Human health

New virus in Africa looks like rabies, acts like Ebola

NBC,

27 September, 2012

"A virus that killed two teenagers in Congo in 2009 is a completely new type, related to rabies but causing the bleeding and rapid death that makes Ebola infection so terrifying, scientists reported on Thursday. They’re searching for the source of the virus, which may be transmitted by insects or bats.

The new virus is being named Bas-Congo virus, for the area where it was found. Researchers are finding more and more of these new viruses, in part because new tests make it possible, but also in the hope of better understanding them so they can prevent pandemics of deadly disease."

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SARS-like virus infected five in Denmark – reports

Arabian Business,

27 September, 2012

Five people, including a family of four, have been isolated in a Danish hospital after contracting similar symptoms to the new viral respiratory illness, it was reported.

The patients are suffering from “fever, coughing and influenza-like symptoms,” chief physician Svend Stenvang Petersen of Odense University Hospital told Associated Press.

The father of the family had recently been to Saudi Arabia while an unrelated person had travelled to Qatar. Two of those with symptoms are under the age of five, said Petersen.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier in the week confirmed that the new coronavirus, which comes from the same family as SARS, has killed one person and left a second man in hospital.

For article GO HERE

Epilepsy 'is a global health problem'

BBC,

27 September, 2012

Epilepsy is twice as common in low and middle-income countries as it is in the developed world, according to an international team of researchers.

They say the higher incidence is linked to increased risk factors, including head injuries and infections such as pork tapeworm and river blindness.

And more than 60% of sufferers in those countries receive no appropriate treatment, they say in the Lancet.

A Lancet editorial said epilepsy had to be a global health priority.

Epilepsy is a condition in which disturbances to the brain's normal electrical activity cause recurring seizures or brief episodes of altered consciousness.

There are about 40 different types. Epilepsy is not a mental illness, but can develop after injury or damage to the brain.

About 85% of the global burden of epilepsy occurs in low and middle-income countries.

For article GO HERE