Disease

Measles Outbreak in London

Public Health England (PHE) is urging people to make sure they are up-to-date with the Measles Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine and to be aware of the symptoms of measles due to an increase in confirmed cases over the last few weeks.

The warning comes after 20 cases of measles were reported with 12 being in London and the east of England, three cases in Cambridge, two in Essex and three in Hertfordshire.

There were 91 cases in England the whole of last year in comparison.

It was mainly diagnosed in adolescents and young adults who had not been vaccinated. Many of which have been admitted to hospital.

Disease

Measles outbreaks in NIgeria

The Lagos State Government confirmed on 22 February that measles was responsible for an outbreak of Febrile Rash Illness (FRI) in southwestern Nigeria. The outbreak began in January 2016 and resulted in the deaths of over 20 children in the Ikate, Lekke area of Lagos. A second outbreak, responsible for 23 deaths and over 300 cases, was reported on February 25 in the state of Sokoto, in the north of the country.

Yellow Fever in Angola - Update

Since December 5, 2015, a Yellow fever outbreak in Angola has now claimed 125 lives, with 664 suspected cases. The municipality of Viana in Luanda Province is the hot spot of this outbreak, with 173 suspected cases and 29 deaths. The last yellow fever outbreak in Angola occurred in 1986, but poor sanitation, low vaccination coverage and high population density in urban areas may have contributed to and exacerbated the scale of this outbreak.

Zika Virus - Philippines

An American woman was infected with the Zika virus while visiting the Philippines, health department officials reported Sunday, the first case detected in the country for several years.

Disease

Meningitis in Ghana

Seven more Ghanaians have died from the deadly Meningitis disease, raising the death toll to 100 in nine out of 10 regions. Authorities earlier declared the outbreak in Brong Ahafo an epidemic and put the country’s health facilities on high alert.

More Zika through Sex Cases

U.S. health officials are investigating more than a dozen possible Zika infections that may have been spread through sex.

The 14 cases all involve men who visited areas with Zika outbreaks, and who may have infected their female sex partners, who had not traveled to those areas.

Zika virus is mainly spread by mosquito bites, and sexual transmission has been considered rare. There have been two reported cases, including a recent one in Texas, and at least two other reports of the Zika virus found in semen.

Nigeria - Mystery Diseaase

The mystery disease that was reported to have killed 20 children in Eti-Osa in Lagos State has now been identified as measles. Authorities blame poor sanitation in the slum areas where the disease manifested. No new cases have been reported.

Disease

Meningitis in Ghana

Seven more Ghanaians have died from the deadly Meningitis disease, raising the death toll to 100 in nine out of 10 regions. Authorities earlier declared the outbreak in Brong Ahafo an epidemic and put the country’s health facilities on high alert.

More Zika through Sex Cases

U.S. health officials are investigating more than a dozen possible Zika infections that may have been spread through sex.

The 14 cases all involve men who visited areas with Zika outbreaks, and who may have infected their female sex partners, who had not traveled to those areas.

Zika virus is mainly spread by mosquito bites, and sexual transmission has been considered rare. There have been two reported cases, including a recent one in Texas, and at least two other reports of the Zika virus found in semen.

Nigeria - Mystery Diseaase

The mystery disease that was reported to have killed 20 children in Eti-Osa in Lagos State has now been identified as measles. Authorities blame poor sanitation in the slum areas where the disease manifested. No new cases have been reported.

Disease

Measles in Mongolia

In an update to the measles outbreak in Mongolia, after reporting 20,010 cases during the first eight months of the year, September showed a dramatic slowdown of only 151 cases.

Mongolia was declared measles-free by the World Health Organization in 2014. In fact, prior to the outbreak that began in March this year, the rash onset of the last confirmed measles case in Mongolia was in the summer of 2010.

Worldwide, measles kills 400 people a day—or about 16 deaths every hour, most of whom are children under the age of five. Measles is the most highly infectious disease known, and it is easily prevented with just two doses of measles vaccine.

Disease

Measles in DR Congo

A measles outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo's southeast districts have infected more than 30 000 people with 400 deaths.

Disease

Measles Epidemic in DR Congo

A growing measles epidemic in the province of Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo, has sickened more than 20,000 people and killed 300 people this year, according to official figures, while resources to combat the outbreak are still lacking, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned Tuesday.

More than 20 of Katanga's 68 health districts are now affected—up from 10 districts in June—but the Congolese government has still not made an official declaration of the epidemic, which may have delayed a timely response.

Measles is now almost endemic in the region and particularly dangerous for the very young who are already exposed to other pathologies such as malaria and acute malnutrition. The absence of free care in public health facilities discourages mothers from taking their sick children to be treated.

Disease

Measles Outbreak in DRC

A major outbreak of measles has killed almost 320 people and infected more than 20,000 in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations has announced.

"The toll is heavy and worrying: since January 1, 2015, more than 20,000 cases of measles have been registered in Katanga province alone" and "almost 320 people have died", the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement this week.

"Dozens of others may have succumbed to the illness but they don't figure on official records," the statement added.

The outbreak in mineral-rich Katanga is the worst since 2011.

Disease

Measles in Sudan

Confirmed cases of measles in Sudan this year already have quadrupled compared with the number for the entirety of last year, with the majority of those diagnosed with the disease being children under the age of 15. In light of the recent outbreak, Sudan on Monday launched the second part of a vaccination campaign against measles.

Anywhere between 500 and 600 cases of the infectious disease diagnosed yearly in the country is common, but the recent outbreak is the highest it has been in years, according to the United Nations. As of Monday, there were 2,511 cases of measles, and 38 people have died from the disease that is very rarely fatal because of vaccinations.

Disease

Bird Flu in China - Updates

Chinese authorities reported four new cases on Tuesday of a strain of bird flu previously unknown in humans that has already killed two people, taking the total of known cases to seven.

China has found two more cases of a new strain of bird flu and one of the victims has died, state media said on Wednesday, bringing to nine the number of cases.

Measles in Wales

The measles outbreak in Wales is predicted to top 500 cases on Wednesday as health officials expect a “significant rise” following the Easter weekend.

Disease

The incidence of liver disease in Britain has risen by 25% over the last decade, causing a record number of related deaths. The rise has been attributed in large part to the British fondness for binge drinking.

Measels outbreak in Pakistan has killed 12 children, with 70 more confirmed cases hospitalized.