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By Category: Public Health

Kuwait Reports First MERS-coronavirus Cases

(VoiceofAmerica) Kuwait reported its first two cases of the deadly MERS coronavirus on Wednesday, the fifth Gulf Arab country where the strain has emerged since the outbreak began in neighboring Saudi Arabia last year. A 47-year-old man is in a critical condition, Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA said, citing a statement from the Health Ministry. Read More »

November 14, 2013
| Filed under Middle East, North America, International, and Public Health
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20 Million in Mideast to Get Polio Vaccine

(TheNewYorkTimes) Health officials will try to get polio vaccines to more than 20 million children across the Middle East to contain a major outbreak there, the World Health Organization and Unicef announced last week. The region was polio-free for 10 years, until a Pakistani strain was detected in sewers in Egypt in January. It has Read More »

November 13, 2013
| Filed under Countermeasures, International, and Public Health
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Polio virus strain in Syria confirmed as being from Pakistan, WHO said

(FoxNews) Polio that has crippled at least 13 children in Syria has been confirmed as being caused by a strain of the virus that originated in Pakistan and is spreading across the Middle East, the World Health Organization said. Genetic sequencing shows the strain found in Syrian children in Deir al-Zor, where an outbreak was Read More »

November 13, 2013
| Filed under Middle East, North America, International, and Public Health
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Typhoon Corpses Horrifying But Not a Disease Threat

(ABCNews) Corpses are lying where they died in areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, bloating and decomposing because no one is available to remove them. The sight may be horrifying, but for years people have assumed that they cause disease – a fact doctors say is simply not true. Although infectious diseases like smallpox used to Read More »

November 12, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, North America, International, and Public Health
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NIH Scientists Develop Candidate Vaccine for RSV

(GlobalBiodefense) An experimental vaccine to protect against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a leading cause of illness and hospitalization among very young children, elicited high levels of RSV-specific antibodies when tested in animals, according to a recent report in the published in the journal Science. Early-stage human clinical trials of the candidate vaccine are planned.