Free Republic

A cholera epidemic is spreading rapidly across West Africa, killing nearly 500 people and infecting thousands of others, United Nations officials warn. The head of the UN humanitarian co-ordination office in the region said the outbreak needed a rapid response. "It's not business as usual. We have a crisis that needs immediate attention," said Herve Ludovic de Lys. With heavy rains across the region, cholera is likely to spread to Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, the UN warns. Guinea-Bissau is the worst hit country, with 9,047 infections and 172 deaths reported between June and August by the health authorities. The country...

Disease hunters in action, just outside Washington, DC, at the U.S. Defense Department's Global Emerging Infections System, known as GEIS. They are working to track, prevent and cure infectious diseases. In one laboratory doctors are working with Sand Flies, which carry Leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease that usually infects the skin, but can also infect internal organs. Scientists also are working with mosquitoes that carry malaria. Chemists are working on new treatments and vaccines for a number of communicable diseases. Captain Joseph Malone Captain Joseph Malone is the director of GEIS. "We play a supportive role in both outbreaks within the...