freedom Watch) TBILISI – A new U.S. financed biological laboratory opened in March 2011 near Tbilisi. It will have American military researchers working there. Is it a problem? According to the website of the Central Public Health Reference Laboratory, it “will belong to an international network of infectious disease surveillance laboratories whose mission Read More »

April 19, 2012
| Filed under Europe, Middle East, North America, Biological Weapons, Biosafety, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
Share

Penniless Bulgaria to Give Up Building Turkish Border FMD Fence

(Novinite.com) Bulgaria’s government will reverse its decision to build a fence along its border with Turkey, a measure which was supposed to tackle the infiltration of foot-and-mouth disease-infected animals. This has been announced Tuesday night by the press service of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers, ahead of the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet on Read More »

April 18, 2012
| Filed under Europe, Middle East, Agriculture, International, and Policy & Initiatives
Share

Russia’s Emerging Global Health Leadership

(Center for Strategic and International Studies) After nearly a decade of dipping its toes in the waters of international development assistance (IDA), Russia appears ready in 2012 to reconfigure its institutional apparatus for global aid—perhaps as a prelude to emergence as a more serious presence and partner on the IDA landscape.

April 10, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, International, and Public Health
Share

Warming climate reveals links to infectious disease

(The Daily Climate) He predicts temperatures and rainfall will have an “overwhelming” effect on tick-borne disease. Strong winds could spread anthrax. West Nile virus is susceptible to changes in temperature and rainfall. Baylis noted that outbreaks of these diseases have not been common. In a 2008 study of 335 human disease outbreaks between 1940 and Read More »