Communicable Diseases

GHealth News - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging travelers to practice enhanced precautions when going to places such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Madagascar and Indonesia due to the circulating poliovirus.  The agency identified 31 countries where travelers are at high risk for the disease in a recently updated advisory.  The virus was eradicated in the western hemisphere in 1994 but exists in some polio-endemic countries, and it has been detected in other places worldwide.  The following destinations have circulating poliovirus, according to the CDC: Afghanistan Algeria Benin Botswana Burundi Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Côte d'Ivoire Democratic Republic of the Congo Djibouti Eg...

“Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement”  GHealth News - World Malaria Day 2023 will be marked under the theme “Time to deliver zero malaria: invest, innovate, implement”. At WHO, we’re focused on raising awareness about the need to “implement” the tools and strategies we have available today to reach those who continue to be unreached across the Western Pacific.  The Region faces challenges on the road to malaria elimination. In particular, the epidemiology of malaria exhibits enormous diversity, with the disease often concentrated in remote areas and/or among highly mobile or hard-to-reach populations, including forest goers, migrants, indigenous people, military and refugees. More than 70% of malaria deaths in the Region are attributable to Plasmodium ...

GHealth News - The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending personnel to Africa to help stop outbreaks of Marburg virus disease and is urging travelers to certain countries to take precautions. The CDC is also taking steps to keep infections from spreading to the United States. Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania are facing their first known outbreaks of Marburg virus, a viral fever with uncontrolled bleeding that’s a close cousin to Ebola. This week, the CDC urged travelers to both countries to avoid contact with sick people and to watch for symptoms for three weeks after leaving the area. Travelers to Equatorial Guinea should take enhanced precautions and avoid nonessential travel to the provinces where the outbreak is ongoing, the agency said. In the United States, the ...

By Harriet Barber Marburg virus disease is an often fatal illness which causes hemorrhagic fever in humans.  It is closely related to Ebola and is typically spread by bats, which provide a natural reservoir for the virus.  Once in human populations, Marburg is spread person-to-person via droplets of blood, saliva, mucus and other bodily fluids. The average fatality rate is around 50 per cent, with rates varying from 24 per cent to 88 per cent in past outbreaks depending on the strain of the virus and quality of  medical care. There is currently no vaccine for the virus.  What is the history of Marburg? Marburg was first recognised in 1967, when outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever occurred simultaneously in laboratories in Marburg and Frank...

By Knvul Sheikh Three different viruses are sending children and adults to hospital emergency rooms across the United States this winter. Not only is the coronavirus making a comeback because of new immune-evasive variants, but influenza and the respiratory syncytial virus are also spreading earlier than usual and at record rates. Most people were able to avoid the flu and other infections like R.S.V. for the past few years while the coronavirus was new and a large portion of the population was taking steps to slow the spread of Covid, which also slowed the spread of other viruses. Our immunity to these viruses may have waned in that duration, and many children born during the pandemic never gained any immunity at all. As a result, more people are vulnerable to common winter...

 GHealth News - The U.S. health regulator on Tuesday issued an emergency use authorization to Roche's (ROG.S) test for the detection of DNA from monkeypox virus in swab specimens collected from people suspected of the virus infection. The tests will be conducted on the Swiss company's cobas systems, which can also detect HIV, hepatitis B and C viruses. The Food and Drug Administration said testing will be limited to laboratories that meet the requirements to perform moderate or high complexity tests. While around 80,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in nearly 100 countries since the outbreak started earlier this year, the number of cases have declined from the peak in August. Over 28,000 cases have been reported in the United States in the outbreak this...

By: Jessica Rendall Parents of younger children may be feeling uneasy, as reports of young RSV patients filling hospitals have marked October and November this year. Respiratory syncytial virus is a common virus, but it can be serious in younger children and babies, as well as some adults. Respiratory viruses like COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus often spread and peak during winter, when people travel for the holidays and spend more time indoors and breathing the same air. We've already been warned that we are likely in for a rough flu season this year, as public health measures like mask-wearing are phased out after a few years of COVID-19 precautions. But RSV has become an additional concern, as infection waves started earlier than normal and f...

GHealth News - The CDC issued its highest-level warning to public health officials regarding the surge of respiratory viruses, particularly among children, that are overwhelming some health systems across the nation.  “We suspect that many children are being exposed to some respiratory viruses now for the first time, having avoided these viruses during the height of the pandemic,” said Jose Romero, MD, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, on a media call Friday. “Currently, the United States is experiencing a resurgence in the circulation of non-COVID 19 respiratory viruses.” In addition to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the flu, the warning mentioned rhinovirus and enterovirus. These viruses can worsen asthma symptoms and ...

By Anne Soy An outbreak of Ebola in Uganda is proving more difficult to deal with than more recent epidemics, but the president has rejected calls for a lockdown. So far 31 cases have been confirmed, though it is feared that there could be many more. What is Ebola? It is a deadly virus with initial symptoms which can include a sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain and a sore throat. Subsequent stages can include vomiting, diarrhoea and - in some cases - both internal and external bleeding, known as haemorrhaging. The incubation period can last from two days to three weeks. Ebola can be associated with other illnesses such as malaria and typhoid. Why is this outbreak so serious? The fact that it was three weeks before the first case was detected on 20 Septe...

A multipronged international effort has begun to pull out all the stops to launch trials of experimental Ebola vaccines in Uganda, which declared an outbreak of the deadly disease on 20 September. According to the most recent World Health Organization (WHO) update, Uganda has had 18 confirmed and 18 suspected cases of Ebola, including 23 deaths—an unusually high case fatality rate of 64%. A trial of a vaccine candidate that’s farthest along in development could launch before the end of next month. Proven vaccines exist for Zaire ebolavirus, which has led to a dozen outbreaks in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and was responsible for the massive Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014. But those vaccines cannot control this outbreak because it’s being driven by a dis...