53 die from cholera in Republic of CongoMon, 05 Feb 2007 04:27:37 GMTBy LOUIS OKAMBA, Associated Press Writer BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo - At least 53 people have died of cholera since mid-November in the Republic of Congo, according to official figures released Sunday. Local officials said they believed the real toll was much higher. The majority of the deaths have been in the southern commercial hub of Pointe Noire, where World Health Organization representative Nafo Faoumata Traore said the contagion entered the city water system after heavy rains. A group organized by the government of the Central African country and the WHO said the death toll includes a handful of cases in the capital, Brazzaville, that appeared to involve people who had been in Pointe Noire. More than 2,800 cases of the potentially deadly waterborne disease have been reported in Pointe Noire since Nov. 15, said Henri Joseph Mpara, the head of the group. Pointe Noire Mayor Roland Bouity Viodo said he believed many more people had died than were reflected in the official statistics, noting that the death toll only includes cases confirmed by medical centers. Republic of Congo, a former French colony to the west of the larger, former Belgian colony Congo, had previously reported an outbreak of deadly diarrhea in the region, often the first sign of cholera. Transmitted through contaminated water, cholera is linked to poor hygiene, overcrowding and inadequate sanitation. Though it can be treated easily, the disease is a major killer in developing countries. Consumers still worried about E. coliMon, 05 Feb 2007 05:10:25 GMTBy JANET FRANKSTON LORIN, Associated Press Writer NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - September's national spinach recall has shaken consumer confidence in the safety of leafy green vegetables, according to a new national survey. Consumers are still avoiding greens and questioning safety issues, months after spinach contaminated with http://www.foodpolicyinstitute.org U.N. bird flu chief Expect more casesMon, 05 Feb 2007 04:21:57 GMTBy CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer JAKARTA, Indonesia - The world should expect more bird flu outbreaks in the coming months, the U.N. official coordinating the global fight against the virus warned Sunday after Britain recorded its first case of the H5N1 strain on a commercial farm. Dr. David Nabarro said, however, that he did not expect the virus to spread in Britain to neighboring farms because of the quick containment measures put in place by the government. "This should mean that there won't therefore be spread ... into other parts in the vicinity," he told The Associated Press in Indonesia, the country worst hit by the virus. "That is what I hope, but of course we will see over the next few days." He said countries around the world where the virus was not endemic would likely see more cases in poultry before June, mostly spread by migrating birds. "I am expecting to see outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in a number of locations over the next three or four months, and I am basing it on what happened last year," he said, stressing that the risk to human health remained very small. Nabarro said a recent spike in human deaths in Indonesia meant the country must do more to fight the virus despite improving its efforts in recent months, including the slaughter of backyard chickens in the capital last week. "Just at the moment there are rather a lot of ... so that is why everybody needs to be a little anxious about what is happening and everybody needs to be forceful on moving rapidly and strongly forward with intensifying measures." H5N1 has prompted the slaughter of millions of birds across Asia since late 2003 and caused the deaths of more than 160 people worldwide, around a third of them in Indonesia, according to the World Health Organization. Most people killed so far have been infected by domestic fowl and the virus remains very hard for humans to catch. But experts fear it could mutate into a form that easily spreads among humans, sparking a pandemic with the potential to kill millions. |
