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Nurse killed while responding to Ebola in DRC
A nurse was killed and a health worker severely injured after being attacked while responding to an Ebola alert in the Congo, reports the...
Slower walking linked to brain health in HIV+ people – UCT study
Recent research published in the Journal of NeuroVirology has suggested that the speed at which people with HIV walk could provide important clues about...
Stellenbosch-led global team hopes to answer hep B treatment questions
A new international research collaboration – B-ZERO – has secured a Wellcome Trust Discovery Award to investigate why some hepatitis B patients fail to suppress...
Army of dormant viruses can be awoken by Covid – US study
A severe bout of Covid-19 can wake up a slew of dormant viruses hiding inside the body, according to an analysis of more than 1 000 people...
Now Uganda has suspected Marburg case
Uganda, which is struggling to contain the threat of what is already the third-largest Ebola outbreak on record – centred in the neighbouring Democratic...
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...
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...
World experts call for urgent response, saying Ebola was preventable
Global health leaders, including a number of leading South African health professionals, have signed an open letter to governments in which they urge “an...
Cell replication path discovery may help prevent flu spread – US study
American scientists studying how influenza viruses replicate within cells “accidentally” discovered that different flu viruses use distinct strategies to infiltrate cells in the first...
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...
NICD finds two polio virus strains in Cape wastewater
The Department of Health has said there is no need to panic after the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) detected two polio virus...
SA’s Ebola risk ‘low’ as rare virus strain rips through Congo
As the number of Ebola deaths rises to more than 130 in the Eastern Congo, and despite the WHO having declared a global emergency...
Hantavirus in Africa – why scientists are worried
Hantaviruses – which have circulated for decades in rodent populations, particularly in rats and mice, and can infect humans who may be bitten or...
When will SA take the prevention of chronic HBV infection seriously?
South Africa bears a significant burden of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, and a notable prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) among pregnant...
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...
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...
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...
Acute viral infections increase risk of CVD
In the weeks after a bout of flu or Covid, the risk of heart attack or stroke may rise dramatically, and chronic infections such...
Man’s two-year Covid infection sets new record – Lancet study
An immunocompromised man endured ongoing acute Covid-19 for more than 750 days, with researchers warning that while this record might be easy to dismiss...
Rwanda’s rapid response to Marburg outbreak lauded
A comprehensive response to a September 2024 Marburg virus disease (MVD) outbreak in two Rwandan hospitals may not only have reduced mortality rates, but...
Rare condition a dangerous complication of flu
Five weeks after Olivia Li turned four, she slipped into unconsciousness, a rare and unexpected consequence of a flu infection.
She had developed acute necrotising...
Scientists call for stronger action in DRC mpox crisis
Mpox is spreading faster, showing new modes of transmission and affecting different populations, with scientists warning that the disease needs to be brought under...
China imposes quarantine as chikungunya infections climb
Chinese officials have imposed Covid-like quarantines in parts of the country as cases of chikungunya virus continue to surge, reports Daily Mail.
More than 7...
Australian dies from rare bat bite virus
A man has died from an “extremely rare” rabies-like infection transmitted by a bat bite – only three previous cases of human infection by...
Mpox can leave lasting brain damage – Swiss study
Research by University of Bern scientists suggests that the mpox virus can also infect the human brain and damage brain cells, findings they say...
The stealth and tragedy of hepatitis B in South Africa
When Desmond Pedro (30) discovered a strange hardness under his ribcage, the unemployed father of two was preparing for a fresh start on a...
GP’s eyesight saved by game-changing test
A baffling eye infection that had plagued a British doctor for five years was finally identified after a breakthrough test identified it and helped...
UK draws up new disease-threat watch list
Britain has a new watch list of 24 infectious diseases that could pose the greatest future threat to public health, the aim being to...
Unvaccinated US measles patients display vitamin A toxicity
Several children admitted to hospital with measles in Texas and New Mexico are displaying symptoms of vitamin A toxicity, doctors have said, adding that...
Global measles cases spread among the unvaccinated
The number of measles cases linked to an outbreak in Texas has grown to more than 300, with around 40 cases reported over the...
Boy (4) dies of Ebola in Uganda as US slashes help
The Trump administration has cancelled at least four of the five contracts with organisations that helped manage the Ebola outbreak in Uganda – which...
Ebola outbreak in Uganda under control
The recent outbreak of Ebola in Uganda has been deemed “contained”, according to the Minister of Health, after the announcement that eight patients who...
Wits RHI to lead study on mpox seroprevalence in SA
Mpox has gained global attention since the 2022 outbreaks, with declining immunity from smallpox vaccinations and evolving transmission patterns – particularly through sexual contact...
Uganda launches Ebola vaccine trial
By launching an Ebola vaccine trial within days of an outbreak, Uganda is sending the message that epidemic responses can be proactive, strategic and...
Ugandan nurse dies in first Ebola outbreak in two years
A nurse in Uganda has died of Ebola in the first recorded fatality since the country’s last outbreak of the disease ended in early 2023, a...
Effects of Japan's 'public co-operation' approach to Covid pandemic
During the chaos that was the Covid-19 pandemic, and in contrast to the lockdowns imposed in many countries, Japanese authorities issued health advisories and...
Moderna gets millions for mRNA jab against future pandemics
In the final days of the Biden administration, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $590m to Moderna to expedite development...
Japan approves mpox drug that failed two efficacy trials
Approval granted earlier this month by Japan’s regulatory agency for the antiviral drug tecovirimat – also known as TPOXX – for the treatment of...