Disease

Zimbabwe suspect typhoid cases top 2000

In the past two-plus months, Zimbabwe has seen an outbreak of typhoid fever that has resulted in more than 2200 suspected cases and at least nine deaths, according to local media. According to Health and Child Care minister David Parirenyetwa, three out of every four cases have been reported in the capital city of Harare.

Central African Republic declares end of cholera and monkeypox outbreaks

On Wednesday, The Minister of Public Health and Population in the Central African Republic (CAR), Fernande Ndjengbot announced the end of the epidemics of cholera and monkeypox in the country. According to the Minister, these two epidemics were mitigated in time after the notification of the last cases registered in September 2016.

The cholera epidemic was declared on August 10, 2016 in the district of Djoukou, Zawara and in the city of Bangui of which 266 cases were registered and 21 deaths. The monkeypox outbreak was declared on 22 September 2016 at Dalakere village, Réou 4 and 5 in the sub-prefecture of Mingala in Lower Kotto, of which 19 cases were recorded.

France Begins Operation to Cull Up to 1M Ducks

French authorities on Thursday began an operation that could see up to 1 million ducks culled from the country’s main foie gras-producing region in an attempt to contain an outbreak of a dangerous bird flu strain. Duck farmers in southwestern France will kill the birds to stem the tide of an outbreak of the H5N8 virus that has been detected in at least 13 other European countries since October. French authorities and duck farmers have engaged in several culls in the past month, but until now those culls have only taken place on farms with infected birds. The cull will affect free-range ducks that may have come in contact with wild birds carrying the virus.

While the virus is extremely harmful to birds, it doesn’t transmit through food and has not been found to affect humans.