Public health and national security experts shake their heads when President Donald Trump says the coronavirus "came out of nowhere" and "blindsided the world." They have been warning about the next pandemic for years and criticized the Trump administration's decision in 2018 to dismantle a ...
Gilead drug prevents type of coronavirus in monkeys, raising hope for China trials
An experimental Gilead Sciences antiviral drug prevented disease and reduced the severity of symptoms in monkeys infected with Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), an infection closely related to the fast-spreading coronavirus that originated in China, a study published on Thursday found. The results, reported in ...
WHO extends emergency status of Ebola in Congo but welcomes sharp decline in cases
The U.N. health agency on Wednesday said it was extending its global emergency designation for the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo but said the sharp decline in cases was "extremely positive. The recent outbreak was first identified in August 2018 and has since killed more ...
U.S. working with pharmaceutical firm on new type of coronavirus treatment
The United States is working with a pharmaceutical company to develop a treatment for the 2019 novel coronavirus, using a class of drug that has boosted survival rates among Ebola patients, officials said Tuesday. The partnership between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ...
Thirty-six people have been killed in a suspected militia attack in the eastern DR Congo region of Beni, where hundreds have died in violence since November, a local official said Wednesday. Congolese troops have been carrying out a military operation on an armed group in ...
U.S. developing vaccine against deadly China virus and urges Beijing cooperation
The United States said Tuesday it was developing a vaccine against a deadly virus that originated in China, and urged Beijing to step up its cooperation with international health authorities. The U.S. government is keen to place its own teams on the ground to review ...
A tragic airline crash with far-reaching consequences, cataclysmic cyclones that may be a harbinger of the future, the death of an African icon and a new leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize. These African stories captured the world's attention in 2019 — and ...
Ebola death toll 2,231 to date in conflict-hit Congo, monitoring agency reports
A total of 2,231 people have died out of 3,373 declared cases of Ebola in the current epidemic in the DR Congo, according to the agency overseeing the response, health officials said Sunday. Deadly unrest in the fragile state has hampered the fight against the ...
On a Baltic Sea island once used by the Nazis for biological weapon research, German scientists are developing virus vaccines that could save lives. Access to the island of Riems is highly restricted. Scientists who work there have to have disinfectant showers when entering or ...
Islamist rebels reportedly hack to death 22 in eastern Congo despite presence of U.N. peacekeepers
Islamist rebels hacked to death at least 22 civilians, 13 of them women, in an overnight raid in the DR Congo's troubled Beni region bordering Uganda, local officials said Sunday. Members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist-rooted militia with its origins in Uganda, ...
Twenty-three cases of Ebola have been recorded in four days in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where deadly violence is hampering efforts to end the 16-month-old epidemic, authorities said on Thursday. Ten cases were recorded on Tuesday alone in Mabalako in North Kivu province, after ...
Rwanda begins vaccinating against Ebola at border with Congo
Rwanda on Sunday started a voluntary Ebola vaccination program at its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly virus from its neighbor. All countries in high-risk areas, even if not hit by Ebola, had been ...
