WHO To Investigate Reported Bubonic Plague Cases In Libya

The WHO is sending a team to investigate an apparent bubonic plague outbreak in Libya after authorities reported detecting between 16 and 18 cases of the disease in the coastal town of Tubruq, Reuters reports. John Jabbour, a Cairo-based emerging diseases specialist with the WHO, said if confirmed, the cases would be the first in more than two decades in Libya (Johnston, Reuters, 6/17). A Canadian Press/Google.com article quoted a Libyan health official who said there has been one death and that two other people are receiving treatment for the disease. He said there were 10 other suspected cases, but it turned out they did not have the plague (Canadian Press/Google.com, 6/16).

Deworming Campaign Begins In Democratic Republic Of The Congo

Medical teams have started a campaign “in an effort to give 12.5 million children” in the “farthest-flung corners” of the Democratic Republic of the Congo deworming drugs and vitamin A supplements, IRIN reports. Bania Mayambu, the director of DRC’s national nutrition programme, said the goal of the campaign “is to reduce the mortality rates of children under five years of age who die in large numbers of avoidable parasitical diseases” (IRIN, 6/16). 

Burkina Faso
Launched 5-Day Measles Vaccination Campaign

Burkina Faso’s health ministry said a five-day measles vaccination campaign targeting 3.6 million children began Tuesday in “high-risk districts, including the densely-populated capital of Ouagadougou,” IRIN reports. The number of measles cases in the country has “doubled in the past two months to more than 42,000 reported cases this year,” which is the largest outbreak Burkina Faso has had in more than 10 years, according to IRIN (IRIN [2], 6/16). 

SciDev.Net Examines Effort To Increase Visibility Of African Science

SciDev.Net examines the South Africa-based organization, Africa Science Trackers, which “aims to record every peer-reviewed paper by African scientists published in both national and international journals as well as information available through non-conventional channels – so-called ‘grey literature’ – since 2000.” According to SciDev.Net, the effort is an “attempt to make African science more visible” (Makoni, SciDev.Net, 6/15).