Disease

Ebola - US Ebola Workers Being Moved Home

Ten health care workers with a Boston-based nonprofit organization responding to Sierra Leone's Ebola outbreak are to be evacuated to the United States after one of their colleagues was infected with the deadly disease.

Partners in Health said in a statement Saturday that the 10, the largest group to be evacuated to the United States over possible Ebola exposure, would travel on noncommercial aircraft and be isolated in Ebola treatment facilities.

Biggest U.S. Bird Flu Outbreak Prompts Precautions by Producers

The biggest U.S. outbreak of avian influenza has poultry producers tightening security procedures to avoid trade disruptions.

China halted U.S. poultry imports in January, while Mexico, the European Union and other trade partners have stopped buying the meat from Minnesota, Missouri and Arkansas, where outbreaks of the disease have been reported. Tyson Foods Inc. and Sanderson Farms Inc. are reinforcing precautions.

Feared plant disease found on Australian banana farm

An outbreak of a feared disease affecting banana plants has been confirmed on an Australian farm, raising worries over the outlook for the country's A$550 million ($420 million) industry.

The so-called Tropical Race 4 strain of Panama disease was confirmed at a farm in Tully in the country's northeast after tests last week.

Panama disease hits banana plant roots, with Race 4 considered particularly destructive.

Panama disease can have a significant impact on production. Banana plantations in Central and South America were destroyed by an outbreak in the 1950s.

Australia also has a history with Panama Disease TR4, which was detected in the Northern Territory in 1997, nearly destroying the commercial banana industry there.