
According to an interview with the head of the Kurdish Red Crescent at Rudaw, the latest horror unleashed by the Islamic State is a plague of flesh-eating bacteria, spreading rapidly through rural Syria due to the jihadis’ habit of littering the streets with corpses.
by John Hayward3 Dec 2015, 3:37 PM PST0

The government of Rwanda has reinstated mandatory Ebola screening and self-reporting procedures at its airports, as Liberia imposes regular temperature checks at school to monitor any new potential cases following the death of 15-year-old Nathan Gbotoe of the disease in late November.
by Frances Martel2 Dec 2015, 7:00 AM PST0

(Reuters) A new case of Ebola has been found in Liberia, a country declared free of the disease on Sept. 3, a senior United Nations official said on Friday.
by Reuters20 Nov 2015, 6:25 AM PST0

On Thursday, Bangladesh celebrated the extraordinary rat-slaying achievements of 55-year-old farmer Abdul Khaleq Mirbohor, who took national honors plus a cash prize valued at $250 USD, for leading a team of mostly female volunteers in the killing of some 160,000 rats.
by John Hayward9 Oct 2015, 5:46 PM PST0

700 people in northern Sierra Leone have been quarantined, as the country, recently celebrating the discharge from the hospital of their last Ebola patient, diagnosed a 16-year-old girl with the disease.
by Frances Martel15 Sep 2015, 5:15 PM PST0

The International Committee of the Red Cross is warning that denial of water supplies as a weapon of war could trigger an “epidemic” of any number of diseases in Syria, where the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) continues to battle for territory against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s troops and an array of rebel fighters.
by Frances Martel3 Sep 2015, 2:00 PM PST0

At least 398 children have been killed and more than 605 maimed since the “brutal armed conflict” in Yemen escalated on March 26, reported the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF on Wednesday.
by Edwin Mora19 Aug 2015, 8:40 PM PST0

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Tuesday it is now virtually free of the deadly MERS virus that killed 36 people and sickened nearly 200 since an outbreak was declared in May.
by AP28 Jul 2015, 6:41 AM PST0

Pop star Ariana Grande may have laughed after licking unpurchased doughnuts at a local doughnut shop last weekend, but to public health experts, the incident is no joke.
by Daniel Nussbaum10 Jul 2015, 10:20 AM PST0

The Liberian government announced on Monday that two separate tests had confirmed a 17-year-old boy had died of Ebola on June 28, the first Ebola death in that country in 49 days. The government has quarantined the town where the boy died and announced emergency measures to contain the disease.
by Frances Martel30 Jun 2015, 10:41 AM PST0

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — Liberia’s deputy health minister says the corpse of a 17-year-old man has tested positive for Ebola.
by Breitbart News29 Jun 2015, 7:24 PM PST0

Healthcare workers in South Korea have begun experimental trials of a plasma treatment they think might help the fight against MERS. Health officials also announced a nineteenth death due to the disease.
by Michael Lucchese16 Jun 2015, 9:39 AM PST0

Medical workers in Guinea and Sierra Leone reported 31 new cases of Ebola in the pass week, a significant increase following two months of relative decline that had the United Nations close to declaring the outbreak over. Lax monitoring rules and potential smuggling of Ebola patients past medical officials may be to blame, journalists report.
by Frances Martel12 Jun 2015, 9:51 AM PST0

A new study on typhoid fever, an infection spread through unsanitary food and water, and prominent in parts of Asia and Africa, has found that an antibiotic-resistant clone has begun to spread in southern Africa, threatening to reach epidemic levels.
by Frances Martel12 May 2015, 11:20 AM PST0

Using the fear triggered by recent deaths catalyzed by superbugs as a launching pad for spending another billion dollars, the Obama administration is going to announce the spending of over $1 billion over the next five years to combat the problem of antibiotic resistance.
by William Bigelow27 Mar 2015, 6:15 PM PST0

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that, after a brief period of decreased cases, health officials are witnessing an increase in the number of Ebola cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone as people resume traditional–and dangerous–burial rituals.
by Frances Martel20 Feb 2015, 7:22 AM PST0

Chikungunya, a virus hailing from Africa and spreading rapidly in the Caribbean and South America earlier this year, may have just become an even bigger problem for Brazil, just as that nation’s summer is set to begin.
by Frances Martel2 Jan 2015, 10:07 AM PST0

Back in 2005, two business-school professors, Max H. Bazerman and Michael D. Watkins, published a thoughtful book, Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming, and How to Prevent Them. A decade later, we can look ahead to the Predictable Surprises of 2015—and beyond.
by James P. Pinkerton29 Dec 2014, 7:04 PM PST0