Measles Outbreak: Unvaccinated Visitors Told to Avoid Disneyland

Forty-nine of the 66 confirmed cases of measles have been traced back to the resort. There’s an outbreak of measles linked to the theme park, and one of California’s top public health officials recommended that children under 12 months and people who’ve never had a measles vaccination stay away from the park while the disease event continues. Dr. Gil Chavez, deputy director of the state’s Center for Infectious Diseases,...

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Disneyland Measles Outbreak Continues to Spread

The measles outbreak is growing with 59 confirmed cases in California—18 more than last week—and some 42 of those illnesses have struck people who were exposed at Disneyland in December, California health officials said Wednesday. State health departments in California, Colorado, Utah and Washington and have confirmed cases of the extremely contagious virus, the Los Angeles Timesreported on Wednesday. Taken together, the cases would account for...

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Africa Cup of Nations – Ebola Checks at Gates of AFCON 2015

Ebola screening system at the Africa Cup of Nations games in Equatorial Guinea. All supporters have a temperature check – with those above 38 °C  not allowed in – and must then use a hand-sanitization gel before entering the stadium. All players and visitors to the Africa Cup of Nations are required to be tested for Ebola upon their arrival in Equatorial Guinea. The tournament was set to be staged in Morocco, who won the competition...

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Ebola Drugs Could be Obsolete Before They’re Available

New treatments for Ebola could be obsolete before they are available for use by patients, because of genetic mutations in the disease, scientists have warned. They said they’d found 10 new mutations that might interfere with how three of the most advanced drugs work against Ebola. The drugs, including the experimental ZMapp given to several Ebola survivors, should be tested against the current strain, the researchers said. Experimental drugs...

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Five H5N1 Avian Flu Deaths So Far This Year

EGYPT An Egyptian woman and child died of H5N1 avian flu, the health ministry said on Monday, the fourth and fifth persons to die of the illness in the country this year. The six-year-old child died in Minya province on Monday evening, after a 47-year-old woman succumbed to the disease in Assiut province earlier in the day, ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar said. Both Assiut and Minya provinces are rural areas that have seen a number of bird...

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No New Ebola Cases in Bomi County, Liberia

Bomi County, Liberia has not recorded any new cases of Ebola since November 25, 2014, the County Health Officer, Dr. Gabriel G. Logan, has disclosed. He, however, said that this report “should not be the reason for the people of the county to rejoice but instead be cautious.” In an interview with the Liberia News Agency in Tubmanburg recently, Dr. Logan said the County Health Team (CHT) will continue efforts aimed at containing the virus until...

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Ebola vaccine gets $115M to speed development

Johnson & Johnson said on Friday that newly formed groups supporting work on its experimental Ebola vaccine would receive 100 million euros ($115 million) from Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative to speed development. The U.S. drug maker earlier this month announced it had started clinical trials of its two-injection vaccine, which uses a booster from Denmark’sBavarian Nordic, making it the third such product to enter human...

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26 year old Dies of Sepsis after getting Flu

A Wisconsin newlywed started to feel sick with the flu on a Monday. By Friday, she was dead. Katie McQuestion, a 26-year-old radiology technician got a flu shot to comply with hospital policy and had no underlying medical conditions, but she caught the flu and developed a serious complication from it. The Kenosha, Wisconsin, resident was shopping with her mom when she said she wasn’t feeling well. She felt aches, chills, and headaches, and...

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Malawi Floods Cut Off Thousands from Aid

The authorities in Malawi say at least 170 people have died in flash floods – a sharp rise on previous figures. Heavy rain over the past month has swept many houses away and caused residents to flee to higher ground, some crossing the border to Mozambique. Vice-President Saulos Chilima said more than 100,000 people had been displaced from their homes, mostly in the south. Earlier this week, the government declared a third of the country to...

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Disneyland Measles Outbreak Now In 4 States

What started as a measles outbreak among seven people who visited Disneyland in December has spread to more than 26, as an unvaccinated California woman apparently transmitted the virus through airports and the theme park, health officials said. The California Department of Public Health confirmed January 7 that the outbreak could be traced back to a group of people who had visited either Disneyland or Disney California Adventure Park (both in...

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