Brazilian scientists have identified a parasite that has infected over 100 people in the Northeast of the country, causing severe liver, spleen and skin damage and killing at least one person. The characteristics of the disease resemble visceral Leishmaniasis.
This report offers an overview of US Department of Defense (DOD) health security activities and capabilities along with recommendations for strengthening the coherence and integration of DOD activities.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) assistant director for emergencies, said factors such as population movement, conflict, and poor governance are creating a perfect storm for disease outbreaks.
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Science Division has launched an online resource, the Health Product Profile Directory, to guide the development of new health products for which there are limited markets or incentives for research and development.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with its partners released the a collaborative report listing the top zoonotic diseases of national concern for the US.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases in people are zoonotic.
On February 26, 2003, Carlo Urbani, an infectious diseases specialist in the World Health Organization's (WHO's) country office in Vietnam, was called to the French Hospital in Hanoi to examine a grievously ill Chinese-American businessman. Johnny Chen had been admitted with severe breathing difficulties shortly after stepping off a flight from Hong Kong and was being nursed in intensive care, where x-rays revealed ominous shadows on his lungs.
Scientists who study predictive systems, doubt that it will be possible to predict exactly what will happen next in a disease outbreak, because the most important variables can change so much from one outbreak to another.
Medical breakthroughs and advances in public health systems have enabled countries to contain the effects of infectious diseases, but these gains are tempered by insecurities from forces in economics, globalization, and synthetic biology.
There are many measles related viruses circulating in other animals that are not far from being able to infect human cells.