News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – In the most detailed analysis to date on the Vibrio cholerae strain that has sparked Haiti's outbreak, researchers confirmed that it most closely resembles a South Asian variant not previously seen in the region and that it is more lethal than other strains.

(CIDRAP News) – A report by an epidemiologist sent by France to assist Haiti with the cholera response said United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces from Nepal are the most likely source of the outbreak, though others deny the claims or say the findings are inconclusive.

(CIDRAP News) – Protests over a possible foreign source of the cholera outbreak in Haiti have broken out in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as cases were reported for the first time from the country's South East department.

(CIDRAP News) – Reversing a trend that began in 2007, the number of countries affected by H5N1 avian influenza and the number of reported H5N1 outbreaks in birds have increased this year, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says.

(CIDRAP News) – The global H5N1 avian influenza situation has not improved very much since the virus began spreading widely in 2003, and many human cases have probably gone unreported, French health experts conclude in an assessment published yesterday in Eurosurveillance.