In a 13-month period in the UK there were six deaths and 112 cases of severe complications among children. Vaccinating all children is the only way to prevent severe illness and death from chickenpox.
An outbreak of Q Fever is being investigated in the Cheltenham area. A total of 28 cases have been identified among local people, most requiring hospital treatment.
A hunt is on for 2 patients with a deadly form of tuberculosis who disappeared after the Cape High Court ordered they return to a South African hospital. The pair, diagnosed with extremely drug resistant (XDR) tuberculosis, are presumed to be in hiding.
Sewage systems do not break down Tamiflu, which means the main weapon against bird flu could seep into natural waters and make certain viruses resistant to the drug during a pandemic.
As one of the UK’s leading university centres of space research, the University of Leicester is expected to play a more vital role in human and robotic space exploration if the findings of a review of UK national space policy are adopted.
Bluetongue virus, which affects sheep and cows, has spread to the centre and east of the Netherlands, affecting 117 farms in those areas, the Dutch Agriculture Ministry said. Bluetongue is transmitted by insects and can be highly dangerous to sheep. It do
Government officials believe human error at the private pharmaceutical firm Merial Animal Health is the most likely source for the return of foot and mouth disease. Senior officials believe the virus may have been transported by an individual or by a car
Health officials say 2 recent incidents in which swimmers in Maryland were attacked by a rabid beaver should remind people that those "no swimming" signs are there for a reason. One rabid beaver, now dead, was responsible for an attack on a swimmer on Sun
An outbreak of measles has struck up to 21 children across South Yorkshire. All those affected are children aged between just three months and 12 years who have not had the MMR inoculation.
The public is being asked to help monitor Northern Ireland seal colonies following an outbreak of a deadly virus. Phocine distemper virus (PDV) wiped out half of northern Europe's seal population in 1998.
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved BinaxNOW as the first malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) authorized for use in the United States. Malaria RDTs, which detect circulating malaria-specific antigens, already are available in other countries
Diagnoses of new sex infections rose by 2% to 376,508 from 2005 to 2006, largely among young people and gay men, the UK Health Protection Agency repoerts.