WHO News

On 26 September 2017, WHO was alerted to a suspected outbreak of monkeypox in Yenagoa Local Government Area (LGA) in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. The index cluster was reported in a family. All of whom developed similar symptoms of fever and generalized skin rash over a period of four weeks. Epidemiological investigations into the cluster show that all infected cases had a contact with monkey about a month prior to onset. View the full article

The response to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at a critical juncture. WHO faces a precarious situation given recent increases in insecurity, incidents of community mistrust, and increased geographical spread. View the full article

From 1 June through 16 September 2018, the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) National Focal Point of Saudi Arabia reported 32 additional cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), including 10 deaths. View the full article

The response to the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at a critical juncture. While substantial progress has been made, the situation is precarious given recent increases in insecurity, incidents of community reluctance and geographical spread. View the full article

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo remains active. While substantial progress has been made to limit the spread of the disease to new areas and the situation in Mangina (Mabalako Health Zone) is stabilizing, the cities of Beni and Butembo have become the new hotspot. Response teams continue to enhance activities to mitigate potential clusters in these cities and prevent spread to other areas. View the full article

On 6 September 2018, a cholera outbreak in Harare was declared by the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) of Zimbabwe and notified to WHO on the same day. View the full article

On 23 August 2018, the Algerian Ministry of Health (MoH) announced an outbreak of cholera in northern parts of the country, in and around the capital province Algiers. View the full article

Six weeks into the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the overall situation has improved since the height of the epidemic; however, significant risks remain surrounding the continued detections of sporadic cases within Mabalako, Beni and Butembo health zones in North Kivu Province. View the full article

On 8 September 2018, the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) National Focal Point (NFP) of the Republic of Korea notified WHO of a laboratory-confirmed case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). View the full article

Yellow fever outbreak in Republic of the Congo 7 September 2018 View the full article

Situation report on the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC 7 September 2018 View the full article

Since March 2013, when the avian influenza A(H7N9) virus infection was first detected in humans, a total of 1567 laboratory-confirmed human cases, including at least 615 deaths, have been reported to WHO (Figure 1) in accordance with the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005). So far, all but three reported cases have occurred in China. In the latest wave (the sixth wave, which began in October 2017), only three human cases have been detected; meanwhile there have been fewer A(H7N9) virus detections in poultry and environment samples, according to reports from mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region China. View the full article

On 22 August 2018, the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) National Focal Point for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland notified WHO about a laboratory-confirmed Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection. The patient is a resident of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia who was visiting the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. View the full article

The outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at a key juncture. Recent trends (Figure 1) suggest that control measures are working. Over the past week, contact follow-up rates have substantially improved, most patients recently admitted to Ebola treatment centres (ETC) received therapeutics within hours of being confirmed, and ring vaccination activities have scaled to reach contacts (and their contacts) of most confirmed cases reported in the last three weeks. However, the outbreak trend must be interpreted with caution. Since the last Disease Outbreak News on 24 August 2018, 13 additional confirmed and probable cases have been rep…

Disease outbreak news for Yellow fever in French Guiana. View the full article

Disease outbreak news for EVD in DRC. View the full article

On 1 August 2018, the Ministry of Health (MoH) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the town of Mangina, Mabalako Health Zone, North Kivu Province. View the full article

Disease outbreak news on Ebola in the DRC - Operational readiness and preparedness in neighbouring countries. View the full article

On 1 August 2018, the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease in North Kivu Province, in the eastern part of the country. North Kivu is among the most populated provinces in the country, shares borders with Uganda and Rwanda, and experiences conflict and insecurity, with over one million internally displaced people and migration of refugees to neighbouring countries. View the full article

On 5 June 2018, a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreak was confirmed in Sokoto State, Nigeria. From 30 January through 23 May 2018, ten environmental samples collected from two collection sites all tested positive for genetically-related VDPV2 viruses. No associated cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) have been detected with this cVDPV2. View the full article

As of 17 July 2018, a total of 19 Nipah virus (NiV) cases, including 17 deaths, were reported from Kerala State: 18 of the cases were laboratory-confirmed and the deceased index case was suspected to have NiV but could not be tested. The outbreak was localized to two districts in Kerala State: Kozhikode and Malappuram. No new cases or deaths have been reported since 1 June 2018 and, as of 30 July, human-to-human transmission of NiV has been contained in Kerala State. View the full article

Disease outbreak news for ebola in DRC. View the full article

As 42 days (two incubation periods) have passed since the last possible exposure to a confirmed Ebola virus disease case, on 24 July 2018, the Minister of Health, Dr Oly Ilunga announced the end of the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, commends the country and partners in the response against the outbreak while urging them to extend this success to combatting other diseases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. View the full article

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, three different circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreaks have been detected in acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases. View the full article

The Ministry of Health and WHO continue to closely monitor the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. View the full article