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Infectious Diseases
One dose of smallpox jab cuts mpox risk – Canadian study
Recent research suggests that receiving a single dose of one type of smallpox vaccine could reduce the risk of catching mpox by around 60%,...
Path that led to a potential polio resurgence
The first case of paralysis from polio in 25 years has travelled a long path, reports The New York Times. The 10-month-old boy in...
Africa still awaiting mpox jabs from the West, despite promises
Despite the thousands of mpox doses promised to Africa, no vaccines have yet been delivered to any of the countries affected by the outbreak...
Possible secret chlamydia hiding spot found – German study
The world’s most common sexual infection may have a secret hiding spot in the body where it can avoid antibiotics, suggest researchers, after uncovering...
Germany, Japan, offer Africa mpox vaccine doses
Germany is to donate 100 000 mpox vaccine doses from its military stocks to help contain the outbreak in Africa, its government announced this...
Measles closes Northern Cape schools
Four schools were closed in the Northern Cape on Thursday last week after an outbreak of measles, with cases having rapidly escalated from 16...
Outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease in Free State
A small suspected outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease (a strain of the Coxsackie virus) has been confirmed by the provincial Health Department at...
Experts flag rise of drug-resistant contagious fungus
A newly named fungal species has global scientists worried about its stubborn resistance to usually effective first-line drugs, the fact that it can be...
Déjà vu global response to mpox
African countries affected by the latest mpox outbreak are racing to mobilise funds and urgently deploy medical countermeasures, including vaccines, as cases continue to...
No need to panic, say SA experts as DRC buckles under mpox spread
The outbreak of mpox on the African continent – that spurred the WHO into declaring it an international public health emergency last week –...
Concern as ‘super-strength’ gonorrhoea gets more drug resistant
Gonorrhoea is becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, and could be untreatable in the future, health officials have warned as a report reveals a rise...
US rolls out flu jab to combat bird flu risk
A major flu vaccine campaign is being launched for US farm workers as concerns mount over the spreading bird flu virus in the agricultural sector, with...
Gaza to get 1.2m polio jabs amid outbreak fears
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is planning to send 1.2m polio vaccines to Gaza within the next fortnight after the virus was detected in...
Urgent global action needed stop Mpox pandemic
Experts have appealed to the international community for help in controlling the deadly strain of the mpox virus that is rapidly spreading across Africa’s...
Mpox now declared a global emergency
The World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency as health authorities sound the...
Mpox cases climb to 24 in SA as incidents rise in Africa
The number of mpox cases in South Africa has risen to 24, with another two cases being confirmed at the weekend – in Gauteng...
HIV not the highest risk factor for TB in South Africa – US-SA study
American researchers, working with local scientists in the Northern Cape, have suggested that while HIV increases the likelihood of contracting the globe’s leading infectious...
Urgent plea for action as malaria drug-resistance grows
A group of 28 leading scientists from 10 countries has warned that millions of lives are at risk unless urgent and radical action is...
Daily antibiotic wards off STIs – Canadian study
Scientists from Vancouver say their recent small study suggests a daily dose of a common antibiotic may prevent some infections with syphilis, gonorrhoea and...
SA data track shows how pathogens spread and superbugs evolve
For the first time, researchers have been able to precisely quantify the ability of different pneumococcal strains to survive and reproduce, an insight that...
WHO suggests therapeutic HPV jabs to scale up vaccination
While a vaccine already exists to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer, more than 20 therapeutic HPV vaccine candidates are...
HPV one-dose jab campaign to now include private schools
The Department of Health has announced that it is moving from a two-dose to a single-dose HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine regimen and that...
Don't delay mpox vaccine roll-out, experts urge health authorities
Health experts say government should start the roll-out of mpox vaccines to targeted groups without delay as a third man (40) died of mpox...
Donated mpox jabs arriving soon – Phaahla
Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla says doses of the mpox vaccine will be arriving soon for free distribution at clinics – this after South...
Paxlovid no better than placebo for long Covid – US study
In what will be a blow for millions of people with long Covid, which currently has no approved treatment or cure, a recent study...
European warning on drug-resistant gonorrhoea and rise in infections
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has recorded a worryingly dramatic surge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) amid a substantial increase in...
New long Covid definition proposed by US National Academies
America’s National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) has proposed a new definition of long Covid – one requiring no lab confirmation or...
SA records first mpox death
The country recorded its first death from mpox on Monday when a 37-year-old man died in Tembisa Hospital, with Health Minister Joe Phaahla saying...
Mexican man dies from new H5N2 bird flu variant
A Mexican man, 59, has died after being infected with a bird flu subtype never before confirmed to have spread to humans, the World...
Bird flu hits third US farmworker but symptoms differ
Although a third American farmworker has been infected with bird flu, heightening concerns about an outbreak among dairy cattle that was first identified in...
Durban man in hospital for mpox
In the second lab-confirmed case in the country in recent weeks, a Durban man has tested positive for mpox and been admitted to Addington...
US and Europe move to secure bird flu jabs
America and Europe are taking steps to acquire or manufacture H5N1 bird flu vaccines that could be used to protect at-risk poultry and dairy...
First human bird flu case in Australia
Australia reported its first human case of avian flu this week, in a child who had apparently been infected in India but has since...
WHO report flags global rise of STIs
A new report from the WHO shows that sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are on the rise worldwide, with chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and trichomoniasis, all of...
Leprosy persists in South Africa despite 'elimination' status – 20-year study
Although leprosy has been eliminated (<1 case per 10 000 population) in South Africa since 1926, new cases continue to be reported, say experts,...
Mpox case confirmed in Gauteng
Gauteng authorities have confirmed a case of mpox at Ahmed Kathrada Hospital in Lenasia after a 35-year-old local man tested positive for the disease,...
Why we’re seeing so many viruses emerge
With the widespread outbreak of mpox in 2022, and the evolving bird flu situation – as well as recent cases of Marburg virus in Equatorial...
Worldwide measles cases almost double in a year
Measles cases nearly doubled globally between 2022 and 2023, researchers say, with 321 582 cases worldwide last year, an 88% increase from the previous...
No live bird flu virus in US milk – FDA
US regulators despite an outbreak of bird flu virus among dairy cows, no live virus had been detected in the first batch of retail...
WHO flags 'extraordinarily high' bird flu mortality rate in humans
The World Health Organisation says it is concerned about the spread of H5N1 bird flu, which has an “extraordinarily high” mortality rate in humans, and...