In The News

A Pocket-Sized Famine Fighter

Esha Bhandari September 14, 2005
Last year, reports of an impending famine in Niger did little to rouse action within the global giving community. Though thousands have died from the predicted food shortage, many thousands have been saved, thanks to the work of one woman's company. Until recently, Fatchima Cissé ran a small nutritional food company in her native Niger, selling to relief agencies at no profit. With help from...

Containing a Pandemic

August 5, 2005
For quite some time, virologists have been issuing warnings about the possibility of an outbreak of pandemic influenza. Now they are focused on the strain of avian influenza (bird flu) currently endemic in Asia and are investigating measures to prevent widespread deaths, should the virus mutate and attain human-to-human transmission capability. Two papers recently published in Science and...

China Bug – Is It Ebola-like Bird Flu?

Andy Ho July 28, 2005
China’s official Xinhua news agency recently ascribed the deaths and illnesses of 68 people in Sichuan province to a common swine bug called streptococcus suis. A close examination, however, raises speculation that provincial authorities may be prevaricating. Not only is this infection rare in human beings, but the bacterium can be readily treated and seldom leads to mortality. China’s...

A Thai Remedy for High Health Costs

Nick Cumming-Bruce July 27, 2005
“American companies have outsourced just about everything else but never thought of outsourcing health care,” says Curtis Schroeder, chief executive of Bumrungrad hospital in Thailand. “Now they are.” Bumrungrad in particular, but also some of its rival hospitals are enjoying a new international prominence as patients from the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East flock to Thailand for...

With New Clue to How SARS Kills, Scientists Work on Treatment

Elisabeth Rosenthal July 15, 2005
In 2003, the SARS virus killed almost 800 people and reminded the world of our vulnerability to epidemic disease. Two years later, scientists may have learned why the virus is so deadly. A team of scientists from Europe and Asia seem to have discovered how SARS fills the lungs with fluid, initiating acute respiratory distress syndrome. Their findings could lead to a new treatment that would...

Killing the Chickens Before They Kill Us

Gerald Traufetter July 13, 2005
When the Netherlands was besieged with infected birds two years ago, Harm Kiezebrink designed mobile bird-killing machines and slaughtered millions of birds. Now, he has moved his contraptions to Asia, where a deadly bird flu virus (H5N1) has rampaged through multiple countries over the last 18 months. Because the virus would spread quickly and widely among humans if were to genetically mutate...

Avian Flu Found in Migrating Geese in China

Stephen Smith July 7, 2005
The recent deaths of migratory birds in western China are raising concerns that the avian flu may have found an unwelcome vehicle through which to spread around the world. According to newly released journal reports by Chinese scientists, at least 6,000 migratory geese have died so far due to the epidemic, which previously has been transmitted to humans only through contact with infected poultry...