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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
