Seychelles - Suspected Plague (Ex- Madagascar) (
WHO) On 10 October 2017, the Seychellois Ministry of Health notified WHO of a probable case of pneumonic plague. The probable case is a 34-year-old man who had visited Madagascar and returned to Seychelles on 6 October 2017. He developed symptoms on 9 October 2017 and presented to a local health centre. Based on a medical examination and reported history of recent travel to Madagascar, pneumonic plague infection was suspected and he was immediately referred to hospital where he was isolated and treated.
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Flu Experts See Potential for a Nasty Winter Season (
STAT) Influenza viruses are among the most unpredictable disease actors around. These constantly changing germs regularly humiliate anyone who is rash enough to forecast the potential severity of an upcoming flu season or how well - or poorly - the vaccine might work this year.
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Global Health Security
Medicine & Public Health
The Storm Has Passed, but Puerto Rico's Health Faces Prolonged Recovery (
STAT) As President Donald Trump signals impatience to wind down emergency aid to Puerto Rico, the challenges wrought by Hurricane Maria to the health of Puerto Ricans and the island's fragile health system are in many ways just beginning. Three weeks after that direct hit, nearly four dozen deaths are associated with the storm. But the true toll on Puerto Rico's 3.4 million residents is likely to involve sickness and loss of life that will only become apparent in the coming months and in indirect ways.
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Global Antibiotic Resistance Tracking Project Launched (
CIDRAP) Global charitable foundation Wellcome Trust today announced a new research project to track and document the burden of disease associated with antimicrobial resistance. The Global Burden of Disease AMR project will be collecting data from all over the world to create a map of disease and deaths caused by drug-resistant infections, according to a news release from UK-based Wellcome, which announced that it will be investing 2.4 million Pounds ($3.2 million US) in the project as part of its efforts to address the AMR threat.
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Science & Technology
Other 21st Century Threats
California Wildfires Burn on; 40 Dead in One Week (
H5N1) Authorities hope weaker winds will help more than 10,000 firefighters battle the deadliest blazes in California history, which have killed at least 40 people and destroyed thousands of structures in one of the state's worst natural disasters in years.
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Was the Fall of Rome a Biological Phenomenon? (
Los Angeles Times) Bill Gates is worried. The tech entrepreneur and philanthropist has been using his megaphone to warn us of the catastrophic risk posed by infectious diseases. In the Western world, where mortality from lethal germs has mostly receded into the background, the burden of infectious disease can seem like someone else's problem. But the struggle between humanity and infectious disease is never someone else's problem - certainly not in our globally interconnected society. And while modern medicine has the upper hand on many old microbial enemies, we should beware the sinister ability of pathogen evolution to thwart our cleverest weapons.
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