Recent News

By Region: South America

New Infectious Diseases like MERS Remains a Major Threat

(Time) About a week and a half ago, I was lucky enough to be walking through San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on a purely perfect northern California summer day. I was thinking what I usually think whenever I visit the Bay Area: “Why don’t I live here?” (The BART transit strike that began the next Read More »

July 10, 2013
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, Biosafety, and Countermeasures
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Cuba’s Secretive Public Health Policies Criticized

(HavanaTimes) An article titled “Secret Epidemics: Cuba’s Public Health Ethics” (“El silencio epidemiológico y la ética de la Salud Pública cubana”) appears in the most recent issue of Cuba’s quarterly Public Health Journal (Revista Cubana de Salud Publica). Written by National School of Medicine physician Luis Suarez Rosas, the work criticizes the Cuban government’s information Read More »

July 8, 2013
| Filed under North America, South America, and International
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WHO To Convene MERS Virus Panel

(TheScientist) The World Health Organization (WHO) will convene an emergency committee on Tuesday (July 9) to determine whether a new coronavirus that is responsible for 42 deaths, mostly in Saudi Arabia, constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern,” according to Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s assistant director-general for Health and Environment, who announced the plan Read More »

July 8, 2013
| Filed under Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, and International
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Dengue raises alarm in Central America

(MedicalExpress) Authorities have issued dengue alerts in four nations across Central America, where alarm is rising as the mosquito-borne disease has infected 30,000 people and killed 17 this year alone. Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador have issued formal alerts. In Guatemala and Panama, officials say they are monitoring the disease, which normally spreads Read More »

July 5, 2013
| Filed under North America, South America, International, and Public Health
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World’s food standard body praised as safety net for consumers

(WHO) As Codex Alimentarius, the world’s top food standard body for consumer protection and fair practices in international food trade, celebrated its 50th anniversary, the FAO and WHO Directors-General and national governments united in their praise for its benefits. “Today, Codex standards are the benchmark standards for food safety. There is no competition,” Dr. Margaret Read More »