HomeInfectious Diseases
Infectious Diseases
DRC kicks off Ebola vaccine rollout for health and frontline workers
The Ebola vaccine was rolled out this weekend in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the priority being on healthcare staff in Bunia,...
Shingles jab boosts antibodies in HIV+ people – Korean study
In a recent trial, a recombinant zoster vaccine induced robust antibody responses in people with HIV (PLWH) regardless of their CD4 count, with nearly...
WHO says 5 000 more staff needed to tackle the Ebola spread
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread across six provinces, placing severe strain on treatment centres and frontline healthcare staff,...
GLP-1s may ward off TB, infectious diseases – Taiwanese study
Yet another positive side effect of blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs has come to light, after recent studies suggested that people with type 2...
mRNA flu jab for seniors approved by FDA
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the nation’s first mRNA-based flu vaccine – from Moderna – for people 50 and older, reports CNN.
Initially,...
Should the MMR vaccine be split into three separate shots?
The contentious executive order by President Donald Trump that immunisations for measles, mumps and rubella should be given in individual jabs in three different...
Explosive mpox outbreak batters Madagascar
More than 3 000 cases of mpox have been recorded in Madagascar after the virus spread from a single port city to some of...
Uganda declares its Ebola-free status, as Congo cases keep rising
Authorities in Uganda declared the country free of Ebola last week after the discharge of the country’s last patient in mid-June – as the virus continues...
Hantavirus kills three people in Venezuela
Venezuela officials confirmed last week that three people had died of hantavirus infections, but stressed there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the South American...
Africa’s response to Ebola outbreak shows how to shape global health
Countries elsewhere must learn from the continent’s example and combat disease outbreaks by working together, not by closing borders, writes Safura Abdool Karim in...
Mammoth struggle to contain rapidly-spreading Ebola cases in DRC
The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak, announced just two months ago, has already infected more than 2 120 people and caused...
SA company plans Ebola treatment trial, and vaccines enter human trials
Research by a South African pharmaceutical company has identified a drug that prevents the Ebola virus from replicating, with a team now planning a...
SA prepares for Ebola outbreak as DRC health workers threaten strike
Government has designated 36 hospitals – 12 private and 24 public facilities – to manage any Ebola patients if the virus reaches South Africa,...
Deadly hantavirus outbreak over, WHO announces
The rodent-borne virus, which sickened passengers on the MV Hondius, killed three people, led to a race to find its origin and a global...
Thousands missed in Ebola contact tracing, warns Africa CDC
The Africa Centre for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) says that the majority of people testing positive for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of...
'A matter of time' before Ebola arrives in SA, says expert
One of South Africa’s top infectious disease experts has warned that it’s simply “a matter of time” before an Ebola case is imported to...
Global drop in deaths from infections causing diarrhoea – Lancet study
Deaths from infections that cause diarrhoea and other intestinal illnesses have fallen sharply since 1990, thanks in part to the rotavirus vaccine, among other...
HPV jab success sees ‘almost zero chance of cervical cancer death’ – UK study
Since 2008, when schoolgirls were first vaccinated against HPV (human papillomavirus), around 200 lives have been saved in England alone, and the risks of...
Clinical trials for Ebola Bundibugyo drug to start soon, say scientists
Scientists are hopeful about several medications that have shown promise in preliminary studies against the virus responsible for the current deadly Ebola outbreak, with...
SA university leads global experts in Ebola response study
A Stellenbosch University-led team of scientists who collaborated with regional experts to assess the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda – and...
Hundreds of children dying in outbreak the world ignores
Hantavirus and Ebola are making headlines. But another deadly outbreak is unfolding that’s barely registered on the global scene – a devastating measles outbreak...
Race to find Ebola vaccine accelerates
As the Ebola virus continues to spread, and to claim lives, three new vaccines are being developed to tackle this latest, rare species, while...
Responders struggle to contain Ebola as outbreak surges
The military governor of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province, the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak, has likened the struggle to contain the...
Hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship sparks alarm
The South African Health Department has said there is no need for the public to panic after three passengers died from the rodent-borne hantavirus...
Neonatal sepsis drugs mostly ineffective in LMICs – Oxford study
The challenges of treating sepsis in newborns, in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) were highlighted recently in new data presented at the annual meeting...
SA, UK scientists collaborate in global fungal research
A major funding injection of £4.5m from the Wellcome Trust will boost a collaborative effort between South African and British scientists to fast track...
Surge in TB research heralds hope for centuries-old epidemic
After decades of stagnation, a renewed push in tuberculosis research is expanding the drug and vaccine pipeline to bring one of humanity’s oldest and...
Emergency Bangladesh vaccination campaign as deaths rise
A fast-spreading measles outbreak infecting thousands of people across Bangladesh – and which has already led to 17 confirmed deaths – has prompted an...
Only 3% of South Africans using condoms as STIs rise
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise in South Africa, and while exact numbers are difficult to pinpoint, regional data paint a worrying...
TB outbreak affects 200 at Durban homeless camp
Health authorities have confirmed a TB outbreak among a homeless settlement at North Beach, Durban, where nearly 200 people living in tents tested positive...
Dentists still prescribe risky ‘black box warning’ antibiotic
American dentists wrote more than 2.3m prescriptions last year for an antibiotic called clindamycin, whose label has carried a black box warning for more than four...
Madagascar reports first mpox death
Madagascar has reported its first death – a three-year-old girl – from mpox since the disease was detected in the country last December, according to...
Polio resurgence fears but US healthcare ill-prepared
With a leading United States vaccines adviser saying all vaccine recommendations may be reconsidered – despite a surge in infectious diseases – experts are...
Wits team develops microbial ‘watchlist’ tool for cancer prevention
Wits University scientists have identified a “microbial watchlist” of bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites that could cause cancer, saying that understanding these microbial links...
Nipah virus cases in India trigger Asian airport screenings
After the recording of two confirmed cases of the Nipah virus in West Bengal, India, authorities in parts of Asia – Singapore, Thailand and...
Novel cholera vaccine shows promise in phase 1 trial
Oral cholera vaccines have played a critical role in efforts to prevent and control the severe and potentially life-threatening diarrhoeal disease. But experts agree...
New mpox strain identified in England
A new strain of mpox has been detected, UK health officials have warned, describing it as a mix of two major types of the...
Growing concern over drop in infant immunisations
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness recently flagged a concerning decline in infant immunisation rates, and is intensifying its campaign to step...
WHO declares Ebola outbreak in Congo over
An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now over, DRC health officials and the World Health Organisation said this week, after...
Rising levels of drug-resistant gonorrhoea worldwide, warns WHO
Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, warns WHO, citing new data from its Enhanced Gonococcal Antimicrobial Surveillance Programme (EGASP), which monitors the spread...