Disease

Cholera Outbreak in Ghana

A Cholera outbreak in Ghana has been described as a “complete epidemic” by the Regional Directorate of Health as it appears to be losing the battle against the disease, which has claimed nearly 40 lives since June. The disease is mostly attributed to poor hygienic practices.

Over 3,000 cases have been reported at various health facilities across the region.

TB Outbreak Hits Alabama Prisons

Alabama's prison system, badly overcrowded and facing a lawsuit over medical treatment of inmates, is facing its worst outbreak of tuberculosis in five years, a health official said Thursday.

Medical officials have diagnosed nine active cases of the infectious respiratory disease in state prisons so far this year.

While the number isn't huge, Alabama prisons averaged fewer than five TB cases annually each year since 2009 and didn't have any last year, Barrett said.

"This is a very serious outbreak," she said.

All but one of the cases this year occurred at the St. Clair Correctional Facility, which was designed for 984 men but held 1,292 prisoners at the end of May. Inmates are put on a six-month treatment plan once they are diagnosed.

To prevent the spread of the disease through a prison system packed with more than 25,000 inmates, or nearly twice the designed capacity, St. Clair isn't accepting new inmates or transferring prisoners to other lockups, Barrett said.