Round up

Round-up

Public health round-up

People living in areas affected by Zika virus should take measures to protect themselves from mosquito-bites and destroy mosquito habitats to prevent pregnant women becoming infected with Zika virus, according to WHO interim guidance issued last month. Zika virus infection in pregnancy is typically a mild disease, but an unusual increase in cases of neurological disorders and neonatal malformat...

Public health round-up

WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan has taken charge of coordinating the international response to the Ebola virus disease outbreak in west Africa to prevent its spread beyond the four countries that have already been affected. The Director-General launched the Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak Response Plan in West Africa at a meeting with the presidents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone on 31 ...

Public health round-up

The World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners despatched 1.9 million doses of yellow fever vaccine to Angola last month to quell a large outbreak, amid fears it could spread to other parts of central and eastern Africa. Since the outbreak was first reported in the capital Luanda in December 2015, it has spread to at least five of the country’s 18 provinces. As of 10 April, 582 people wer...

Public health round-up

The first clinical trials of an experimental vaccine for Ebola virus disease in Africa started last month in Mali to test its safety and ability to provoke an immune response, or immunogenicity. News of this and other vaccine trials came as the international community ramped up efforts to stop the outbreak that is ravaging parts of western Africa. Clinical trials to test the safety and immunoge...