vaccines

The WHO declared the global eradication of wild poliovirus type 3 today, marking World Polio Day with a major milestone. Just wild poliovirus type 1 remains, however the work is far from over, Medium reports.

Once-rare measles outbreaks are returning to many African countries, where low vaccination coverage leaves many vulnerable.   About 44% of the world’s 2019 cases, as of September, were recorded in Africa—including a major outbreak in Madagascar with more than 150,000 cases…

Nearly 40% of estimated global cholera cases are reported from Asia, yet scant research exists on the overall economic burden of the disease.   

Madagascar. The DRC. The Philippines. Ukraine. An “alarming upsurge” of measles outbreaks in these countries and more has WHO experts on high alert, asking governments to double down on vaccination efforts. Measles cases rose a shocking 300% in the first 3 months of 2019…

Ebola in the DRC has been corralled into a much smaller geographical area—27 zones, compared to 207 at the outbreak’s peak, the WHO’s Michael Ryan told reporters yesterday. Now it must be killed—a special challenge for rural pockets where the threat of rebel attacks…

Predicting what fast-mutating influenza viruses will do is never easy, but the evidence so far indicates that North America should brace for a bad year. Flu season, which can start as early as October and typically peaks in January or February, kills between 12,000 and 79,…

Underdiagnosed or overdiagnosed? Easily cured or everlasting? Lyme disease is a tricky flashpoint for discordant groups of physicians and patients. The controversies are widely covered—what’s really needed, says editor Pamela Weintraub, is a spotlight on potentially game-…

Médecins Sans Frontières criticized the WHO for its approach on Ebola vaccine distribution, calling for the establishment of an international, transparent independent vaccine management committee.   MSF feels that the WHO’s “opaque management of the vaccine supplies,” with…

Sounding “an alarm bell that is ringing across the world,” the WHO announced yesterday that 4 European countries—the UK, Greece, Albania and the Czech Republic—have lost their measles elimination status, France24 r

Migrants in custody at the US border do not receive the flu vaccine, and officials have no plan to change that, The Hill reports.   The policy was revealed after Harvard and Johns Hopkins doctors requested a congressional investigation into detention center conditions…