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Image:  Haitians in a cholera treatment center in 2011. Credit Andres Martinez Casares for The New York Times.

nytimes.com - July 6th 2016 - The Editorial Board

As Haitians were reeling from the devastating Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, United Nations peacekeepers inadvertently compounded their troubles by bringing cholera to the island. Roughly 10,000 Haitians have died from the disease, which spreads easily in places with poor sanitation.

The United Nations hasn’t acknowledged its responsibility and has vigorously fought legal efforts to secure compensation for victims.

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Super bacteria found on Rio beaches, Olympic venues

cnn.com - by Flora Charner - July 5, 2016

Rio de Janeiro (CNN)A group of Brazilian scientists has detected a drug-resistant bacteria growing off some of Rio de Janeiro's most stunning beaches, in research being published a month before the city hosts the 2016 Olympic Games.

According to lead researcher Renata Picao, the "super bacteria" entered the city's waterways when sewage coming from local hospitals got channeled into the bay.

"We have been looking for 'super bacteria' in coastal waters during a one-year period in five beaches," Picao told CNN during a visit to her lab. "We found that the threats occur in coastal waters in a variety of concentrations and that they are strongly associated with pollution."

The samples were collected between 2013 and 2014. The superbug found was carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE.

Picao said there is no reason to believe the levels have changed because raw sewage continues to flow into many waterways.

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Image:  People shopping at a market in Lagos, Nigeria. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

theguardian.com - June 28th 2016 - Kweifio-Okai and Josh Holder

Global population hit 7.3 billion midway through 2015, an increase of 2 billion since 1990. It will continue to climb steadily, according to forecasters, reaching 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100.

But there is more to the population story than unprecedented numbers.

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submitted by Carrie La Jeunesse

cdc.gov - June 24, 2016

Summary: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has received reports from international healthcare facilities that Candida auris, an emerging multidrug-resistant (MDR) yeast, is causing invasive healthcare-associated infections with high mortality. Some strains of C. auris have elevated minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) to the three major classes of antifungals, severely limiting treatment options. C. auris requires specialized methods for identification and could be misidentified as another yeast when relying on traditional biochemical methods. CDC is aware of one isolate of C. auris that was detected in the United States in 2013 as part of ongoing surveillance. Experience outside the United States suggests that C. auris has high potential to cause outbreaks in healthcare facilities. Given the occurrence of C. auris in nine countries on four continents since 2009, CDC is alerting U.S. healthcare facilities to be on the lookout for C. auris in patients.

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