Latest World Health Organization News
UN approves an updated cholera vaccine that could help fight a surge in cases
The World Health Organization has approved a version of a widely used cholera vaccine that could help address a surge in cases that has depleted the global vaccine stockpile and left poorer countries scrambling to contain epidemics. WHO authorized the vaccine, made by EuBiologics,...
Mercury exposure widespread among Yanomami tribe in Amazon, report finds
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Many Yanomami, the Amazon's largest Indigenous tribe in relative isolation, have been contaminated with mercury coming from widespread illegal gold mining, according to a report released on Thursday by Brazil’s top public health institute. The research was...
Dengue is sweeping through the Americas early this year
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Dengue is surging across the Americas early this year from Puerto Rico to Brazil, with 3.5 million cases of the tropical disease reported so far, health officials said Thursday. That tally is three times the number of cases reported at this point last...
Rio de Janeiro declares a dengue health emergency days ahead of Carnival
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Rio de Janeiro on Monday has declared a public health emergency because of an outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever, the city announced Monday, just days before Carnival celebrations kick off across Brazil. The outbreak wasn't expected to derail Carnival,...
Airstrikes in Syria kill an Iranian adviser and a member of a World Health Organization team
BEIRUT (AP) — A series of airstrikes in eastern Syria on Tuesday killed more than a dozen people, including an Iranian military adviser and a team member working for the World Health Organization, officials and reports said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the...
Dengue cases in Peru are surging, fueled by mosquitoes and high temperatures brought by El Niño
PIURA, Peru (AP) — Residents of Pedregal Grande, a poor neighborhood in the Peruvian city of Piura, receive water for only 30 minutes a day because of shortages, forcing them to collect it in plastic tanks that have become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Scorching temperatures...
Cambodia reports a new bird flu case, the brother of a 9-year-old who died of the virus
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The brother of a boy who died last week from bird flu has tested positive for the virus, Cambodia’s Health Ministry said Monday. The 9-year-old's death in the northeastern province of Kratie was the first from bird flu in Cambodia this year, after four...
Cameroon starts world's first malaria vaccine program for children
Cameroon will be the first country to routinely give children a new malaria vaccine as the shots are rolled out in Africa. The campaign due to start Monday was described by officials as a milestone in the decades-long effort to curb the mosquito-spread disease on the continent, which...
