Health

PRAGUE, Jan 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A highly contagious bird flu has been confirmed at a Czech farm, officials said after a French farm union warned of the risk of a new outbreak in Europe.

Czech official Petr Vorlicek said “the highly pathogenic H5N8 subtype lethal for birds” was found at a small farm 150km southeast of the capital Prague.

Vorlicek, spokesman for the State Veterinary Administration (SVS), said the infection at the farm in Stepanov nad Svratkou was most likely imported by wild water birds.

KINSHASA, Jan 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 6,000 people died since the start of 2019 as a result of the “world’s worst measles epidemic” raging across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

A lack of funding, according to the WHO, remains a major obstacle in the control of the epidemic. Only 27.6 million U.S. dollars have been raised, but around 310,000 suspected cases of measles have been reported since the outbreak of the disease, said the statement.

Melbourne, Dec 26 (PTI) One in three adolescents globally are at the risk of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and cancer, with low fruit and vegetable intake, and physical inactivity as the most prominent risk factors, according to a study.

The study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine, is the largest global research of the major lifestyle risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in adolescents.

SUVA, Dec 26 (NNN-RNZ) – The Samoan government confirmed, one more death, in the island nation’s measles epidemic on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 81, since the measles outbreak started in mid-Oct.

According to Samoa Observer newspaper on Thursday (today), the Samoan Ministry of Health said, the death of a child under five years old was reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death of measles to 81, mostly of children under five years old.

SAMOA, Dec 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Samoa began a two-day shutdown today (Thursday), as authorities embarked on an unprecedented mass vaccination campaign, to contain a deadly outbreak of measles that has killed 62 people, mostly small children, in the Pacific island nation.

New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) Dengue cases have risen in the national capital, taking the total number of people affected by the vector-borne disease this year in the city to over 1,700, according to a municipal report released on Monday.

The number of malaria cases recorded till November 30 has also risen to 685, it said.

TEHRAN, Dec 3 (NNN-IRNA) – At least 56 people have died from flu in Iran, over the past two months, Iranian Deputy Health Minister, Alireza Reisi, was quoted as saying.

Reisi said that, over the past week, 273 people were admitted to hospitals, because of exposure to the disease, of which 19 patients died.

The Iranian official said that, nearly all the patients who lost their lives were old people or people with chronic diseases.

He urged people to observe sanitary directions and protective measures, with the arrival of the cold season.

BRASÍLIA, Nov 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Brazil released revised statistics showing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest surpassed 10,000 sq km in the year to July 2019, the highest in more than a decade.

The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said last week that satellite data showed 9,762 sq km were cleared of trees in the 12-month period, an increase of 29.5 per cent.

SUVA, Nov 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Samoa’s Ministry of Health confirmed today (Saturday), that two more deaths have been recorded in the island nation’s measles epidemic, in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 44, since the outbreak started in mid-Oct.

According to a government statement, all but four of the deaths are children under the age of four.

The Ministry of Health said, a total of 3,357 cases have been recorded to the Disease Surveillance Team so far, with 208 cases reported in the last 24 hours.

GENEVA, Nov 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Dengue is now endemic in 128 countries and is the biggest threat to world health. With Pakistan and Laos among the most affected, the international community must take drastic action to stop dengue outbreaks.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), dengue strikes as many as 96 million people each year, a huge leap from the 1970s when it existed in only nine countries.