Disease

E. coli outbreak in Belfast, Ireland grows to 124 confirmed cases with a further 166 probable cases.

52 cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF) have now been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to date. Of these, 25 have been fatal.

France and Spain join Italy and Switzerland in halting sales of Novartis flu vaccine.

The tree disease which killed 90% of Danish ash trees has spread to the British countryside. Ash dieback has been found in the wider environment at sites in East Anglia, and there are fears it could wreak the same kind of damage as Dutch elm disease in the Seventies. The Chalara fraxinea fungus, which causes leaf loss and crown dieback and can lead to tree death, wiped out 90 per cent of ash trees in Denmark in seven years.

Disease

The number of U.S. cases of meningitis from tainted injections of a steroid medication has reached 304, with total fatalities in the outbreak at 23.

Italy has banned the sale and use of anti-influenza vaccines produced by Novartis pending tests for possible side effects, prompting authorities in Switzerland to also take precautionary steps.