Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Haiti’s cholera death toll rises to 136 as outbreak gets ‘worse and worse every day’
(CNN) A deadly resurgence of cholera in Haiti has claimed 136 lives so far, according to the Caribbean nation’s health ministry. Eighty-nine of the people who were infected died in a hospital or in cholera treatment centers, while 47 of them died at home, according to the Haitian Health Ministry’s statement. The Haitian government is working with […]
Nov 10, 2022
‘Death every day’: Fear and fortitude in Uganda’s Ebola epicentre
(Monitor) Bidding the dead goodbye is rarely a quiet affair in Uganda, where the bereaved seek solace in the embrace of community members who converge on their homes to mourn the loss together. Instead, 80-year-old Senyonga is accompanied by just a handful of relatives as he digs a grave on the family’s ancestral land, surrounded […]
Nov 10, 2022
What a ‘Tripledemic’ Means for Your Body
(The Atlantic) In 2020, and again in 2021, the dreaded twindemic never came. The worry among experts was that a winter COVID surge layered on top of flu season—or even, in worst-case scenarios, a flu outbreak of pandemic proportions—would push already strained hospitals to the brink. Thankfully, we got lucky. Flu season simply didn’t materialize […]
Nov 10, 2022
UN agencies scale up response to Haiti cholera outbreak
(Xinhua) The United Nations and partners are scaling up aid to Haiti, which has been hit with a spreading cholera outbreak, a UN spokeswoman said on Tuesday. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the regional office for the Americas of the World Health Organization, continues to support Haiti’s Ministry of Health in epidemiological surveillance, said […]
Nov 8, 2022
Uganda to close schools after eight children die of Ebola
(The East African) Uganda will close schools nationwide later this month after 23 Ebola cases were confirmed among pupils, including eight children who died, the country’s first lady said on Tuesday.Janet Museveni, who is also the education minister, said there had been cases in five schools in the capital Kampala, as well as the neighbouring […]
Nov 8, 2022
Uganda to close schools after eight children die of Ebola
(ECR) Uganda will close schools nationwide later this month after 23 Ebola cases were confirmed among pupils, including eight children who died, the country’s first lady said on Tuesday. Janet Museveni, who is also the education minister, said there had been cases in five schools in the capital Kampala, as well as the neighbouring Wakiso […]
Nov 8, 2022
SARS-CoV-2 Nsp6 damages Drosophila heart and mouse cardiomyocytes through MGA/MAX complex-mediated increased glycolysis
(Nature) SARS-CoV-2 infection causes COVID-19, a severe acute respiratory disease associated with cardiovascular complications including long-term outcomes. The presence of virus in cardiac tissue of patients with COVID-19 suggests this is a direct, rather than secondary, effect of infection. Here, by expressing individual SARS-CoV-2 proteins in the Drosophila heart, we demonstrate interaction of virus Nsp6 with host […]
Nov 8, 2022
How a SARS-CoV-2 virus protein damages the heart?
(Tech Expert) Scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s (UMSOM) Center for Precision Disease Modeling identified how SARS-CoV-2 damages heart tissue. Last year, in research involving fruit flies and human cells, the most lethal SARS-CoV-2 proteins were discovered. They found a promising drug selinexor reduced the toxicity of one of these proteins but not the […]
Nov 8, 2022
New VA study finds Paxlovid may cut the risk of long COVID
(NPR) It’s well-documented that Paxlovid — a 5-day course of antiviral pills from Pfizer — can reduce the risk of hospitalization in COVID-19 patients who are more likely to develop severe illness. Now, researchers from the Veterans Health Administration find that taking the medication may also reduce the risks of later developing long COVID, according […]
Nov 8, 2022
Panic as Ebola team buries 3 family members in Kassanda
(Monitor) Panic gripped residents of Kitongo Village in Kalwana Sub-county, Kassanda, as the district taskforce delivered the remains of four people that succumbed to the Ebola Virus Disease for burial.Three of the bodies belong to one family that allegedly exhumed the remains of their relative who had earlier succumbed to Ebola. Mr Muzaffalu Ssenyonjo, the […]
Nov 7, 2022