World Health Organization

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Japan Tops Life-Expectancy List

Sierra Leone, Afghanistan fall at bottom

(Newser) - Health initiatives and wars have flipped some of the world's life expectancies since 1990, the World Heath Organization said today. Some findings, via AP:
  • Japanese women, at 86, and San Marino men, 81, enjoy the longest life expectancies.
  • Sierra Leone men, 39, at Afghan women, 42, have the shortest.
  • In
...

Swine Flu Came From Lab: Researcher
Swine Flu Came From
Lab: Researcher
May 13, 2009 4:22 AM CDT

Swine Flu Came From Lab: Researcher

WHO investigates claim that H1N1 arose from human error

(Newser) - The World Health Organization is investigating a claim by an Australian researcher that the swine flu virus may have been created in a laboratory as a result of human error. Adrian Gibbs, who helped develop Tamiflu, said in an interview with Bloomberg that the new strain may have evolved in...

H1N1 Expands, Kills Costa Rica Man

(Newser) - The US swine flu count hit 2,254 yesterday and a Costa Rica man died of the disease, the first fatality outside of North America, the Wall Street Journal reports. In the US, 3,000 people are likely infected across 45 states and Washington, DC, including unconfirmed cases, the Centers...

Mexico Lowers Swine Flu Alert
 Mexico Lowers Swine Flu Alert 
May 4, 2009 12:22 PM CDT

Mexico Lowers Swine Flu Alert

(Newser) - The swine flu epidemic is waning, Mexican officials said today, lowering the Mexico City alert level. Businesses in the capital will be allowed to reopen Wednesday, while schools will remain closed until health officials finish inspecting them. Global health officials were more guarded, but said there were no plans to...

Swine Flu Alert Expected to Hit Highest Level

WHO prepares to issue pandemic warning

(Newser) - Despite an apparent slowing of the pace of reported cases of swine flu, the World Health Organization is expected to raise its infectious disease alert to the highest level, reports the Los Angeles Times. The current Phase 5 alert level means the disease has spread to at least two countries...

Firm Warned of Flu Weeks Before WHO Alert

Watchdog discovered threat in daily Web scan; notified CDC

(Newser) - A company that specializes in biosurveillance issued a warning about swine flu more than two weeks before the World Health Organization announced the possible threat, McClatchy reports. The Washington state firm, Veratect, scans tens of thousands of Web sites every day in search of potential medical concerns. It reported a...

Confirmed Swine Flu Cases Jump

WHO investigators find 257 confirmed cases in 11 countries

(Newser) - The number of confirmed swine flu cases worldwide jumped from 147 to 257 yesterday, according to the World Health Organization. Hundreds more suspected cases are still being investigated. The jump in confirmed cases is likely attributable to investigators working through their backlog of specimens rather than rapidly mounting incidents of...

Too Late to Contain Flu: WHO
 Too Late to Contain Flu: WHO 
Apr 28, 2009 4:44 AM CDT

Too Late to Contain Flu: WHO

(Newser) - Officials from the World Health Organization warn it’s too late to contain the swine flu and say governments should instead now focus on protecting their populations as best as possible, the BBC reports. The WHO bumped up its alert level from three to four—two levels shy of global...

Mexico Prepares to Shut Down Capital

Schools closed as Mexico scrambles to contain outbreak blamed for 149 deaths

(Newser) - Mexican authorities scrambling to contain the swine flu outbreak have closed schools and universities across the country and are considering a total shutdown of the capital, reports the Financial Times. Some businesses have remained open in Mexico City, but people are avoiding bars and restaurants, and the public transport system...

With 41 Sick, US Moves 'As If' Flu Is 'Full Pandemic'

(Newser) - With up to 41 people sickened by swine flu in five states and 149 dead in Mexico, the Obama administration is treating the outbreak like a full pandemic, the AP reports. Officials warned Americans against traveling to Mexico—where more than 1,600 have been infected—and sent flu-fighting medications...

US Swine Flu Cases Hit 40; Mexican Death Toll 149

(Newser) - The US is now confirming 40 cases of swine flu, while the death toll in Mexico is thought to have risen to 149, the Wall Street Journal reports. Of more than a thousand suspected cases in Mexico, only 26 have been confirmed, along with six in Canada and one in...

CDC Prepares Swine Flu Vaccine

(Newser) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has prepared a seed stock of vaccine for the swine flu that has killed dozens in Mexico and infected a handful of Americans, Time reports. The CDC has not begun mass production of the vaccine, opting instead to see if the outbreak reaches...

WHO Chief Sees 'Pandemic Potential'

(Newser) - The World Health Organization believes the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico and the southwestern United States could grow into a pandemic, the Washington Post reports. “It has pandemic potential,” said WHO’s director-general. “It is infecting people.” Margaret Chan cautioned that the WHO is still...

HIV Soars in People Over 50
 HIV Soars in People Over 50 
Mar 4, 2009 4:06 PM CST

HIV Soars in People Over 50

(Newser) - The number of people over the age of 50 with HIV is growing swiftly worldwide, AFP reports. In America, the percentage of those infected with the virus in that age group rose from 20% to 25% between 2003 and 2006, says a WHO report. In Brazil, the over-50 infection rate...

Sunlight Offers Ray of Hope in Preventing MS

Vitamin D deficiency triggers disease

(Newser) - Deadly multiple sclerosis, which slowly destroys the central nervous system, may be  prevented with healthy exposure to the sun or Vitamin D supplements, according to a new study. Fresh research at Oxford University shows a vitamin D deficiency triggers a gene variant that increases the risk of developing MS by...

Zimbabwe Cholera Outbreak Now Infects 60K

(Newser) - Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic has now infected more than 60,000 people, a number the World Health Organization had previously pegged as the “worst case scenario,” the BBC reports. More than 3,000 have died from the disease since its August outbreak, and with Zimbabwe’s water, sanitation,...

Surgery Checklist Saves Lives ... and Maybe $25B

Strategy employed by flight crews means 33% fewer complications for hospitals

(Newser) - It sounds like a no-brainer, but surgical teams who use a simple checklist similar to those employed by flight crews reduced deaths and complications by a stunning 33%, according to an international study. If every US hospital used the checklist, health care costs for treating avoidable complications could be cut...

Cholera Caused By 'Genocidal' Brits: Mugabe

UK unleashed it in 'racist terrorist attack,' minister claims

(Newser) - The cholera outbreak that’s killed some 792 Zimbabweans is actually a “genocidal onslaught on the people of Zimbabwe by the British,” at least in the mind of Robert Mugabe's information minister. He called the disease a “serious biological chemical weapon,” unleashed by England in “...

Cancer Will Be World's No. 1 Killer in 2010

(Newser) - Cancer will surpass heart disease as the world’s preeminent killer by 2010, Reuters reports. A WHO study concluded that cancer cases will double between 2000 and 2020, and almost triple by 2030, largely because of increased tobacco use in developing countries. In men, who are more likely to contract...

Watershed Vaccine May End Malaria Toll

If trials work as expected, shots could save millions of children

(Newser) - Scientists have developed a promising vaccine against malaria, a devastating disease that kills a milion people a year, most of them young children. Trials of the breakthrough vaccine enter the final phase next year and it could be widely available by 2012, reports the Los Angeles Times. Successful trials have...

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