Recent News

By Region: South America

Dengue Fever Outbreak Kills 16, Causes State of Emergency in Honduras

(MedicalDaily) Honduras declared a state of emergency after a dengue fever outbreak left 16 people dead. To this point, 12,000 people have been diagnosed with the disease. Officials said that the mosquito-borne illness has also caused more than 1,800 patients to be at risk of internal bleeding and death, according to the BBC. Health Minister Read More »

August 1, 2013
| Filed under North America, South America, and International
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Dengue outbreak has killed 26 in Central America: officials

(MENAFN) An unusually potent outbreak of dengue fever has killed 26 people and infected nearly 40,000 more so far this year in Central America, where the mosquito-born illness is endemic. Honduras has seen the most fatalities, with 15, followed by Nicaragua, with five. The highest number of infections has been recorded in Costa Rica, with Read More »

July 29, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, South America, International, and Public Health
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Study examines characteristics, features of West Nile virus outbreaks

(EurekAlert) An analysis of West Nile virus epidemics in Dallas County in 2012 and previous years finds that the epidemics begin early, after unusually warm winters; are often in similar geographical locations; and are predicted by the mosquito vector index (an estimate of the average number of West Nile virus-infected mosquitoes collected per trap-night), information Read More »

July 18, 2013
| Filed under North America, South America, Public Health, and Research
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Research leads to affordable technology to fight mosquito-borne diseases

(EurekAlert) Technology that hampers mosquitoes’ host-seeking behavior, identified at the University of California, Riverside in 2011, has led to the development of the world’s first product that blocks mosquitoes’ ability to efficiently detect carbon dioxide, their primary method of tracking human blood meals. The initial research was performed in the laboratory of Anandasankar Ray, an Read More »

July 17, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, South America, South Asia, Countermeasures, and Research
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H7N9 influenza strain resistant to antivirals, but tests fail to identify resistance

(EurekAlert)Some strains of the avian H7N9 influenza that emerged in China this year have developed resistance to the only antiviral drugs available to treat the infection, but testing for antiviral resistance can give misleading results, helping hasten the spread of resistant strains. The authors of a study published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of Read More »