A vaccine scare more than a decade ago is causing a growing epidemic of measles, a contagious disease.
As Stephen Hawking turns 70 this week, scientists are baffled how he has managed to survive so long with such a crippling disease.
A gene that can turn many types of bacteria into deadly superbugs has been found in samples taken from New Delhi’s drinking water.
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/ 16 February 2010
The most powerful force against HIV/Aids in Africa may be circumcision, a procedure that’s easily done in the developed world.
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/ 5 December 2007
A new type of Ebola fever in Uganda might be less deadly than others — but that’s not necessarily good news. The World Health Organisation said last week that an ongoing Ebola outbreak in Uganda was caused by a new subtype, the fifth to be detected since the virus was first identified in 1976 in Sudan and the Congo.
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/ 16 October 2007
Only 60% of HIV/Aids patients in Africa still take the drugs they need to stay alive two years after starting treatment, researchers reported, noting a grim reason many stopped: death. Of the patients found no longer to be taking the drugs after two years, 40% died and the rest missed scheduled appointments.
Health professionals should routinely offer to test people for HIV, instead of waiting for patients to request it, according to new advice from the United Nations on Wednesday. In making the recommendations, it is underlining the need to identify the millions of HIV-positive people worldwide who need treatment.
Health experts see a glimmer of hope in the fight against tuberculosis (TB) for the first time since the disease’s spread was declared a global emergency more than a decade ago. But although global TB rates are levelling off, the emergence of drug-resistant versions of the disease is complicating control efforts.
Billionaire George Soros pledged -million on Wednesday to fight a deadly strain of tuberculosis in Africa. Since an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) was identified in South Africa last year, health experts have repeatedly issued dire warnings about the disease’s spread across the continent.
During an official check to certify that Namibia remained polio-free a decade after it declared it had conquered the disease, officials made a surprising find: a 39-year-old man stricken with the virus. On Tuesday, Namibia launches a three-day nationwide immunisation drive aiming to vaccinate the entire population.