Full Coverage: Disease

28.02.2006 A new test for the dreaded kala-azar disease, developed by scientists at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi offers a number of advantages over the old one.

27.02.2006 Bird flu may take its toll on the environment too. Indian healthcare experts are worried that the large-scale burial of infected birds, using unscientific methods, by panicked farmers may contaminate soil and water.

27.02.2006 Small-scale poultry farming and wild birds are being blamed for the bird flu crisis when the real culprit is the transnational poultry industry, according to a report out today.

26.02.2006 The Indian government has said that 94 of the 95 human samples for the H5N1 strain of bird flu have tested negative, and the last is being subjected to further tests to conclusively establish its status. Meanwhile, culling operations within a 10 km radius of Navapur in Maharashtra, ground zero of the disease outbreak in India, have concluded.

24.02.2006 It is believed that most cases of bird flu infection in humans have resulted from contact with infected poultry or contaminated surfaces, by touching of germs and then touching their mouth, nose, eating, licking of their fingers and rubbing their eyes.

24.02.2006 Government officials, awaiting the report on the last of the five samples that indicated human case of bird flu during preliminary tests, are hopeful this sample too would finally test negative for H5N1.

23.02.2006 Posters, fact-sheets, teacher's guides, and children's books are just some of the latest weapons in the war against bird flu.

22.02.2006 A new multinational fund that will leverage long-term commitments from rich governments to raise urgently needed financing for health programmes in poor countries is "close to implementation", it was announced yesterday.

21.02.2006 It isn’t chicken feed. Bird flu is beginning to hurt as the Rs 28,000-crore poultry industry is turning out to be the first big casualty of the avian flu virus scare now spreading across the country.

21.02.2006 India's first confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza or 'bird flu' surfaced in western Maharashtra state, over the weekend, catching authorities unprepared and threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of poultry workers, in this populous, farming country.

17.02.2006 WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb 17 (OneWorld) - Deaths from lung cancer and other health problems tied to tobacco use are expected to double to 10 million per year by 2020 but the real figure likely will be much higher, researchers warned Friday.

17.02.2006 This year, Macedonia marked the International Childhood Cancer Day, acting on the initiative of Peperutka - Macedonian Association of Parents for Fight Against Childhood Cancer and Leukemia. Peperutka held a small ceremony at the “Holiday Inn” Hotel, in which it screened a film about children with cancer and leukemia. The “Peperutka” Association presented its donors and collaborators with special diplomas in gratitude for their support in 2005.

16.02.2006 Mounting evidence that more people in Asia and the Pacific will be dying of chronic diseases rather than infectious ones by 2015 will force the region's governments to redraw their public health budgets, say United Nations officials.

16.02.2006 Simple, inexpensive and community based solutions are yielding big rewards in a country with the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the world. Programs that focus on local participation, education and integrated approaches to improving healthcare are giving people the tools needed to treat and prevent the biggest killers: malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.

15.02.2006 The only way for Africa to combat bird flu successfully is through an effective communication strategy that enables the public to prepare both for outbreaks in their poultry stocks and for a possible human pandemic, says Tom Egwang.

13.02.2006 The World Health Organisation has confirmed that two Indonesian women died last week of the lethal H5N1 strain of avian influenza, raising the death toll from the virus in Indonesia to 18. The death last week of a 23-year-old Indonesian man still has to be confirmed as a bird flu case.

10.02.2006 After 50 years of trying, India finally managed to reach the elimination target for leprosy in December 2005, in all but nine states. Multi-drug therapy (MDT) tablets provided by the World Health Organisation are said to be responsible for the turnaround.

09.02.2006 In many countries where bird flu is threatening flocks, poultry is the main source of food and income so educating the populations about the dangers of the disease and how it is spread is vital to prevention efforts. Communication campaigns that target those who are most at-risk are empowering farmers in Southeast Asia thanks to the Academy for Educational Development.

09.02.2006 A major charity appeals for support from churches as it launches a campaign to tackle tuberculosis, which it claims is the world’s biggest killer.

03.02.2006 For the first time in three years the number of polio-endemic countries has dropped and eradication efforts will enter a new phase that targets the two surviving strains of the virus. Egypt and Niger have been polio-free for 12 months, the first time in recorded history, thanks to efficient and intense immunization campaigns designed to halt Africa's polio epidemic.