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the-disease

Drug resistance adds to India’s tuberculosis menace

After three years of battling tuberculosis, a disease that claimed the lives of his father and younger brother, Sonu Verma, a patient in northern India, hopes a cure for his illness may be within reach. “Only a few more months and my nightmare will end… it will be my rebirth, free from tuberculosis,” the 25-year-old scrap dealer, who has been left visibly lean and weak by the disease, told AFP. As India marks World TB Day on Thursday, it faces an estimated 2.2 million new cases of the disease a year, more than any other country, according to the World Health Organisation.

World health chief says US, Saudi discussing MERS vaccine

By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States and Saudi Arabia may prepare a vaccine for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) to try and head off the next outbreak of the disease, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. Margaret Chan said Saudi Health Minister Khaled al-Falih was discussing this with U.S. public health officials. “They communicated and looked at collaboration and to see whether we can, in terms of preparedness, get some vaccines ready in advance of another MERS outbreak,” Chan told reporters.

American nurse exposed to Ebola released from hospital

(Reuters) – An American nurse who was exposed to Ebola while volunteering in Sierra Leone was released from the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center in Maryland on Friday without showing signs of the disease, NIH said. “The patient has shown no clinical or laboratory evidence of Ebola infection and will complete 21 days of monitoring at a private residence in Virginia under the direction of the Virginia Department of Health,” NIH said in a statement. …

Worst Ebola outbreak on record tests global response

(Reuters) – Global health authorities are struggling to contain the world’s worst Ebola epidemic since the disease was identified in 1976. The virus has killed at least 5,160 people. Here is a timeline of the outbreak: March 22: Guinea confirms a hemorrhagic fever that killed more than 50 people is Ebola. March 30: Liberia reports two cases; Ebola suspected in Sierra Leone. April 1: Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warns Ebola’s spread is “unprecedented.” A World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman calls it “relatively small still. …