Disease

Ebola - DR Congo - Update

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Ministry of Health (MOH) recorded 13 more new cases of Ebola bringing the cumulative number of cases is 386. Of this total, 339 are confirmed and 47 are probable. In total, there were 219 deaths (172 confirmed and 47 probable).

Measles - Colombia

A measles outbreak in Colombia has prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a travel notice last week. Between March and October this year, Colombia has reported 129 confirmed measles cases. Of the 129 confirmed cases, 45 were imported, 75 were import-related (25 cases of secondary transmission among persons coming from Venezuela).

Global Malaria Cases Plateau

Reductions in malaria cases have stalled after several years of decline globally, according to a new World malaria report. For the second consecutive year, the annual report produced by WHO reveals a plateauing in numbers of people affected by malaria: in 2017, there were an estimated 219 million cases of malaria, compared to 217 million the year before. But in the years prior, the number of people contracting malaria globally had been steadily falling, from 239 million in 2010 to 214 million in 2015.

In 2017, approximately 70% of all malaria cases (151 million) and deaths (274 000) were concentrated in 11 countries: 10 in Africa (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda and United Republic of Tanzania) and India. There were 3.5 million more malaria cases reported in these 10 African countries in 2017 compared to the previous year, while India, however, showed progress in reducing its disease burden.