Disease

E. coli outbreak in Belfast, Ireland grows to 124 confirmed cases with a further 166 probable cases.

52 cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) have now been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to date. Of these, 25 have been fatal.

France and Spain join Italy and Switzerland in halting sales of Novartis flu vaccine.

The tree disease which killed 90% of Danish ash trees has spread to the British countryside. Ash dieback has been found in the wider environment at sites in East Anglia, and there are fears it could wreak the same kind of damage as Dutch elm disease in the Seventies. The Chalara fraxinea fungus, which causes leaf loss and crown dieback and can lead to tree death, wiped out 90 per cent of ash trees in Denmark in seven years.