Health & Science

• Sunday, May 31st 2009 - 15:27 UTC

  “Swine flu cruise” with 2.000 passengers cancels trip to Great Barrier Reef

  

  Eighty-three passengers disembarked in Australia Saturday from the “swine flu ship” Pacific Dawn after it was allowed to dock in Brisbane, officials said.

• Sunday, May 31st 2009 - 15:17 UTC

  WHO: Tobacco packages must use pictorial warnings

  

  For another year in a row the World Health Organization (WHO) declares May 31 for a world no-smoking day. It draws global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and to its negative health effects. Every year the WHO joins all the people worldwide around a topic towards reducing tobacco consumption. This year’s subject is: health warning messages on the packaging of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

• Thursday, May 28th 2009 - 08:35 UTC

  First two “imported” cases of A/H1N1 influenza in Uruguay

  

  Uruguay’s Public Health Minister, María Julia Muñoz, confirmed the first two cases of influenza A (H1N1) in her country during a press conference Wednesday. One of the two Uruguayans infected is 24-years-old and the other is a 15-year-old minor, who had both travelled to Argentina and returned to their country without apparent symptoms.

• Thursday, May 28th 2009 - 06:50 UTC

  Paraguay confirmed as free of FMD with vaccination

  

  Paraguay, Colombia and Bolivia have been confirmed to the list of countries declared free of foot and mouth disease with vaccination at the current World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) 77th session in Paris.

• Tuesday, May 26th 2009 - 06:00 UTC

  Fire turns Antarctica hut favoured by Sir Hillary into a total loss

  

  An isolated hut in Antarctica favoured by explorer Sir Edmund Hillary has burnt down after a fuel leak during a routine inspection at minus 35C. Antarctica New Zealand said the “iconic” A-frame timber and bitumen hut on the Ross Ice Shelf went up in flames during re-ignition of the heater. A spokesman said the hut, stationed on the ice since 1971, ”will be sadly missed

• Monday, May 25th 2009 - 17:44 UTC

  Decline in freshwater fish took medieval Europe to the open seas

  Medieval European fishermen first took to the open seas in about AD1.000 as a result of a sharp decline in large freshwater fish, scientists have suggested. They say the decline was probably the result of rising population and pollution levels.

• Saturday, May 23rd 2009 - 15:37 UTC

  Influenza virus “inter mingling” strong warning to Southern Hemisphere

  

  The director-general of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, closed Friday the agency's annual conference with a warning that nations, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere with the winter season on, must remain vigilant and be prepared for a possible swine influenza A-H1N1 virus pandemic.

• Wednesday, May 20th 2009 - 03:21 UTC

  Influenza vaccine manufacturers committed to supply poor countries

  

  World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Margaret Chan and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met on Tuesday with over 30 vaccine manufacturers from developing and developed countries at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

• Monday, May 18th 2009 - 08:39 UTC

  Sixth death of dengue disease in Argentina

  

  A sixth person has died of the mosquito transmitted dengue disease in Argentina. The Bolivian born victim died in the northern province of Salta of “dengue-shock syndrome”, which is a consequence of the more lethal form of the disease haemorrhagic dengue, reported the local daily “El Tribuno”.

• Monday, May 18th 2009 - 08:37 UTC

  Crucial WHO assembly to decide on A/H1N1 flu vaccine production

  

  The spread of swine flu and possible vaccine production dominate the agenda of the World Health Organization assembly which begins Monday in Geneva until May 22.