Category: Featured Headlines
Number of confirmed Ebola cases in Uganda rises to nine
Reuters The number of confirmed Ebola cases in Uganda has risen to nine from three, the country’s health ministry said. The East African country declared an outbreak of the severe, often-fatal viral infection late last month. The latest outbreak is being driven by the Sudan strain of the virus, for which there is no approved vaccine. Uganda’s […]
Feb 11, 2025
New version of bird flu infects Nevada dairy worker
Washington Post This version of the virus is circulating broadly in wild birds and is different from the virus that has been causing dairy cow outbreaks since early 2024, the CDC said. A Nevada dairy worker was infected with a version of bird flu that is known to have killed one person in the United States and severely […]
Feb 11, 2025
In the wake of its outbreak, Rwanda is examining its Marburg survivors
Devex Rwanda is studying the survivors of its recent Marburg outbreak to better understand how they survived. Rwanda swiftly brought its recent outbreak of Marburg to a close at the end of December. The government’s response — which took less than three months — was seen as a blueprint on how to efficiently control an […]
Feb 5, 2025
Uganda: 25 contacts of Ebola patients traced in Jinja city
The Independent The Senior Health Educator of Jinja City, Sayyid Kalume, has confirmed that 25 contacts of the two Ebola patients identified last week have been traced. The majority of these contacts are family members and neighbors of the patients, who were isolated after testing positive for the Ebola virus. The two patients—a child and […]
Feb 5, 2025
Africa CDC Strengthens Support to Ebola Response in the Democratic Republic of Congo
African Union The African Union Commission, through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), is reinforcing its support to the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa, following the declaration of the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Immediately after the declaration by WHO on […]
Feb 4, 2025
Push to curb Tanzania’s Marburg outbreak
Nature Treatment centres, mobile laboratories to support national response teams. An effort to curb Tanzania’s second outbreak of Marburg virus disease in almost two years includes enhanced case detection, treatment centres, and a mobile laboratory in the northwestern Kagera region. The virus that causes Marburg, which is similar to Ebola, is highly virulent, with a […]
Feb 4, 2025
Tuberculosis Outbreak, Highly Pathogenic Bird Flu Strain and Polar Bear Hair
Scientific American Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Hope your February is off to a great start. Let’s kick off the week by catching up on all the science news you might have missed. First, a quick note on some presidential moves that might impact health and science. Robert F. Kennedy […]
Feb 4, 2025
Will bird flu spark a human pandemic? Scientists say the risk is rising
Nature H5N1 is adapting to new mammalian hosts, raising the possibility of the virus spreading between humans. Ten months on from the shocking discovery that a virus usually carried by wild birds can readily infect cows, at least 68 people in North America have become ill from the pathogen and one person has died. Although many […]
Feb 4, 2025
Could the Bird Flu Become Airborne?
NYT Scientists were slow to recognize that Covid spreads through the air. Some are now trying to get ahead of the bird flu. In early February 2020, China locked down more than 50 million people, hoping to hinder the spread of a new coronavirus. No one knew at the time exactly how it was spreading, but Lidia […]
Feb 4, 2025
Uganda begins Ebola vaccine trial after new outbreak
BBC Uganda has launched a trial of a vaccine against the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, following an outbreak in the country that has killed one person and infected two others. The first patient, a 32-year-old male nurse, died last week. On Monday, the initial participant in the trial, who is currently in isolation, […]
Feb 4, 2025