Month: April 2022

An outbreak of Ebola has been declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - four months after the last one ended. A case was confirmed in a 31-year-old man on 5 April. He was admitted to an Ebola treatment centre on Thursday, but died hours later. The World Health Organisation's regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said: "Time is not on our side. The disease has had a two-week head start and we are now playing catch-up." Overall, this is the 14th Ebola outbreak that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has seen since 1976, which is when the virus was first discovered. Efforts to stem the current outbreak have already begun, with officials confirming that the patient who died has received a safe and dignified burial. More than 70 of his cont...

CNN  —  At least 169 cases of acute hepatitis in children aged one month to 16 years old have been identified in an outbreak that now involves 11 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday. Among the cases of acute hepatitis, at least one child has died and 17 children have required liver transplants, the WHO said in a news release. “It is not yet clear if there has been an increase in hepatitis cases, or an increase in awareness of hepatitis cases that occur at the expected rate but go undetected,” the WHO said in a statement. “While adenovirus is a possible hypothesis, investigations are ongoing for the causative agent.” The clinical syndrom...

LONDON -- A rise in hepatitis cases among children is under investigation by experts. Some recent reports from the U.S., U.K., and EU health organizations including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show that some children between 11 months and 13 years old have been diagnosed with hepatitis. The exact cause is still unknown, experts say. Hepatitis is a characterized by liver inflammation and damage. It can sometimes be caused by a virus, but sometimes caused by other factors, such as toxins or medications. Pediatric hepatitis cases were first reported in the U.K. with 10 cases report on April 5, according to the World Health Organization. However, WHO's report from April 15 showed there were 108 cases across the U.K. in the following days. On Tuesday, the European C...