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Communicable Diseases
Tanzania denies Marburg outbreak after WHO alert
A World Health Organisation (WHO) report of a suspected new outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus in Tanzania were false alarms, according to officials...
Virus outbreak in China no mystery and not new, say SA experts
There is no need to panic over the respiratory virus outbreak in China that has stirred public concerns, according to South African experts and...
Morocco produces Africa’s first mpox tests
In a first for Africa, a Moroccan company is filling orders for mpox tests as an outbreak continues in the Congo and neighbouring countries,...
WHO green-lights emergency listing for Japan’s mpox jab
In a welcome move for regions in Africa being pulverised by mpox, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has granted emergency use listing for Japan’s...
First clade 1b mpox case detected in America from Africa
In the first known case in the United States, a Californian man has tested positive for the mpox Clade 1b virus that’s currently running...
Mpox vaccine doses head for Africa’s worst hit countries, including SA
An initial 899 000 vaccine doses have been allocated for the nine African countries being pummelled by the mpox surge, said the WHO and...
WHO lists top endemic pathogens urgently needing new vaccines
A World Health Organisation (WHO) study published this week in The Lancet’s eBioMedicine names 17 pathogens – that regularly cause diseases in communities –...
Rwanda’s Marburg wanes as mpox cases increase
While the Marburg virus outbreak in Rwanda appears to be on the decline, with no new cases in the past several days, mpox continues...
Egypt now malaria-free
Egypt has become the fourth African country to eradicate malaria, a “disease that plagued pharaohs”, in what the World Health Organisation (WHO) said was...
Germany IDs first case of new mpox variant
Germany has detected its first case of the new mpox variant, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for public health said on Tuesday, after a 33-year-old...
Rwanda starts Marburg vaccine trial
Rwanda launched a vaccine trial against the Marburg virus on Sunday in desperate efforts to combat an outbreak which has already killed a dozen...
Zambia to manufacture cholera vaccine
In a collaboration between Zambia and China, a recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and China’s JIJIA...
Marburg virus kills eight in Rwanda
Eight people have died from an outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda, most of the victims being healthcare workers, the country’s Health Minister has...
How SA’s childhood vaccination system can become great
The two public health interventions that have had the greatest impact on the world’s health are clean water and vaccines, write Professors Susan Goldstein...
Mpox: 'Nobody is safe until Africa is safe'
The mpox outbreak in Africa is still not under control, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned, adding that...
Two-in-one flu/Covid jab passes trial with flying colours
Moderna says its combined flu and Covid vaccine, which targets the two diseases in a single shot, has passed a vital part of final-stage...
SA scientists monitor invasive mosquito
The rapid expansion in Africa of the invasive Anopheles stephensi mosquito, which can breed practically anywhere and is not fussy about water, is being...