Latest Disease outbreaks News

'Appalling': Southern Africa counts toll of Cyclone Freddy

Mar. 23, 2023 12:01 PM EDT

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The death toll from Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which ravaged Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique over the past two months, now stands at more than 600 people, the World Health Organization said Thursday. Aid agencies are scrambling to meet the soaring...

Equatorial Guinea confirms 8 new cases of Marburg virus

Mar. 23, 2023 06:19 AM EDT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Equatorial Guinea has confirmed another eight cases of the “highly virulent” Marburg virus, a deadly hemorrhagic fever with no authorized vaccine or treatment. The World Health Organization on Thursday said that brings the country’s total number of cases...

More deaths, injuries linked to recalled eyedrops

Mar. 22, 2023 13:12 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials are reporting two more deaths and additional cases of vision loss linked to eyedrops tainted with a drug-resistant bacteria. The eyedrops from EzriCare and Delsam Phama were recalled in February and health authorities are continuing to track...

Tanzanian officials confirm 5 dead from Marburg disease

Mar. 21, 2023 15:37 PM EDT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Tanzania’s health ministry on Tuesday confirmed that five people have died and three others are being treated for the Ebola-like Marburg disease. Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said the cases were identified in the western region of Kagera and the government...

Biden signs bill on COVID origins declassification

Mar. 20, 2023 18:02 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill Monday that directs the federal government to declassify as much intelligence as possible about the origins of COVID-19 more than three years after the start of the pandemic. The legislation, which passed both the House...

Burundi officials detect polio outbreak linked to vaccine

Mar. 17, 2023 12:11 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) — Health officials in Burundi have declared an outbreak of polio linked to the vaccine, the first time the paralytic disease has been detected in the East African country for more than three decades. Polio has been diagnosed in an unvaccinated four-year-old child in the...

Cyclone Freddy wanes after battering Malawi, Mozambique

Mar. 16, 2023 02:46 AM EDT

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Cyclone Freddy has dissipated after killing hundreds of people and displacing thousands in Mozambique and Malawi since late last week, although flooding remains a threat in both countries, a regional monitoring center said late Wednesday. The cyclone has...

Chinese SARS whistleblower Jiang Yanyong dies at 91

Mar. 14, 2023 03:41 AM EDT

BEIJING (AP) — Jiang Yanyong, a Chinese military doctor who revealed the full extent of the 2003 SARS outbreak and was later placed under house arrest for his political outspokenness, has died, a long-time acquaintance and a Hong Kong newspaper said Tuesday. Jiang was 91 and died...

Today in History: MARCH 11, Earthquake and tsunami in Japan

Mar. 11, 2023 00:02 AM EST

Today in History Today is Saturday, March 11, the 70th day of 2023. There are 295 days left in the year. Today’s highlight in history: On March 11, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries...

House votes to declassify info about origins of COVID-19

Mar. 10, 2023 17:46 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted unanimously Friday to declassify U.S. intelligence information about the origins of COVID-19, a sweeping show of bipartisan support near the third anniversary of the start of the deadly pandemic. The 419-0 vote was final congressional approval of...