Recent News

By Category: Public Health

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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Previously uncontacted Peruvian Indians ‘could carry flu back to tribe’

(The Telegraph) Seven members of a previously uncontacted Peruvian Amazonian tribe had to be treated for the flu after fleeing into Brazil to escape violent attacks, raising fears that the virus could spread to their isolated community.

July 28, 2014
| Filed under South America, Countermeasures, International, and Public Health
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China bubonic plague death: Town of 30,000 placed in quarantine after man dies sparking ‘Black Death’ outbreak fears

(The Independent) An entire Chinese town of 30,000 people has been quarantined off from the rest of the country after a man living in a nearby village died from bubonic plague. Police have now had the old town of Yumen city in Gansu province sealed off for more than a week, the Xinhua state media Read More »

July 23, 2014
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, 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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The human parasite Leishmania is a probiotic for the fly that carries it

(AAAS EurekAlert) The Leishmania parasite, which causes the human disease leishmaniasis, acts as a probiotic in the insect that transmits it to humans, protecting them from bacterial disease. Findings published in the open access journal Parasites and Vectors suggest that using bacterial controls to stop the spread of leishmaniasis could sometimes have the opposite effect Read More »