viral infections - The African Mirror

Dec

2023

Stigma, regulatory barriers delay mpox response in country that needs it most

VACCINESand treatments that could help tackle an mpox epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo are lying unused outside the country despite a death rate far higher than from the global outbreak that began last year. Stigma, regulatory hurdles and competing disease outbreaks are all factors holding back the response, according to almost a dozen scientists, public health officials and drugmakers involved. Since January, at least 581 people have died of mpox in Congo out of 12,569 suspected cases, compared to 167 deaths among 91,788 reported cases in 116 other countries since January 2022, according to the World Health Organization.…

Sep

2021

By The African Mirror

WHO plans to eliminate bacterial meningitis epidemics by 2030

HEALTH

THE World Health Organization (WHO) is aiming to eliminate the most deadly form of meningitis by 2030 through increased awareness and access to treatments, global plans launched by the UN-agency to combat the inflammatory disease showed. Meningitis is a dangerous inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. While it is typically caused by bacterial and viral infections, bacterial meningitis kills more people than any other form of the disease. The "Global Roadmap to Defeat Meningitis by 2030" was launched by a coalition of partners at a virtual event in Geneva to focus on preventing infections and improving…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

The common cold might protect you from coronavirus – here’s how

HEALTH

WE often assume that viral infections are caused by individual virus types. But in reality, we’re exposed to many viruses on a day to day basis, and co-infection – where someone is simultaneously infected by two or more virus types – is quite common. MATTHEW JAMES, Research Assistant, Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, Queen's University Belfast The cells lining our throat and lower airways are exposed to the environment around us, making them a prime target for co-infection by respiratory viruses. These range from common-cold-causing rhinoviruses to the more serious influenza viruses, which are often the cause of global pandemics.…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Ebola might be a chronic infection – but here’s why we shouldn’t panic

HEALTH

EBOLA is back in Guinea in West Africa, five years after the largest Ebola epidemic ever known ended – but it has not come back the way we expected it to. CONNOR BAMFORD, Research Fellow, Virology, Queen's University Belfast Eighteen people are reported to have been infected, of which nine have died. Although vaccines against Ebola exist and have been rolled out, there is the fear that these small clusters of infection could ignite into something much, much larger. What’s unusual about the virus that has caused this new outbreak is that it doesn’t seem to have come from an…