Contagion

BAMAKO/CONAKRY, April 4 (Reuters) - An angry crowd attacked an Ebola treatment centre in Guinea on Friday, accusing its staff of bringing the deadly disease to the town, Medecins Sans Frontieres said, as Mali identified its first suspected cases.

More than 90 people have already died in Guinea and Liberia in what medical charity MSF, or Doctors without Borders, has warned could turn into an unprecedented epidemic...

Please click HERE for more of this article

Jockeys take their camels home after racing in Egypt's El Arish desert. The annual race draws competitors from around the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, where camels carry the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus.  Nasser Nouri/Xinhua /Landov

CLICK HERE - mBio STUDY
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection in Dromedary Camels in Saudi Arabia

npr.org - by Richard Knox - February 25, 2014

Scientists have gotten close to pinning down the origin of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, a dangerous respiratory disease that emerged in Saudi Arabia 17 months ago.

It turns out the MERS virus has been circulating in Arabian camels for more than two decades, scientists report in a study published Tuesday.

So far MERS has sickened more than 180 people, killing at least 77 of them — an alarming 43 percent.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

An ICRC-led programme is working to reduce prison rat populations

Two cases of pneumonic plague - more deadly than bubonic plague - have been reported in Madagascar, a health official has told the BBC.

bbc.co.uk - December 11, 2013

It comes after it was confirmed that there was a deadly outbreak of the bubonic plague in a village in the north-west of the island.

Pneumonic plague can be inhaled and transmitted between humans without involvement of animals or fleas.

It is the most virulent and least common form of plague.

It can kill within 24 hours.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

(ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE)

who.int

Global Alert and Response (GAR)

3 June 2013 - In Israel, wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) was isolated from sewage samples collected on 9 April 2013 in Rahat, southern Israel. The virus has been detected in sewage only; no case of paralytic polio has been reported. Genetic sequencing and epidemiological investigations are ongoing to determine its origin. Preliminary analyses indicate the strain is not related to the virus currently affecting the Horn of Africa. The virus isolate was detected through routine environmental surveillance in Israel that involves regular testing of sewage water. Israel has been free of indigenous WPV transmission since 1988. In the past, wild poliovirus has been detected in environmental samples collected in this region between 1991 and 2002 without occurrence of cases of paralytic polio in the area.