Disease

Legionnaires Disease - North Carolina, USA

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has announced an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease potentially linked to the Mountain State Fair in North Carolina. As of today, there are 32 confirmed illnesses and one person has died.

Dengue Fever - Central America

In Honduras, more than 71,200 people have been affected by the disease making it the worst outbreak in the country’s history. Nearly one quarter of the cases reported were classified as severe dengue and more than 65 percent of the 128 deaths so far are children under 15. Guatemala (22,755), Nicaragua (91,269), and El Salvador (16,573) are also reporting massive increases in dengue cases compared to previous years.

The size of this outbreak is unprecedented across Central America. Dengue is a disease that affects the most vulnerable–those who live in places where there is poor sanitation and where mosquitoes thrive. A combination of seasonal rains and warming temperatures are being blamed for dengue’s rapid spread–creating more stagnant pools that are perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Ebola - DR Congo

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continues this week with 29 new confirmed cases reported in North Kivu and Ituri provinces from 18-24 September 2019, versus 57 in the previous week.