A new malaria vaccine will be tested on a large scale in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi, the World Health Organization said Monday, with 360,000 children to be vaccinated between 2018 and 2020. The injectable vaccine RTS,S could provide limited protection against a disease that killed 429,000 people worldwide in 2015, with 92 percent of victims … Read more
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Saturday urged North Korea to abide by UN resolutions and stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons, as the reclusive state brandished its military might. “We have been here before but continue to monitor the situation carefully,” Johnson said in a statement. “We stand alongside our international partners in making … Read more
North Korea’s military forces were massed in Pyongyang early Saturday for a show of strength by leader Kim Jong-Un as tensions mount over his nuclear ambitions. Hundreds of flatbed trucks packed with soldiers lined the banks of the Taedong river in the predawn darkness for a parade through the North Korean capital. Ostensibly the event … Read more
Parliament on Thursday underlined urgent and pragmatic measures for effective check on Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM) that has hit parts of the country. A number of people are reported dead from the disease, which often strikes more in the Northern Belt, usually when the weather is very warm. Two students were reported to have died … Read more
Dr Franklin Asiedu Bekoe, the Head of Disease Surveillance at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), has cautioned media practitioners to desist from publishing unsubstantiated statistics on deaths resulting from Cerebrospinal Meningitis (CSM) this year. He said such reports could spark fear and anxiety among the public, and, therefore, pleaded with journalists to first cross-check their … Read more
Parliament on Thursday underlined urgent and pragmatic measures for effective check on Cerebral Spinal Meningitis (CSM) that has hit parts of the country. A number of people are reported dead from the disease, which often strikes more in the Northern Belt, usually when the weather is very warm. Two students were reported to have died … Read more
The Ghana Health Service has intensified processes to identify more cases of pneumococcal meningitis at Kumasi Academy and its environs after it discovered 26 cases of the disease at the school. Autopsy reports of four students who died last month at the school reveal they died from the disease. The deaths of the students caused … Read more
The Director General of the Ghana Health Service Dr. Nsiah Asare has warned Ghanaians to be cautious and vigilant because the country is in a meningitis season. So far, over 50 people have died over the last three months as a result of an outbreak of the disease in the country. The three regions in … Read more
Health workers in Nigeria on Wednesday began a mass vaccination programme to try to halt a mass outbreak of meningitis that has killed nearly 340 people since late last year. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said there had been 2,997 suspected cases of the disease in 16 states as of April 3, with … Read more
In a muddy camp in northern Syria, civilians who fled Raqa said fear of an expected US-backed assault on the Islamic State group bastion was reaching a fever pitch. This week, hundreds of civilians escaped Raqa and headed north to the camp in Ain Issa, in territory controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed … Read more
Nigeria is facing a major shortfall in vaccines to contain an outbreak of meningitis that has claimed 282 lives since November last year, senior health officials said on Thursday. The head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Chikwe Ihekweazu, said nearly 2,000 cases had been reported since the first in the northwestern state … Read more
Nearly 270 people, most of them children, have died in the past five months during the latest meningitis outbreak to hit Nigeria, public health officials said Wednesday. “Presently we have 1,828 suspected cases… and we have 269 deaths in about 15 states,” Olubunmi Ojo of the National Centre for Disease Control told local television. At … Read more
US researchers on Monday said they have developed a fast blood test for tuberculosis that could speed diagnosis and treatment of the serious and sometimes fatal bacterial infection. One of the oldest known diseases, tuberculosis, or TB, has killed an estimated billion people over the past two centuries. A bacterial infection that attacks the lungs … Read more
The impact of the Zika virus on infected Canadian travellers was “more severe” than expected, say researchers. A new study looked at Canadians returning from trips to Zika-affected regions who sought treatment at a national network of travel clinics. Researchers examined 1,118 patients who visited one of those clinics over a year. They say they … Read more
For the same reasons you wouldn’t share a fork with a stranger or, say, lick an ATM, inserting your tongue into someone else’s mouth can set your body up for disaster. Here’s how: 1. IT CAN EXPOSE YOU TO NASTY BACTERIA THAT MAKE YOU FEEL MISERABLE. “Mouths can serve as a transmission route for germs … Read more
One person has died and two others have been stricken by an outbreak of leptospirosis – a rare bacterial infection commonly spread by rat urine. New York City health officials have identified the cases – all on one city block in the Bronx. Each of the three patients was admitted to hospital severely ill with … Read more
Elliot Daly’s dramatic try four minutes from time saw Grand Slam champions England come from behind to beat Wales 21-16 in a Six Nations international in Cardiff on Saturday. Wales were 16-11 in front with nine minutes left but an Owen Farrell penalty reduced their lead before left wing Daly went in at the corner … Read more
Five people have died as a result of meningitis in the Upper West region, since the beginning of 2017. It is not yet clear what type of the disease killed them. The cases were reported at the various health posts in the region within the first three weeks of the year. Health officials are currently … Read more
Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte says he was happy with a point, despite seeing his side miss a penalty, in the aftermath of Tuesday’s 1-1 draw at Liverpool. David Luiz’s brilliantly executive free-kick – his first goal in Chelsea colours since April 2013 – put the runaway Premier League leaders ahead after 24 minutes but … Read more
Ghana, on Thursday, received $60,000 worth of laboratory supplies for the testing of meningitis, from the United States-based Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The donation was made under the Lead, Ghana Second Year of life Project (2YL) of the CDC, which forms part of their initiatives in preventing disease spread. Dr Mawuli K. … Read more