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Infectious Diseases
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...
AI steps in to detect TB
Many low- and middle-income countries are now using AI to screen for tuberculosis, saving hundreds of lives in regions where doctors and other technology...
TB rates fall for the first time since Covid – WHO report
Global tuberculosis rates fell about 2% in 2024 from the previous year, shows a World Health Organisation report, after rising for three consecutive years...
SA starts ground-breaking clinical trials for oral cholera vaccine
Clinical trials testing the efficacy of the first locally manufactured oral cholera vaccine, developed by Biovac, were officially launched on Tuesday, reports TimesLIVE – which...
Poverty, poor living conditions, drive pandemics – UNAIDS report
Poor people are likelier to fall ill, and take longer to recover, according to a newly released report by the Global Council on Inequality,...
Last Ebola patient discharged in Congo
The last Ebola patient in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was discharged a week ago, marking an important milestone in the efforts to...
Infant immunisations drop in Western Cape
The Western Cape Department of Health & Wellness has sounded an urgent alarm over a steep decline in infant vaccination coverage across the province,...
African babies take a lesson from US soldiers in malaria war
For years, the US military has treated uniforms with insecticide to repel mosquitoes and the malaria they can transmit – and American infectious disease...
South Africa’s immunisation programme falling behind
Childhood immunisation programmes have saved millions of lives and prevented much suffering, but have lost momentum over the past decade or so, writes Elri...
CDC flags surge of infections from drug-resistant bacteria
Health officials in the United States have warned that infections from dangerous bacteria, which are resistant to some of the strongest antibiotics available, have...
Task force formed to fight rising cholera cases in Africa
A joint plan has been announced by African leaders to combat the centuries-old disease that has seen cases doubling on the continent over the...
FDA grants priority review for oral gonorrhoea antibiotic
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted British pharmaceutical company GSK’s application for priority review of gepotidacin as an oral option for...