Current Events

Smallpox shots cause worry

Dec. 6, 2002 - Hundreds of volunteers are receiving vaccinations for Smallpox to determine how they will react. President Bush's health advisors have recommended vaccinating as 11 million military personnel, hospital workers and other emergency workers in the coming months. The reactions to the vaccine were similar to those experienced in the past, but more extreme than people expect from modern vaccinations. Swelling, soreness, itching, and some high fevers and flu-like symptoms have caused concern. So far, none of the recipients have become fatally ill.

Source:MSNBC

HIV total tops 40 million

Nov. 26, 2002 - There are now more than 40 million people infected with the HIV/Aids virus, and 3.1 million have died with the disease this past year. Africa is still the area most affected, with one out of three adults being infected in some areas. Asia is beginning to follow the same trend.

Source:BBC

Alibek Warns of Worldwide Smallpox Catastrophe

Sept. 27, 2002 -

One of the world’s leading authorities on biological weapons, the former head of Soviet biowarfare, warns that a smallpox release by Iraq could cause a worldwide calamity of biblical proportions.

Dr. Ken Alibek says that it is known that Saddam Hussein's government has a bio-warfare disease known as "camel pox," and that it most likely he has smallpox and an even more lethal "blackpox". If the time comes that he thinks he is going down in defeat, he would probably release these plague on the world. Dr. Alibek suggests that inoculations against smallpox be given in advance of its possible use.

Source:NewsMax

CDC Chief: West Nile Is An Emerging Epidemic

Aug. 12, 2002 - West Nile virus has been in the U.S. since 1999, but the rate of spread and the death rate have increased this year. It has been discovered in 35 states and Washington D.C.

West Nile virus is an "emerging, infectious disease epidemic" that could be spread all the way to the Pacific Coast by birds and mosquitoes, the director of the Centers for Disease Control said Sunday.

Source:Yahoo

New superbug found in US hospital

July 24, 2002 - A strain of Staphylococcus bacteria has appeared in a Michigan hospital that is resistant to vancomycin, the strongest drug available.

Source:Guardian, UK

Lab creation fuels bioterror fears

July 12, 2002 - To demonstrate the threat of bioterrorism, researchers at the University of New York at Stony Brook assembled a polio virus from information available on the Internet. They injected it into mice, and the animals were paralyzed.

...the laboratory demonstration proved that eradicating a virus in nature may not mean it is gone forever. Biochemists can now reconstruct the viruses from blueprints easily available in scientific archives and from biological supplies that can be bought through the mail.

Source:The Australian

Aids vaccine 'within five years'

July 8, 2002 - An American company, VaxGen, says a vaccine for Aids could be available in five years, which is five years sooner than previously thought. They believe that the vaccine is in its last year of testing.

Source:BBC

Report: 40 million living with AIDS

July 3, 2002 - AIDS has killed 13 million people so far in 45 countries, and officials say that by the year 2020 the number could climb to 68 million!

Twenty years since it was first identified as a health threat, doctors said the epidemic -- despite already killing 13 million people and infecting an additional 40 million men, women and children -- is still in its early stages.

Source:UPI

Nuke Test Fallout Caused 15,000 U.S. Deaths

Mar. 1, 2002 - A Health and Human Services Department study will soon be published, suggesting that at least 15,000 deaths and another 20,000 nonfatal cancer cases in the U.S. were caused by radioactive fallout from weapons tests during the Cold War. Not only U.S. tests, but those done by Russia and Britian, contributed to the problem. Radioactivity was spread by complex weather patterns.

When fallout from all domestic and foreign tests was combined, no U.S. resident born after 1951 escaped exposure, according to the study.

Source:Yahoo

Medical Sleuths Try to Figure Out Mysterious Rash That Has Affected Hundreds of Students

Feb. 15, 2002 - A new or unidentified disease has afflicted hundreds of students in Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Oregon and Washington state. The symptoms are a rash on the face, arms, legs and body. It is not considered a serious health threat, but officials are alarmed because they have not been able to explain what it is and why it appeared suddenly in such geographically separated places. Dr. Norman Sykes, a dermatologist and professor at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, thinks the cause may be a virus related to "fifth disease," once considered one of the five main childhood illnesses It causes cold-like symptoms, followed by a rash. He says it could also be a totally unknown disease.

"We only know a tiny, tiny percentage, certainly less than 10 percent, of the organisms that are in and on our bodies," said infectious-disease expert Madeline Drexler, author of "Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections."

Source:TBO.com

Secret Agents: The Menace of Emerging Infections - Open Book - Online edition

US anthrax woman dies

Nov. 22, 2001 - Ottilie Lundgren, a 94 year old Connecticut woman, became the fifth fatality of the Anthrax attack in america. How she contracted the disease is a mystery. She lives alone and seldom goes out. Spores have not been found in the mailbox she used.

Source:BBC

N.Y. hospital worker dies of inhalation anthrax

Oct. 31, 2001 - The death of a woman by inhallation Anthrax in New York adds new mystery to the situation. The woman, a hospital worker, and a New Jersey woman are the first people to contract the disease during this outbreak without having some connection to a mail-handling facility. It raises the possibility that tainted letters are reaching people's homes.

Source:CNN

Postal workers taking anthrax drugs

Oct. 23, 2001 - two postal employees of the Brentwood mail processing facility in Washington D.C. have died from inhalation anthrax.

That facility processes all mail for Washington, which means it probably would have processed the anthrax-laced letter recently opened in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Now all postal workers in the nation's capital are being given antibiotics as a preventative against the further spread of the disease.

Source:CNN

More D.C. postal workers tested for anthrax exposure

Oct. 22, 2001 - A Washington D.C. postal worker has become the third person to contract inhalation anthrax, the most deadly form of the disease. More than 2000 other postal workers are undergoing tests to see if they are infected or not.

Source:CNN

UN's smallpox terror alert

Oct. 21, 2001 - The World Health Organization has issued a warning to governments around the world to prepare against a terrorist smallpox attack which could kill millions of people.

'The unthinkable is no longer unthinkable and we need to prepare for that,' said a spokesperson for the WHO, the United Nations' health agency. 'There has been a lot of concern about a smallpox outbreak. The numbers it would kill are scary.'

Most people under 40 have not been vaccinated against smallpox, which has a fatality rate of up to 90 per cent, can kill in 48 hours. The disease was considered eradicated in the 70's, but the existence of the disease in research facilities makes it possible that it could be used as a bioweapon.

Source:Guardian Unlimited Observer

See also:US lawmakers warned of "dark winter" in case of bioterrorist attack - July 2001

'No Medications Proven Effective' to Treat Smallpox

Oct. 19, 2001 - Smallpox was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980, but research cultures are kept in the CDC in Atlanta, and in a Russian research facility where it was developed as a possible biological weapon during the Cold War. Heritage Foundation Foreign and Defense Policy Analyst Michael Scardaville said:

"The security at the Russian plants is far from excellent, and it is not inconceivable that some scientists or [Russian] mafia member ... could have put a small amount of the culture into their pocket and walked out, [then] sold it to someone."

Source:Prophezine/ from NewsMax

See also: Federal Smallpox Plan Ready

U.S. plans to increase smallpox vaccine stocks

Oct. 17, 2001 - The Department of Human Health and Services is requesting $500 million in resources to increase stockpiles of Smallpox vacine, just in case it will be needed in the fight against terror

Source:MSNBC

31 Test Positive for Anthrax Exposure in Capitol

Oct. 17, 2001 - Many of Tom Daschle's aids and two policeman have tested positive the anthrax spores. They are all bveing treated with antibiotics, and none have become ill at this time.

Source: Fox News

Child of ABC Worker in New York, Second Florida Man Infected With Anthrax

Oct. 16, 2001 - The child of an NBC producer has been infected with Anthrax. A co-worker of the Florida photographer who died of the disease has contracted it also. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has received a letter with the spores. The scare continues, but fortunately, only one person has died so far.

Source: Fox

New US anthrax cases emerge

Oct. 15, 2001 - A policeman and two lab workers who handled the letter sent to NBC were all found to have anthrax spores on them, but they are not considered infected by the disease. They are taking antibiotics as a precaution.

Source: BBC

New York anthrax case sparks probe

Oct. 13, 2001 - The anthrax scare has spread to New York. A woman employee of NBC became the fourth known person to be infected with anthrax. Her's is the cutaneous variety, introduced through breaks or abrasions in the skin.

Source:MSNBC

Americans kept in dark about Weapons of Mass Destruction

Oct. 11, 2001 - Experts are complaining that the general public in America, and possibly even emergency professionals are not adequately prepared to handle attacks by weapons of mass destruction (Chemical, Biological, Nuclear). Government officials avoid the subject for fear of causing panic, but there is a need for greater preparedness.

Source:WorldNetDaily

Epidemic Kills 200 Nigerian Children

Apr. 10, 2001 - In Kano, Nigeria, at least 200 children have died during the past two weeks in epidemics of cerebrospinal meningitis and measles. An anonomous source reported that more than 100 new cases were being reported each day.

According to this individual, "The situation is so bad. We are battling to save these children's lives. This is the worst I've seen since I became a medical doctor."

Source: Discovery News

Stolen Foot-And-Mouth Virus 'Released Deliberately'

Apr. 8, 2001 - It is possible that the current outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease started with the deliberate release of the virus. One news source, The Sunday Express, says that a container of the virus disappeared from a secret Government lab at Porton Down in Wiltshire two months before the crisis began.

Source: Prophezine- from Line One- Skynews - UK

World fighting growing TB threat

Mar. 24, 2001 - The number of people infected with tuberculosis in the world has risen by 6% over the past two years, and now stands at almost 8.5 million. In about 90% of the cases the disease could be stopped by use of antibiotics.

"The problem is that in many poor countries, those drugs are not available, or patients don't understand the importance - and indeed, health care workers don't understand the importance of patients completing a full course of treatment - and for those reasons, the cure rates are often quite low."

Drug-resistant strains of the disease do exist, and HIV patients are especially vulnerable because of their reduced resistance to disease.

Source:BBC

World moves to contain disease

Mar. 15, 2001 - Meat and grain products from Europe are being banned in about 90 countries around the world in order to stop the spread of the highly-infectious foot-and-mouth disease.

Some countries, such as the U.S. have even begun disinfecting shoes, luggage and clothing of some travellers arriving from Europe.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned of the possible global spread of the disease. FAO animal health service chief Yves Cheneau called for tougher checks on the import of food products, including those carried by tourists, as well as stricter controls on immigrants and tourists.

Source: BBC

Mutant fungus from space

Mar. 8, 2001 - When Russia's Mir Space Station return to Earth in late March, it will be bringing with it mutated forms of fungus which have developed in the unique environment of the space station for some 15 years. It will splash down in the ocean near New Zealand. Scientists are concerned about the possible effects of the new strains here on Earth.

Source: BBC

Fear Spreads Over 'Mad Cow' Disease

Jan., 2001 - There is a well-documented link between a disease of cattle called 'bovine spongiform encephalopathy' (BSE) and a brain-wasting human disease known as 'variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease' (vCJD).

The so-called 'Mad Cow' Disease is untreatable and invariably fatal. It is contracted by humans eating beef that has been infected. The spread of the condition in cattle was apparently accelerated by the practice of feeding left-over beef products to other cattle. This practice has now been banned in many places. Early cases of the disease were found in Britain, where scores of people have died, but it has also struck in France, Ireland, Portugal and Germany. There is fear that the danger is spreading to Europe and could become a threat to the rest of the world.

EU to extend beef restrictions

EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler warned about the economic impact of the beef scare. He said the state of Europe's beef market was alarming, and much worse than previously forecast, having dropped 27%, and causing huge problems in disposing of thousands of tons of meat.

Source: BBC

Related news:

Full special report on BSE and CJD- BBC

BSE ansd CJD Crisis Chronology - BBC

Global alert on BSE - BBC

Mad Cow Research Steady, But Slow Due to Disease’s Bizarre Form - ABC

Deadly virus fuels bio-terror fears

Jan. 11, 2001 - The accidental creation of a deadly version of mouse smallpox in the laboratory raises concerns that lethal human viruses can be produced by similar mistakes or deliberate genetic manipulation.

Source: BBC News

Human Form Of Mad Cow Disease May Have Spread To Russia

Dec. 6, 2000 - The European plague of this brain-wasting disease may be spreading to Russia, and they may be unable to control it.

Source:FOX

Also: Mad cow disease came from comets, say academics in Britain - Weekend News Today

Russia's Aids catastrophe growing

Nov. 28, 2000 - HIV infection in Russia continues to grow exponentially. More new infections have been documented there during 2000 than in all previous years put together. Experts predict more than a million Russian people will be infected by HIV within two years.

Source: BBC

Christians Around the World Encouraged to Pray for Those Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS on World AIDS Day - Friday, December 1

See the summary of this story in our section on homosexuality.

3 Million AIDS Deaths in 2000

Nov. 25, 2000 - While Sub-Sahara Africa is the worst area for AIDS, the disease is now spreading worldwide, including a 60 percent rise in previous Soviet bloc countries. The total number of people in the world infected by the virus that causes AIDS tops 36 million, and more than 3 million are expected to die during the year.

Source: Prophezine - from The Washington Post

There is no cure for Ebola. It kills everyone in its path. And it is back with a vengeance

Oct. 17, 2000 - In the Gulu district of northern Uganda, 63 cases of the highly contagious and deadly Ebola virus have been confirmed.

Unchecked Ebola, identified in 1976, can cut through a population like a scythe, killing everyone in contact with it. There is no vaccination, no known cure, and it can kill in 48 hours, although incubation can take 14 days. The only effective action is to isolate the infected area and allow those with the disease to die. Only three out of every 10 will survive.

Source: Independent News

Mandala: Aids threatens humankind

July 14, 2000 - Speaking at the closing session of the International Aids Forum at Durbin, former South African President Nelson Mandela described the Aids epidemic as "one of the greatest threats humankind has faced."

Source: BBC

See also: Special Report: Aids in Africa

Chernobyl's effects linger on

May 11, 2000 - Recent environmental tests indicate that the fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in Russia is still higher than expected in some parts of northern Europe. The leader of the team doing the tests is Dr Jim Smith, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, part of the UK's Natural Environment Research Council.

Dr Smith and his colleagues say the restrictions may be needed for another 10 to 15 years, 100 times longer than originally estimated.

And forest berries, fungi and fish from parts of the former Soviet Union will remain restricted for another half century.

.

Source: BBC

Legionnaires' spreads to Australian government official

May 10, 2000 - Australia's finance minister is among the 80 or more who have contracted Legionnaires Disease in recent days. Most of the victims visited a new aquarium in the southern city of Melbourne. The outbreak has been traced to air conditioning cooling towers.

Source: BBC

Rwanda: Four in five deaths Aids-related

May 3, 2000 - During the past three months, 80% of deaths in Rwanda have been AIDS related, and many of the victims receive no medication.

Source: BBC

See also:

BBC Special Report: Aids up close

US: Aids is security threat

Flu rages across US

Jan. 8, 1999 - A serious flu season has overwhelmed hospitals in many places across the nation. Almost all of the cases are caused by the Sydney influenza strain, a type-A virus.

"It's bad all over the country," said Dr Robert McNamara, chief of emergency medicine at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. "The flu shot apparently is not doing its job, and from all reports, it could be one of the worst seasons we've seen in years."

The CDC says flu causes about 20,000 deaths and more than 110,000 hospitalizations a year.

Source: BBC

See also: Raging Flue - CBS

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Dec. 17, 1999 - An interesting and informative series from BBC's award winning world affairs editor, John Simpson, on threats to the Earth's well-being. NOTE: The author's description of some of these "horsemen" is different from our interpretation of the first four seals of Revelation 6.

First Horseman - Environmental Disaster

Second Horseman - War

Third Horseman - Organized Crime

Forth Horesman - Disease

33 million carry AIDS virus

Nov. 23, 1999 - The AIDS virus is still spreading even though there are powerful new drugs available. There are now 33.6 million HIV positive people including 1.2 children. In 1999 alone, 5.6 million will become infected with HIV.

Source: news.com.au

Aids: The Agony of Africa

Nov. ,1999 - Part One: The Virus Creates a Generation of Orphans - by Mark Schoofs

Two-thirds of the HIV-positive people of the world live south of the Sahara in Africa.

Last year, the combined wars in Africa killed 200,000 people. AIDS killed 10 times that number. Indeed, more people succumbed to HIV last year than to any other cause of death on this continent, including malaria. And the carnage has only begun.

Source:The Village Voice

Superbug kills three more

Nov. 4,1999 - Four deaths in Hong Kong have been attributed to a bacteria which has developed a resistance to the most powerful drugs, and is therefore unstoppable. The strain of bacteria is called vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA).

Source:South China Morning Post

New Flu Strain Could Kill Millions

Oct. 27, 1999 - A new and potentially deadly strain of flu, contracted from pigs in Hong Kong, is under scrutiny with the hopes that it will not spread rapidly.

Pigs were thought to have started the 1918 Spanish flu outbreak, which lead to the deaths of an estimated 20 million people around the world.

Source:Yahoo

U.N. official says world too slow on AIDS

Sept. 13, 1999 - Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of the U.N. AIDS agency (UNAIDS), is calling for a world alliance to combat AIDS. He noted that half of all newborn babies in Africa carry the HIV virus that leads to AIDS, but not enough is being done to stop the epidemic. Source: CBN News

Ebola-like virus kills 73 in Congo gold mine

Sept. 10, 1999 - A gold mine in the Congo is the center of attention in the outbreak of a disease which is very much like ebola, and has caused 73 deaths so far. Source: Excite News

Marine diseases set to increase

Sept. 2, 1999 - According to an article in Science magazine, pollution and other human activities, as well as long-term warming of ocean waters, is causing diseases to be carried to remote species, resulting in mass mortalities. Source: BBC News

Decline In Deaths From AIDS Has Stalled

Aug. 31, 1999 - AIDS deaths in the United States is still down, a trend that began three years ago with medical advances, but the rate of decline is dropping, and there are "disturbing signs that new HIV infections may be rising" among young homosexuals. Source: Washington Post

The threat of bio-terror in the U.S.

Aug. 30, 1999 - According to the August 1999 issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine,"Strike Teams" in 120 major American cities are in training for a possible major biological terrorist event. Perpretrators of a biological attack could be responsible for thousands of deaths within days of spraying lethal agents into the air or on food. By the time the illness is analyzed, several days later, the terrorists would have time to disappear, and infected people would travel all over the country spreading the disease. Source: WorldNetDaily

'Scientists started Aids epidemic'

Aug. 28, 1999 - A new book called The River makes a strong case for the possibility that the AIDS virus was first introduced to humans accidentally through a vaccine. Source: BBC News

Ebola fears in Berlin

July 5, 1999 - Two men in Berlin are believed to be the first Europeans to contract the Ebola Virus. The two, a cameraman and a biologist have just returned from the Ivory Coast. They have been placed in quarantine.

Ebola causes severe bleeding and high fever leading to death. It has been considered untreatable, but just this week a Nigerian scientist claimed to have found a plant which may stop the spread of the disease. Even if it is valid, treatment will not be available for up to 5 years. Source: BBC News

Biohazard bacteria stolen

June 29, 1999 - A deadly culture of Tuberculosis was stolen from a medical conference in San Francisco by someone who probably has no idea what he has taken. Source: BBC News

See also: Six Diseases Threaten The World

Another Doomsday Clock Is Ticking, Ticking

June 20, 1999 - Eric Margolis writes about the growing threat, especially from Russia and China, of biochemical warfare.

According to Ken Alibek, a former deputy director of the Soviet-era top-secret biowarfare program, who defected to the west, Russia never ended its offensive biological warfare research. Alibek claims Russia has stockpiled many hundreds of tons of anthrax and plague, as well as smaller quantities of smallpox, Ebola and Marburg virus, and toxins designed to attack plants and animals. Russia is also developing a new strain of `invisible' biowarfare agents, known as `bioregulators,' that destroy the body's immune or neurological systems.

Bleeding virus hits Congo

May 4, 1999 - An Ebola-like virus has already claimed the lives of 63 people in the Congo, and is moving toward Sudan. This disease may or may not be like the Ebola virus, which was first identified in 1976. A epidemic in the Congolese city of Kikwit in 1995 caused at least 245 deaths. Source: BBC News

Zimbabwe:1200 AIDS deaths a week

April 18, 1999 - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says that 1200 people are dying from AIDS each week, up from 700 per week a year ago. More than 20% of the population has the disease.
Source: Yahoo News (Story no longer on line)

AIDS Origin Discovered

Feb. 1, 1999 - Scientists have determined that human infection by HIV-1 began in the first half of this century "as a result of people hunting and eating the chimps." The article says that this practice continues today.

The team said that genetic tests show the main human virus, HIV-1, is closely related to a virus that infects chimps but does not make them sick.

33.4 million people were living with AIDS in December of 1998. 5.8 million became infected in 1998 alone - one every 11 minutes. Source: BBC: Sci/Tech.

Sudan: Cry, The Divided Country

World Vision Policy Paper on Sudan

AIDS Getting Worse

June 24, 1998 - While AIDS deaths have declined in some places due to better education and better treatment, it has skyrocketed in others. A new study from the World Health Organization shows that in 1997 AIDS death reached the 2.3 million mark, which is a 50% increase over the previous year. About 16,000 people per day contract the disease. In some parts of Africa one person in every 4 is infected. In the United States and Western Europe less than 1% of the population has AIDS. Experts estimate that an effective cure for Aids Is at least 10 years away. This Sunday the 12th World AIDS Conference will convene in Geneva. 12,000 specialists and others will discuss advances in HIV research. (Post Gazette Online)

All Fall Down

May 11, 1998 - This article from The New Scientist magazine explains why a large terrorist "bio-attack" is a likely scenario for the future.

Youth Plagued by AIDS

April 22, 1998 - A UN report claims that worldwide, children and youth between the ages of 10 and 24, are contracting AIDS at the rate of 5 per minute (7000 per day)! Because of this, UNAIDS is launching an education campaign called "Force for Change: World AIDS Campaign with Young People."

Biological Terrorism: "Just a Matter of Time"

April 2, 1998 - Maj. John Friel, chief of the Army's Chemical and Biological Defense Command in Abderdeen, Md., says that, even though no group is presently known to plan civilian attacks using chemical or biological weapons, it will eventually happen in a US city. Tokyo suffered such an attack in their subways three of years ago. That incident killed 12 and injured 6000. (Source: Yahoo / UPI)

World Health Organization: TB Out Of control

Mar. 19, 1998 - Health officials sounded the alarm that 1 billion may become infected by TB and 70 million die during the next two decades. The major problem is in poor countries with inadequate treatment, but there is also the threat of drug-resistant strains that have developed, for which there is no cure. (Source: MSNBC - Story no longer on line.)

Expert: World Vulnerable to Biological Weapons

March 10, 1998 - According to D.A. Henderson, former World Health Organization (WHO) scientist , anthrax and smallpox could be stolen from the poorly guarded Soviet Vector Base, the Russian complex that keeps eradicated viruses. These deseases could be developed into weapons which would be very effective because people are no longer vaccinated against them. (Source: Yahoo - Story no longer on line.)

Arsenic In The Water

Feb. 19, 1998 - In one of the biggest outbreaks of poisoning this century, scientists have discovered that Bangladeshi villiagers are being slowly poisoned from water wells provided by foreign aid agencies. As many as 30 million people are at risk of developing cancer from the contamination. (Source: Online Guardian - Story no longer on line.)

Military To Get Anthrax Inoculation

Dec. 16, 1997 - The government will begin the process of vaccinating all 1.5 million men and women in the armed services against anthrax, the deadly flu-like disease which can be used as a military weapon. (Source: Washington Post - Story no longer on line.)

Monkeypox Outbreak In The Congo

Dec. 12, 1997 - According to a Washington Post article, there has been an increase of incidences of humans contracting Monkeypox in Congo, with at least 511 cases reported since February, 1996, making this the largest outbreak on record. The disease is similar to Smallpox, but less severe. So far, fatalities have been limited to approximately 5. (Source: Washington Post - Story no longer on line.)

Researcher Dies From Monkey Infection

Dec. 11, 1997 - CNN - A woman researcher at Emory University's Primate Center contracted Herpes B from a monkey when a fluid from the monkey struck her in the eye. After a six-week struggle, the researcher, whose identity was not revealed, has died.

AIDS Epidemic Is Far Worse Than Thought

November 26, 1997 - According to an official report from UNAIDS, there are close to 16,000 new infections a day at present. From the report: "New estimates show that infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS is far more common in the world than previously thought (see table). UNAIDS and WHO estimate that over 30 million people are living with HIV infection at the end of 1997. That is one in every 100 adults in the sexually active ages of 15 to 49 worldwide ². Included in the 30 million figure are 1.1 million children under the age of 15. The overwhelming majority of HIV-infected people - more than 90% - live in the developing world, and most of these do not know that they are infected."

There is much more information in the report.

The Coming Plague

Overview site for two-part, four hour documentary about infectious diseases.
Here is the description of the documentary:
Turner Broadcasting Superstation has put two years of work into a 4 hour documentary based on the research from Laurie Garrett's book of the same name. Part 1 (two hours long) will show Sunday, April 20, 1997 at 9pm (ET). It will show again Monday, April 21 at 12:05 am (ET). Part II (also two hours long) will show Sunday, April 27 at 9pm (ET). Part II will show again Monday, April 28 at 12:05 am (ET).

Hour one: "Virus Hunters" follows disease cowboys around the world in an effort to solve epidemic mysteries anddiscover ways to prevent future outbreaks.

Hour two: "The Price of Passion" focus on the AIDS epidemic and its global implications.

Hour three: "Revenge of the Microbes" documents the pathogens ability to fight back against our technology.

Hour four: "A World Out of Balance" details how many aspects of 'modern' life must change if we are to avoid -- the coming plague.

|

National Center For Infectious Diseases.

Read about "New, Reemerging, and Drug Resistant Infections," and link to The Center For Disease Control.