Disease

Cholera in Yemen

The country’s Ministry of Public Health and Population is reporting that the number of suspected cholera cases have more than quadrupled in the past two weeks.

According to health officials, a total of 2733 suspected cases and 51 associated deaths have been reported in Ta’iz, Aden, Lahij, Al Hudaydah, Hajjah, Sana’a, Al Bayda, Dhamar and Ibb.

While acute watery diarrheal diseases are endemic in Yemen, the ongoing conflict has stretched the capacity of the national health systems. More than 7.6 million people are currently living in areas affected by the outbreak, as well as more than 3 million internally displaced persons.

Deadly disease outbreak in the US

A frightening “superbug” has emerged in a major outbreak at U.S. hospitals around the country, and authorities are trying to get a handle on the issue. Candida auris, an often-fatal fungus that is resistant to antibiotics, has started popping up at numerous hospitals, prompting warnings from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention this week.

This is the first time that the fungus has been found in the United States, and it has killed four of the first seven patients confirmed to have the disease. Dr. Thomas Frieden, the director of the CDC, is urging officials to act now to stop the spread of the disease, calling it an “emerging threat.”

C. auris was first identified in Japan back in 2009, and has since spread to a handful of countries across the world, and it now appears to have found its way to the United States.