Global Pulse

分类： health

  • US pays out $3m to victims of mystery Havana Syndrome condition reported by spies

    US pays out $3m to victims of mystery Havana Syndrome condition reported by spies

    Eight years after the first public reports of a puzzling neurological condition dubbed Havana Syndrome emerged from U.S. diplomatic staff in Cuba, the U.S. government has issued nearly $3 million (£2.2 million) in compensation to affected personnel and their families. These payments mark the first formal financial relief granted to U.S. agency staff impacted by the mysterious illness, whose origins stretch back more than a decade to early unreported cases among CIA officers posted to Havana.

    Since those initial incidents, hundreds of “anomalous health incidents” matching Havana Syndrome profiles have been recorded across the globe, from diplomatic posts in China to domestic locations in Washington D.C. Affected individuals have described a wide range of debilitating symptoms: many report hearing unexplained auditory phenomena including persistent low hums, sharp clicks, high-pitched squeals, and what they describe as the sound of grinding metal. Others experience intense pressure around the skull, chronic dizziness, persistent nausea, and lasting cognitive impairment that disrupts daily life.

    The compensation, announced by the U.S. Department of Defense, was authorized under the 2021 Havana Act, federal legislation designed to support personnel affected by the condition. In a statement accompanying the announcement, DoD officials reaffirmed their commitment to prioritizing care for all affected staff moving forward.

    For more than a decade, the origin of Havana Syndrome has sparked fierce public and intelligence community speculation. The earliest reports of concentrated symptoms among overseas diplomatic and intelligence staff led to widespread theories that a foreign adversary was deploying a novel directed-energy or sonic weapon to attack U.S. personnel. Many researchers and observers have pointed to pulsed microwave radiation as a plausible cause of the neurological damage reported by victims, reinforcing the foreign attack hypothesis.

    “My brain is broken,” former CIA analyst Erika Stith, who is among those affected, told CBS News in 2022. “We got this as a result of serving our country. And we deserve to be taken care of.”

    In a 2023 declassified assessment, the majority of U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that it is “very unlikely” that a foreign state actor used a purpose-built novel weapon or prototype device to cause harm to U.S. personnel and their families. A small minority of the intelligence community, however, has not fully ruled out the foreign attack theory, leaving the question of origin formally unresolved.

    Crucially, the 2023 assessment from the National Intelligence Council emphasized that no U.S. intelligence body questions the reality of the suffering experienced by affected individuals. The entire intelligence community agrees that victims reported “genuine, sometimes painful and traumatic, physical symptoms and sensory phenomena” honestly, the report confirmed.

    Havana Syndrome first entered the public consciousness in 2016, when U.S. diplomats in Havana publicly reported falling ill after hearing unexplained piercing sounds at night in their homes and offices. By 2017, rising reports of symptoms led the U.S. government to withdraw more than half of its embassy staff from the Cuban capital. Canada, which also recorded dozens of similar cases among its own diplomatic personnel in Havana, followed suit in 2019, sharply cutting its on-ground presence in the country. While public cases only emerged a decade ago, some researchers and victims have traced similar unexplained neurological incidents back to the Cold War era, suggesting the condition may have been affecting intelligence and diplomatic staff for decades.

  • ‘Concern in the community’ over New York City Legionnaires’ outbreak

    ‘Concern in the community’ over New York City Legionnaires’ outbreak

    A growing outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe bacterial pneumonia, has put residents of New York City’s Manhattan Upper East Side on high alert, prompting city health officials to roll out an aggressive containment response while drawing criticism from local political leaders over the pace of action. As of this week, 46 confirmed cases of the infection have been recorded, with the city tracing the source of the outbreak to contaminated water cooling towers on large buildings across the neighborhood.

    For many local residents like Justine Kirby, the outbreak has already changed daily routines. Kirby now wears a fitted N95 protective mask for every outdoor walk through the normally quiet neighborhood and keeps all apartment windows closed to reduce exposure risk. “I know the overall risk for most people is low, but until all contaminated sites are cleaned and disinfected, there’s no real downside to taking these extra precautions,” Kirby explained in an interview.

    Health department data shows 22 of the 46 infected patients have required hospital admission, with a portion of those patients admitted to intensive care units for severe respiratory symptoms. Legionnaires’ disease is caused by Legionella bacteria, which thrive in warm water environments. When bacteria are carried through the mist emitted by cooling towers, people can inhale the pathogens and develop pneumonia. For immunocompromised individuals and untreated cases, the infection can be fatal.

    Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiology professor at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, noted that cooling towers on large commercial and residential buildings are the perfect breeding ground for the bacteria, explaining how the current outbreak has spread through the dense urban neighborhood. “Warming temperatures driven by climate change are expected to make these kinds of outbreaks more frequent and severe over time, even though Legionnaires’ has been a documented public health risk in New York and other major global cities for decades,” Dr. El-Sadr added.

    City health officials have launched what they call an aggressive response to the cluster of cases. New York City Health Commissioner Alister Martin told a packed community town hall held at a local Upper East Side church this week that early detection of the outbreak was a critical advantage for containment teams. “We have identified 160 cooling towers across the affected region that need testing, and we are not waiting to take action,” Martin said, per remarks obtained by ABC News. The current policy requires any building with a positive Legionella test to immediately complete full cleaning and disinfection of its cooling tower, rather than delaying action for additional confirmatory testing. As of this week, multiple building owners have already finished the disinfection process, with more work ongoing.

    Not all local leaders are satisfied with the city’s response, however. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin raised sharp concerns at the town hall and in a formal letter to Commissioner Martin, saying she is “deeply concerned that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has still failed to require building owners to proactively disinfect all cooling towers in the area under investigation.”

    While Kirby said she feels reassured by the city’s widespread testing efforts, she added that many residents who attended the town hall still have unanswered questions about how to best protect themselves from exposure. City guidance currently advises residents to monitor for flu-like symptoms associated with the disease and seek immediate medical care if symptoms develop, but the health department has not issued a formal recommendation for or against outdoor masking for local residents. When contacted by the BBC for comment on masking guidance, the department did not respond. Dr. El-Sadr, however, said that well-fitted masking and closed windows are sensible protective steps for residents living in the core of the outbreak zone, a point Kirby says the city could have communicated more clearly.

    This outbreak is the latest in a series of Legionnaires’ events impacting major North American cities in recent years. In 2025, an outbreak in London, Ontario, recorded 105 cases and five deaths. Last August, a Legionnaires’ cluster in Harlem, upper Manhattan, infected 114 people and killed seven, with investigators tracing the source to cooling towers at Harlem Hospital and a nearby city public health laboratory site. Notably, the Upper East Side currently holds more than three times the number of cooling towers that were tested during the 2025 Harlem outbreak, according to city health department data.

  • Safety recall made on Chickadees after rubber found in packets

    Safety recall made on Chickadees after rubber found in packets

    Australia’s national food safety regulator has launched an urgent product recall targeting specific batches of a widely distributed chicken-flavored snack, after producers confirmed the presence of rubber contamination in affected packaging. Food Standards Australia (FSA) announced the recall Wednesday for certain production runs of Snackbrands Chickadees, a popular corn and rice-based snack sold across the country. The contamination was first identified by the snack’s manufacturer during routine quality checks, prompting the immediate nationwide recall notice. Affected products have been stocked at all major Australian grocery chains, including Woolworths, Coles, and independent IGA locations, making the recall relevant to consumers across every state and territory. The FSA has published a full list of affected batches to help customers identify potentially contaminated products: 6-pack multipacks of 19-gram single-serve bags with best-before dates of August 1, August 8, and August 12; 190-gram bulk bags with an August 15 best-before date; and both 90-gram and 45-gram sized bags with a December 12 best-before date. In an official public notice posted to its website, FSA is urging all consumers who have purchased any of the affected batches to avoid consuming the product immediately. Instead, customers are instructed to return the snack to their original point of purchase to receive a full refund, no receipt required per most retail chains’ recall policies. For consumers who may have already eaten portions of the affected snack, FSA advises that anyone experiencing adverse health effects or unusual symptoms should contact a medical professional promptly for assessment. Rubber contamination in food products poses a choking hazard and can cause internal damage if consumed, making this recall a high-priority public safety alert. This recall comes as Australian food safety officials continue to ramp up checks for foreign material contamination across popular snack lines, following a small uptick in similar incidents over the past 12 months.

  • Major blow as first native bird and mammal suspected to have H5 strain

    Major blow as first native bird and mammal suspected to have H5 strain

    Australia’s ongoing battle against the highly pathogenic H5 bird flu strain has entered a worrying new phase, with two unprecedented developments that mark potential shifts in how the virus is spreading across the country. For months, all confirmed infections detected in Australia have been limited to migratory birds, which carry the virus along their intercontinental flight paths. That boundary has now been broken, public health and agricultural officials confirmed Friday.

    In South Australia, authorities have announced the first confirmed case of the deadly strain in a native Australian seabird. The infected animal, a greater crested tern, was found dead at the Robe Marina earlier this week. It was collected for testing the same day it was discovered, and laboratory results returned Friday morning confirmed the presence of the H5 strain. Two additional confirmed cases in native giant petrels, found at Emu Bay and Port Vincent respectively, were also finalized Friday.

    Clare Scriven, South Australia’s primary industries minister, sought to reassure the public that the detection does not yet signal widespread community spread of the virus to native bird populations. “Importantly, while this is the first confirmed detection in an Australian seabird, it is being treated as an isolated incident,” Scriven said. She added that critically, there have still been no detections of the virus in commercial or domestic poultry flocks, and no recorded signs of mass mortality events across any wild bird populations anywhere in the country.

    Alongside the first native bird detections, a second unprecedented development is now being investigated in New South Wales, where tests are underway on a dead New Zealand fur seal that could become the first confirmed case of bird flu in a mammal on the Australian mainland. While seals have already been recorded as susceptible to the virus—with hundreds of elephant seals killed by an outbreak on Australia’s remote sub-Antarctic Heard and McDonald Islands in recent months—any confirmed case on the mainland would mark a new expansion of the virus’s reach into non-avian wildlife on Australia’s populated coast.

    Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins told reporters Friday that the total number of confirmed bird flu detections across Australia now stands at 12. She described the discovery of the infected tern as a “concerning development”, noting that greater crested terns are coastal seabirds whose range overlaps with the migratory seabirds that have previously tested positive for the H5 strain along Australia’s shorelines. Officials are continuing surveillance of coastal wildlife and monitoring for any further signs of spread, while maintaining biosecurity protocols to protect the nation’s poultry industry from what remains the most significant bird flu outbreak risk in Australia’s recent history.

  • What to know about ‘explosive diarrhoea’ parasite outbreak in US

    What to know about ‘explosive diarrhoea’ parasite outbreak in US

    A widespread outbreak of the diarrhoea-causing parasitic infection cyclosporiasis has swept across more than a dozen U.S. states in recent months, driving a sharp spike in reported cases and prompting public health alerts from local and federal agencies.

    Cyclosporiasis, an intestinal infection triggered by the microscopic Cyclospora parasite, is primarily contracted through the consumption of food or water contaminated with the pathogen. The most defining symptom of the infection is frequent, watery, and often explosive diarrhoea. While the illness is rarely fatal, it can linger for weeks if left untreated, and symptoms may reoccur after initially fading, with an average incubation period of around one week after exposure. Unlike many common infectious diseases, the infection cannot spread directly between people; transmission only occurs via the faecal-oral route through contaminated food or water, according to Dr. Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

    The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed that outbreaks have been documented across 17 states since early May, including large population states such as Illinois, New York, and Texas. Between May 1 and June 16, the latest window for which the CDC has released aggregated national data, 145 confirmed cases were reported nationwide, with 20 patients requiring hospital admission. No fatalities linked to the current outbreak have been recorded to date.

    State-level data compiled in early July tells a far starker picture of the outbreak’s spread, with case counts far outpacing the CDC’s aggregated national figures. As of July 8, Michigan alone had recorded nearly 1,000 confirmed cyclospora cases within a single two-week period, making it the epicenter of the ongoing outbreak. Neighboring Ohio has reported 177 cases, while Illinois logged 141 cases by July 7 — a number state health officials described as “higher-than-average” compared to typical seasonal infection rates.

    Public health experts note that the actual number of infections across the country is almost certainly higher than official counts. Many people with mild cases recover at home without seeking medical care, meaning their infections are never officially diagnosed or reported.

    Investigators have not yet identified the specific source of the current outbreak, a common challenge in cyclospora investigations, according to health experts. Contamination of fresh produce typically occurs at the farm level, often during irrigation or pre-harvest handling, which makes tracing the source of the pathogen difficult. Past outbreaks of cyclosporiasis in the U.S. and Canada have been linked to contaminated raw produce including pre-packaged bagged salad mixes, fresh cilantro, basil, raspberries, snow peas, and green onions. To date, no specific produce variety, grower, or supplier has been tied to the current outbreak.

    In response to the rising case counts, Michigan’s state health department has issued guidance for food service operations, urging restaurants and commercial kitchens to reduce infection risk by thoroughly washing leafy greens, cooking raspberries and leafy greens when possible, and discarding the outer layers of lettuce and green onions before serving. This guidance comes amid a minor divergence in federal recommendations: while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration notes that rinsing produce alone is rarely effective at removing Cyclospora, the CDC still maintains that thorough washing is a recommended precaution.

    For members of the public, health officials are urging anyone experiencing persistent watery diarrhoea to contact a healthcare provider to get tested for the infection, even as they emphasize that the illness remains far less common than other foodborne pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli.

  • How Ebola misinformation is fuelling violent attacks against health workers

    How Ebola misinformation is fuelling violent attacks against health workers

    In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak is facing an unprecedented threat not just from the virus itself, but from rampant misinformation that has turned local communities against the frontline healthcare workers trying to save lives. Among the countless stories of violence is the account of 27-year-old Daniel Uyirwoth Welo, a Red Cross volunteer who survived a brutal assault while carrying out a critical safe burial of an Ebola victim at a Bunia cemetery last month. Welo recounted how a crowd, driven by false rumors that the Ebola victim’s coffin was empty, seized him from behind, beating him with punches, spades, and machetes alongside three of his colleagues. The attack was sparked by widespread false narratives that have circulated both in local communities and online: that Ebola does not exist at all, or that the international Red Cross response is nothing more than a scheme to siphon public funds. This attack is far from an isolated incident.

    Official government data confirms that since the outbreak began in mid-May, more than 1,700 people have been infected, and 580 have lost their lives. BBC Verify’s investigation into resistance to Ebola control measures has identified 12 documented incidents of community unrest, seven of which have been confirmed via social media footage. These incidents include coordinated attacks on treatment centers, physical assaults on healthcare and aid workers, and repeated efforts to disrupt safe burials — a core intervention to stop Ebola spread. Experts warn the true number of unreported incidents is almost certainly higher, as many violent clashes occur in remote, hard-to-reach regions with limited access for monitors.

    The most recent major attack took place on July 1, when arsonists burned an Ebola treatment center to the ground in Bafwabango, located in Ituri province — the geographic epicenter of the current outbreak. Local media reports confirm one police officer was killed during clashes that erupted after community members attempted to seize the body of a suspected Ebola victim for traditional burial. Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with infected bodily fluids, and the bodies of deceased victims remain highly contagious for days after death. For this reason, supervised safe burials that eliminate close contact with the body are a cornerstone of outbreak control; traditional funeral practices involving washing, touching, and viewing the body were a major driver of transmission in past Ebola outbreaks across Central Africa.

    Despite this life-saving necessity, misinformation has repeatedly derailed these efforts. In late May, rioters burned medical equipment and two isolation tents at a treatment center in Rwampara after staff prevented relatives from removing a young Ebola victim’s body for traditional burial. Since that incident, at least three more medical facilities have been attacked or vandalized, according to on-the-ground reports.

    To understand the roots of this resistance, experts point to the deep cultural and social importance of traditional multi-day funeral rites in Congolese communities, which carry profound spiritual meaning. Julienne Anoko, an anthropologist working as a community engagement officer with the World Health Organization (WHO), explained that funerals are not merely end-of-life rituals but celebrations of a person’s journey to the afterlife, with practices that have been passed down through generations. Even so, misinformation and long-standing systemic distrust have amplified resistance beyond cultural differences to life-saving public health measures.

    On-the-ground responders report that widespread misconceptions have left many patients avoiding early medical care, drastically reducing their chances of survival when they finally do seek treatment. Dr Aimé Mbonda Noula, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), explained that many families flee their homes and abandon Ebola victims’ bodies entirely rather than alert authorities, out of fear of being forced into quarantine. “Most of the people in these communities think that these treatment centres are places where, when you go, you die,” he said. “So, you usually run away from these places and run away from the health workers.” For those who remain, resistance to changing funeral practices runs deep: “They don’t believe that safe, dignified burials could really help,” said Dr Babou Rukengeza of the charity Save The Children. “They say: ‘this is my family member, I need to honour him… this is the last time that I can touch him.’”

    The violence has spread beyond Ituri to neighboring North Kivu province, where two Ebola response workers were attacked by mobs that blamed them for community deaths. Video verified by BBC Verify shows a female health worker fleeing a group of men who strike her with wooden planks, while another clip captures a medical worker crawling along a road as the crowd throws stones at him.

    A recent community assessment by the charity ActionAid in Ituri found that nearly one-third of respondents do not believe Ebola is a real disease, instead attributing deaths to sorcery or spiritual curses. Public health experts have labeled misinformation as the outbreak’s most dangerous ally. “False rumours delay care for people who need help and fuel attacks on health workers and health facilities, disrupting outbreak control and giving the virus more opportunities to spread,” explained Dr Wessam Mankoula of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

    This deep-seated distrust did not emerge overnight. Experts trace it back to decades of violent unrest in eastern DR Congo, shaped by prolonged civil conflict, foreign interference, and brutal competition over lucrative mineral resources including gold and coltan. “You have a very strong base of being very distrustful of anything coming from outside, including the central government,” said Dr Jean-Vivien Mombouli, a former Ebola response advisor to governments across the region.

    The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola species, for which no approved vaccine or specific treatment currently exists. The WHO has launched clinical trials for two promising experimental treatments, but experts caution it will take months to complete testing and confirm their effectiveness. With no quick medical fix on hand, health leaders emphasize that containing the outbreak depends as much on rebuilding community trust as it does on medical intervention. “Mistrust is the real battleground,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media in June. “Win trust, and we win this.”

  • Children keep dying in a country that made huge progress on measles

    Children keep dying in a country that made huge progress on measles

    A preventable public health catastrophe has unfolded across Bangladesh over the past four months, leaving nearly 750 people – the vast majority of them young children – dead from measles, a highly contagious viral disease that was once nearly eliminated in the country. Frontline clinicians who have spent decades treating pediatric illnesses say they have never witnessed an outbreak of this scale, as overwhelmed hospitals stretch far beyond their capacity to care for the sick.

    Just a few months ago, Bangladesh stood as a public health success story. Before March 2026, the World Health Organization confirmed the country had made substantial progress toward full measles elimination, with national vaccination rates holding steady above 90% for years. That hard-won progress has dissolved almost overnight, following a cascade of political and public health disruptions that created what UNICEF officials describe as a “perfect storm” for a major outbreak.

    Official government data records nearly 750 confirmed and suspected measles deaths since mid-March, but UNICEF warns the true mortality toll is almost certainly higher. Systemic strains on the country’s overburdened health system, limited access to rural communities, and challenges with rapid data collection during a sudden surge have left many cases uncounted. On the ground at Mymensingh’s Medical College Hospital, the crisis is impossible to miss: the facility’s 32-room measles ward is holding nearly 130 patients, more than double its intended capacity. Dozens of families are forced to rest on blankets spread across hallways, with only the most critically ill patients able to secure a scarce hospital bed.

    Four-month-old Arafat was one of those severe cases. The infant required oxygen support, but his small frame could not hold the tubes securely, forcing clinicians to bandage and tape them in place. His parents traveled 10 hours across the country to reach the specialized hospital, after Arafat developed pneumonia and heart failure – common life-threatening complications of measles. By the time they arrived, Arafat was unresponsive, and his father vomited and fainted from stress during the grueling ambulance journey. The family had already exhausted their small savings on care, and were forced to borrow money from neighbors to cover treatment costs. Days after reporters visited the ward, Arafat died, becoming one of hundreds of children claimed by the outbreak. “I spent all my money, took loans, and tried my best to save my son. But everything is gone now,” his father Mohammad Alam Mia told reporters through tears.

    Arafat is far from alone. Official counts put total confirmed and suspected measles cases across Bangladesh at more than 120,000 since the surge began in mid-March, with the country still recording roughly 1,000 new suspected cases each day. For clinicians like pediatrician Dr Mohammed Golam Mawla, the crisis is deeply confusing: measles is easily prevented by highly effective vaccines, and the disease was fully under control in Bangladesh for years. “Why did this suddenly happen?” he asks.

    Miguel Mateos Muñoz, UNICEF’s Bangladesh spokesperson, says the outbreak stems from a confluence of overlapping factors. Political upheaval in 2024, when widespread student-led protests ousted long-time authoritarian Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, led to a major restructuring of public health procurement under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus. UNICEF alleges the interim administration delayed routine measles vaccine orders while it explored new vendors and restructured how vaccine purchases were financed, despite repeated warnings from the agency that gaps could emerge. The current government, led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, confirms it inherited a significant vaccine shortage when it took office. Yunus declined interview requests, but his former top health ministry official denies any shortage, arguing that while UNICEF raised general concerns, there was no specific warning of an imminent large-scale measles outbreak. He added that UN and other international experts supported the competitive procurement process as a way to generate long-term cost savings for the country.

    Beyond procurement delays, Muñoz points to lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted routine childhood vaccination schedules globally. Bangladesh has also not held a national mass measles-rubella vaccination campaign since 2020, and widespread population overcrowding combined with mass travel during the Eid holiday created ideal conditions for the airborne virus to spread rapidly.

    Bangladesh is not an isolated case. This year, the United Kingdom lost its official measles elimination status after a steady rise in cases, and the United States has also seen consistent growth in infections over recent years. In both countries, vaccination rates for children under five fall below the 95% threshold required to maintain herd immunity, allowing the virus to gain a foothold.

    The human cost of vaccine gaps is devastating for families across Bangladesh. Three hours outside the capital Dhaka, Mosammat Nila Akhter and her husband tried to get a measles vaccine for their 10-month-old daughter Maliha in February, but were told the clinic had no doses left. By late March, as the outbreak spread, Maliha developed pneumonia. When she was readmitted to hospital after a rash developed, there were no beds available. The family waited three hours at a second facility for a bed to open up, where Akhter says children with and without measles were forced to share overcrowded wards. Maliha’s fever would not break despite constant care, and when she needed an ICU bed, none could be found. The family traveled for hours in an ambulance looking for an available bed, as their daughter struggled to breathe. Three days after being admitted, Maliha died. “Who to blame?” Akhter asks through tears. “Should I blame the government because my child did not get the vaccine?”

    In response to the crisis, the Bangladeshi government and UNICEF launched an emergency mass vaccination campaign in high-risk regions in April, and have already inoculated more than 18.4 million children. Officials say reported cases and deaths have slowed from their peak, but the outbreak remains far from over. Health Minister Sardar Sakhawat Hossain acknowledges the strain on the health system, but argues that the current pressures are manageable given Bangladesh’s population of more than 170 million. “The accommodation facilities are comparatively low, but we have managed,” he says.

    Public health experts disagree. Mushtuq Husain, a leading Bangladeshi public health specialist, says the government has refused to acknowledge that the event is not a contained outbreak but a full-blown epidemic. He calls the official figures “the tip of the iceberg,” warning that many uncounted cases and deaths remain undetected in rural communities. UNICEF’s Muñoz echoes that assessment, noting that the work to contain the outbreak is far from finished. “It is still a grave situation,” Husain says. “It is unacceptable that every day children are dying, and thousands of people are being infected.” Public health experts globally warn that Bangladesh’s outbreak serves as a stark warning of how quickly years of progress in eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases can unravel when routine immunization coverage is interrupted.

  • WHO warns movement of infected people driving Ebola outbreak in DRC

    WHO warns movement of infected people driving Ebola outbreak in DRC

    The world is facing a growing public health emergency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where an Ebola outbreak caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain continues to expand unchecked, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed in a Tuesday media briefing. Despite ramped-up intervention efforts by global and local health authorities, cross-population movement remains the primary catalyst for sustained virus transmission, keeping the epidemic far from stabilization.

  • Some health workers in Congo’s Ebola outbreak go on strike over pay issues as deaths near 600

    Some health workers in Congo’s Ebola outbreak go on strike over pay issues as deaths near 600

    BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo – A growing crisis is unfolding at the epicenter of the latest Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo, where frontline healthcare and response workers have halted work to protest months of delayed salaries and benefits, putting national and international efforts to curb the rapidly spreading virus at severe risk.

    The current outbreak, which was formally declared on May 15, has already become one of the most severe on record. Latest government data counts 1,708 confirmed cases and 580 fatalities, with health officials acknowledging the virus is spreading faster than response teams can contain it. Ituri province, one of three affected eastern provinces, bears the brunt of the crisis, recording the majority of cases and deaths.

    Multiple frontline workers – including epidemiologists, surveillance officers, contact tracers, community outreach staff, burial teams, and security personnel – confirmed to the Associated Press that they have received no wages or hazard bonuses since the outbreak was first announced. Beyond unpaid pay, workers also report severe shortages of personal protective equipment and systemic unfair treatment from provincial and national response authorities.

    “Since the Ebola outbreak was declared, we have been repeatedly demanding payment for the work we put in every single day,” Dr. Biensi Kano, a member of Ituri’s capital Bunia epidemiological surveillance committee, told AP. The lack of compensation, he explained, has pushed workers and their families into crippling financial instability: “Non-payment of our benefits exposes us and our families to significant socio-economic difficulties and seriously undermines our living conditions.”

    Over the weekend, Ituri’s frontline workforce issued an official ultimatum to national and provincial authorities: pay all outstanding wages within 24 hours or face a full-scale strike. By Tuesday, dozens of workers had already suspended their duties, even before an official strike declaration was made. A group of workers organized a public protest outside the Rwampara Ebola Treatment Center on Monday, setting fire to tires and sparking brief local panic before police intervened to disperse the crowd and restore order.

    Dr. Ben Bakule, a community contact investigator, described the frustration of putting his life on the line for no pay. Just weeks prior, Bakule narrowly escaped death when a group of hostile local residents attacked him and his team while they traced Ebola contacts in a village in Djugu territory, a common hazard for response teams working in the region. “We spend our own money on transport to get out to remote communities to do this work. We thought we would be rewarded for our service,” Bakule said. “At the moment, nothing is going right because we’re not being paid. We don’t deserve this sort of treatment. We risk dying for nothing – it seems like this government wants this epidemic to continue.”

    Similar frustration was echoed by Dr. Ghislain Maneba, an epidemiologist and community investigator working in the Rwampara health zone, the center of the province’s outbreak response. “We are doing everything we can to make the public understand how dangerous this disease is. I came here to save people’s lives, but this is how I am thanked. We work day and night without a single payment,” Maneba said.

    The outbreak’s timing adds another layer of gravity to the work stoppage: the strike comes just as enrollment is set to begin for clinical trials of new treatments for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is responsible for the current outbreak. The World Health Organization’s Dr. Anne Ancia, Congo’s top WHO representative, confirmed Tuesday that the virus is already spreading faster than expected, driven by widespread population movement and persistent insecurity in the region, with key treatment centers already operating near full capacity.

    Akilimali Pierre, incident manager at Congo’s National Institute of Public Health, acknowledged payment delays may stem in part from the ongoing closure of Bunia’s airport, which has slowed the movement of supplies and funds into the outbreak zone. Ituri provincial officials said they have held meetings with protesting workers and are working to address their concerns, but the national government has not yet issued an official response to requests for comment.

    Workers already face a litany of additional barriers to their work beyond unpaid wages and equipment shortages: repeated violent attacks from skeptical local communities, widespread misinformation about the virus, and systemic mismanagement from response leadership. Just last month, during a visit to Mongbwalu – the outbreak’s epicenter mining town – Congolese Health Minister Roger Kamba publicly promised response teams that the government was prioritizing their pay and working conditions, stating “All doctors, all nurses and all staff working on the response will be fully supported. We have the money for that.” But frontline workers say the promise has yet to translate into deposited paychecks.

    For local residents in Ituri, where outbreak control measures have already disrupted local economies and left many facing financial hardship, the work stoppage has sparked deep anxiety that the crisis will only escalate. “I fear that response efforts will collapse, which will make daily life even harder for all of us,” said Anifa Kito, a Bunia market vendor selling tomatoes. “I would ask the authorities to resolve this situation before things get any worse.”

  • Another suspected case of H5 bird flu as sick bird found in SA

    Another suspected case of H5 bird flu as sick bird found in SA

    Australian agricultural and animal health authorities have detected a second suspected case of the highly pathogenic H5 bird flu strain in South Australia, even as neighboring New South Wales has cleared a recent suspicious testing case, delivering a much-needed relief to local officials.

    South Australia’s Department of Primary Industries and Regions confirmed that the suspected infection was found in an ailing migratory giant petrel picked up at Hardwicke Bay, located on the state’s Yorke Peninsula. The discovery was triggered after a member of the public reported the sick bird to the national Emergency Animal Disease Hotline, and initial screening returned a positive result for the deadly H5 subtype.

    Pending final confirmation of the diagnosis, this incident would mark the second confirmed H5 case in South Australia and the eighth nationwide across Australia. To date, the virus has been confirmed in five wild birds in Western Australia and one giant petrel in New South Wales, found late last week.

    South Australia’s Industries Minister Clare Scriven called the new suspected discovery disappointing, but emphasized that ongoing active surveillance and public participation remain critical to tracking the spread of the virus. “Every report from the community is reviewed, and if H5 bird flu is suspected, our response teams are deployed immediately to collect samples and test,” Scriven explained, thanking members of the public for reporting sick or dead birds they encounter.

    Skye Fruean, chief veterinary officer for PIRSA, noted that state authorities have been building preparedness for an incursion of H5 bird flu for several years. She added that the current suspected case is considered geographically isolated, with no other sick birds detected in the surrounding Hardwicke Bay area. “This is an encouraging sign,” Fruean said. “To date, there is still no evidence that the virus has spread into Australia’s native wildlife populations.”

    Across the border in New South Wales, officials have announced a negative result for a sick cormorant found over the weekend at Narrabeen, which had raised alarm among local response teams. Samples from the bird were tested at the state’s Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institution, which confirmed the bird did not carry the H5 strain.

    NSW Chief Veterinary Officer Jo Coombe said the negative result was publicly released to address widespread public interest in the case. Since activating the state’s H5 response protocol on June 19, Coombe explained, dozens of investigations into sick or dead birds have been completed, with only one positive result confirmed – the giant petrel found near Hawks Nest late last week.

    As of the latest update, Coombe confirmed there have been no detections of H5 bird flu in domestic poultry flocks across Australia, no evidence of spread to local wild populations, and no reports of large-scale animal mortality linked to the virus. She also reiterated that the current risk of H5 bird flu transmission to human health remains extremely low.