Hong Kong quarantines 19 people over second bird flu case

Hong Kong quarantines 19 people over second bird flu case
Hong Kong on Saturday quarantined an additional 19 people after the city confirmed its second human case of the deadly H7N9 bird flu, less than five days after it confirmed its first, officials said. The 19 people were close contacts of the second carrier of H7N9 in the city -- an 80-year-old Hong Kong man who had been living in the neighbouring mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Sudan Reports Widespread Yellow Fever Outbreak, 14 Dead
A total of 44 suspected cases and 14 deaths have been reported from October 3 to November 24, 2013 in the localities of Lagawa, Kailak, Muglad and Abyei in West Kordofan and Elreef Alshargi, Abu Gibaiha, Ghadir, Habila, Kadugli, Altadamon, Talodi and Aliri in South Kordofan.

New H7N9 bird flu resists drugs without losing ability to spread
Scientists have found that a mutation in a new strain of bird flu infecting people in China can render it resistant to a key first-line treatment drug without limiting its ability to spread in mammals. ...unlike seasonal flu strains, which often become less transmissible when they develop resistance to drugs like Roche's Tamiflu, the new H7N9 bird flu does not lose any of its spreading potential with drug resistance. 

Madagascar village 'hit by bubonic plague'
Tests were carried out after at least 20 people in the village, near the north-western town of Mandritsara, were reported to have died last week. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned in October that Madagascar was at risk of a plague epidemic. The disease is transmitted to humans via fleas, usually from rats.