Health & Science

• Thursday, June 29th 2023 - 10:30 UTC

  Uruguay: School winter recess stretched, brought forward due to viruses

  

  Uruguayan authorities finally decided Wednesday that primary school pupils will have a two-week winter recess between July 3 and July 14 in a move to curb the contagion of respiratory diseases that have caused at least two deaths so far, it was reported in Montevideo. Plans to hold online classes that had been evaluated earlier this week have been dropped.

• Wednesday, June 28th 2023 - 10:05 UTC

  Uruguayan pupils return to virtual classes due to respiratory infections

  

  Uruguayan authorities Tuesday decided that, effective July 3, schooling nationwide will be online for the next two weeks before winter break, due to the increase of respiratory infections “in the general population and especially in children,” it was reported in Montevideo.

• Wednesday, June 28th 2023 - 09:53 UTC

  Brazil reports first case of avian flu in farm bird

  

  Brazilian authorities Tuesday confirmed the detection of the first case of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI - H5N1) in a poultry bird in the municipality of Serra, in the State of Espírito Santo, but insisted commercial production remains safe. The South American country is the world's largest chicken exporter, with US$ 9.762 billion collected in 2022.

• Monday, June 26th 2023 - 10:00 UTC

  Penguin Propulsion: The Physics Behind the World’s Fastest Swimming Birds

  

  A piece from the American Institute of Physics points out that Gentoo penguins are the fastest swimming birds in the world, and that ability comes from their unique and sophisticated wings.

• Friday, June 23rd 2023 - 11:03 UTC

  HIV cases on the rise in Paraguay

  

  According to a study from Paraguay's General Directorate of Health Surveillance released Thursday, the South American country recorded a sharp increase in the number of cases of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), it was reported in Asunción.

• Friday, June 23rd 2023 - 10:14 UTC

  Falklands survey to continue with Hydatid control/eradication in the Islands

  

  The tapeworm E.granulosus primarily completes its lifecycle between dogs and sheep, with the intermediate stage in sheep causing hydatid cysts. Humans exposed to tapeworm eggs in dog faeces can also develop hydatid cysts in their liver or lungs and this can make people extremely unwell, and can be fatal if untreated.

• Thursday, June 22nd 2023 - 11:00 UTC

  WHO to train 6,000 healthcare pros to help Peru fight dengue

  

  The World Health Organization (WHO) is to train more than 6,000 healthcare professionals to assist Peru in the dengue epidemic, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced Wednesday. Peru is experiencing one of its worst dengue crises, with 81,202 confirmed cases and at least 193 deaths.

• Tuesday, June 20th 2023 - 10:50 UTC

  BAS new ten-year strategy, Polar Science for a Sustainable Planet

  

  The British Antarctic Survey (BAS), is launching on Monday 19 June, its new ten-year science strategy that addresses urgent scientific challenges facing our world, namely in the continents of the Arctic and Antarctic and the impact that the Polar Regions have across our planet.

• Monday, June 19th 2023 - 08:40 UTC

  “Resuscitating” Ecuadorian woman dies

  

  The Ecuadorian woman who made the news worldwide last week for being almost buried alive, has died Friday aged 76, it was reported. Bella Montoya had been pronounced dead on June 9 at a public hospital in Babahoyo, in southwestern Ecuador.

• Friday, June 16th 2023 - 09:28 UTC

  Paraguay: nationwide avian influenza emergency declared

  

  Paraguayan authorities Thursday decreed a nationwide animal sanitary emergency due to the spread of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, thus triggering the National Animal Health Emergency System (Sinaesa), it was announced in Asunción.