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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, October 24th 2025 - 09:26 UTC

Health & Science

  • Saturday, March 25th 2017 - 09:21 UTC

    Icebreaker Almirante Irizar ready to begin sea trials after a decade in repairs

    Malcorra and Martinez before boarding for a tour of the recovered icebreaker Almirante Irizar

    Argentine foreign and defense ministers Susana Malcorra and Julio Martínez toured on Friday the recently repaired and refurbished Navy's icebreaker and Antarctica flagship, Almirante Irizar which a decade ago almost became a wreck after she caught fire on return from the annual Antarctic mission.

  • Thursday, March 23rd 2017 - 11:33 UTC

    Yellow fever is spreading in Brazil infecting and killing monkeys and humans

    “It was just silence, a sense of emptiness,” Karen Strier, an anthropologist from Wisconsin, said of visiting a familiar patch of forest in the state of Minas Gerais.

    Yellow fever, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes, is spreading through Brazil, infecting and killing both monkeys and humans. According to the latest reports from local scientists, several thousand monkeys -- most of them howler monkeys -- have been killed by the virus since the outbreak began in late 2016.

  • Friday, March 17th 2017 - 06:51 UTC

    Brazil reports 424 cases of yellow fever, 127 dead and 900 under investigation

    Much of Brazil is considered at risk for yellow fever, and people in those areas are supposed to be vaccinated.

    Brazil’s Health Ministry says 424 people have been infected with yellow fever in the largest outbreak the country has seen in years. Of those, 137 have died. An update published Thursday said that more than 900 other cases are under investigation.

  • Wednesday, March 1st 2017 - 17:11 UTC

    WHO stresses urgent need for R&D for drug-resistant tuberculosis

    “There is already consensus that TB is a top priority for R&D for new antibiotics,” said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, Assistant Director-General at WHO.

    The World Health Organization reaffirms the critical need for research and development (R&D) of new antibiotics to tackle the threat of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). “Addressing drug-resistant TB research is a top priority for WHO and for the world,” said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “More than US$ 800 million per year is currently necessary to fund badly needed research into new antibiotics to treat TB.”

  • Thursday, February 16th 2017 - 10:27 UTC

    Yellow fever vaccination recommendations for international travellers to Brazil

    Vaccination against yellow fever at least 10 days prior to the travel. A single dose of vaccine is sufficient to confer sustained immunity and life-long protection

    As of 13 February 2017, yellow fever virus transmission continues to expand towards the Atlantic coast of Brazil in areas not deemed to be at risk for yellow fever transmission prior to the revised risk assessment published by WHO in the Disease Outbreak News of 27 January 2017, and supported by the scientific and technical advisory group on geographical yellow fever risk mapping (GRYF).

  • Monday, January 30th 2017 - 19:38 UTC

    Curbing the Tobacco Epidemic in the Americas

    There is clear evidence that appropriately structured tax policies can provide the l benefit of reducing tobacco consumption and generating additional tax revenues.

    By Carissa F. Etienne (*) Though the devastating health effects of tobacco use are well known, tobacco’s negative repercussions extend well beyond the obvious health outcomes.

  • Saturday, January 28th 2017 - 11:40 UTC

    Falklands Today roundtable discussion in Trinidad & Tobago

    The roundtable included Falklands delegation to the Trinidad Energy Conference, headed by MLA Ian Hansen, and Advisors Victoria Collier and Amelia Appleby.

    The Reality of the Falkland Islands Today was the motive of a roundtable discussion at the University of West Indies, St Augustine campus in Trinidad & Tobago. The event took place on Thursday at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, SALISES and was chaired by Acting Director Dr. Roy McCree.

  • Saturday, January 21st 2017 - 11:18 UTC

    British experts guest speakers in Chile’s sixth version of the Futures Congress

    HMA Fiona Clouder and British experts participating at the Futures Congress.

    Seven prominent British figures representing different areas of science, including economics and social communications, were present at the Futures Congress organized by the Chilean Senate in Santiago. Gathering each year experts from different areas of knowledge to discuss the challenges that human kind will be facing in the future, this event has become the most important scientific conference in Latin America.

  • Wednesday, January 18th 2017 - 12:05 UTC

    HMS Protector recovers equipment abandoned in remote Antarctic island

    A flurry of activity saw sailors and marines attack the site with spades, saws and ice picks, freeing numerous items, including rope, skis, scaffolding and barrels

    Personnel from HMS Protector have removed equipment abandoned more than 30 years ago on a remote island in Antarctica. The ice patrol ship attempted to remove equipment three years ago from Brabant Island – the second largest island of the Palmer Archipelago within the British Antarctic Territory – but were thwarted by bad weather.

  • Monday, January 16th 2017 - 08:38 UTC

    Doktor Mengele's bones useful to medical students in Brazil

    Holding Mengele’s skull, Muñoz pointed to a small hole in the left cheek bone, which he said was the result of long-term sinusitis. Muñoz said that a German couple who harbored Mengele in Brazil told

    The bones of Josef Mengele, an infamous German doctor who conducted horrific experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II to the point of becoming known as “Angel Of Death,” are now at the service of Brazilian medical students.