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By Category: Public Health

Guinea Worm Moves Toward Eradication

(NPR) The world has eradicated just one human disease: smallpox. But another illness is getting tantalizingly close to elimination. No, we’re not talking about polio; that virus also has its back against a wall. But a report Thursday puts a parasitic worm ahead of polio in the race to extinction. The world recorded just 89 Read More »

October 25, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, International, and Public Health
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Fighting a Deadly Dengue Fever Outbreak in Honduras

(DoctorsWithoutBorders) An epidemic of hemorrhagic dengue fever is spreading through San Pedro Sula, Honduras’s second largest city, with more than three times as many cases as last year. This form of dengue can be deadly, with children most at risk. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have launched an emergency response to bring down Read More »

October 25, 2013
| Filed under North America, South America, Countermeasures, International, and Public Health
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Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – update

(WorldHealthOrganization) WHO has been informed of two laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in Saudi Arabia on 18 and 19 October 2013, and three laboratory-confirmed cases in 18 September 2013. Of the five laboratory-confirmed cases, two died. The ages of the five patients range from 35 to 83 years old; four Read More »

October 24, 2013
| Filed under Middle East, North America, International, and Public Health
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Polio Vaccination Campaign Launched in Eastern Equatoria

(VoiceofAmerica) Health officials in South Sudan have launched an emergency campaign to vaccinate 700,000 children under the age of 15 in Equatoria state against polio by the end of the week after a child in the state was diagnosed with the crippling and potentially deadly disease last month. The national Ministry of Health has also Read More »

October 24, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Dengue Fever Has Been in Houston For Years — You May Commence Panicking

(HoustonPress) Just in case you needed a new reason to fear for your life, a Baylor College of Medicine scientist has co-authored a new study showing that a fatal strain of mosquito-carryin’ dengue fever has been in Houston for years. High-five! “There was dengue circulating, and we had no idea that it was here because Read More »