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WHO rejects calls to move Olympics over Zika fears

The World Health Organization has ruled out any change in timing or the location of the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, shunning a call by doctors and scientists to shift the event over the Zika virus. An open letter addressed to the global health body signed by 150 international doctors, scientists and researchers Friday had called for the August Games to be moved or delayed to help prevent the spread of Zika virus. Holding the Games in Rio, the second worst affected city in Brazil, would be “irresponsible” and “unethical” and could risk spreading the virus to “poor, as-yet unaffected places” like Africa and South Asia, said the letter.

Fifth person dies in Guinea Ebola flare-up

A fifth person has died of Ebola in southeast Guinea since March 17, a health official told Reuters on Tuesday, raising concerns that a recent flare-up of the deadly virus could spread. The latest case was detected in Macenta prefecture, about 200 kilometers from the village of Korokpara where the four other recent Ebola-related deaths occurred, said Fode Sylla Tass, spokesman for National Coordination of the Fight against Ebola in Guinea. Burials, where bodies of the deceased are often washed, have been a main cause of transmission of Ebola, which has killed at least 11,300 people in West Africa since 2013 in the worst outbreak on record.

Italy rescues 910 boat migrants, finds one body

More than 900 migrants were rescued in four separate operations in the Strait of Sicily on Saturday and emergency services recovered one corpse, Italy’s coast guard said. Now into the second year of its worst migration crisis since World War Two, Europe has seen more than 1.2 million people arrive since the beginning of 2015, most of them from Africa and the Middle East. Italy’s coast guard has continued to pick up migrants in trouble in the stretch of water between its southern coast and North Africa, although most people seeking a better life in Europe have taken less dangerous routes to Greece.

Sierra Leone investigating suspected Ebola death: health ministry

Sierra Leone's Health Ministry said on Thursday it was investigating a suspected Ebola death in Tonkolili district, hours after the World Health Organization said transmission of the virus in West Africa had ended. “A suspected Ebola death has been reported in Tonkolili district today,” said a note sent by the ministry to health officials in the country and seen by Reuters.

One million Africans a year catch malaria from dam mosquitoes: study

By Katy Migiro NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – One million Africans will catch malaria this year because they live near a large dam and, at a time of booming dam construction on the continent, greater efforts must be made to protect people from the killer disease, a study said on Friday. Almost 80 major new dams are due to be built in sub-Saharan Africa over the next few years, leading to an additional 56,000 malaria cases a year, the study in Malaria Journal predicted. “While dams clearly bring many benefits — contributing to economic growth, poverty alleviation and food security — adverse malaria impacts need to be addressed or they will undermine the sustainability of Africa’s drive for development,” the paper's lead author, Solomon Kibret of Australia's University of New England, said in a statement.

China’s foreign minister to visit Ebola-affected countries

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi leaves this week on a visit to three of the African nations hardest hit by an outbreak of the Ebola virus, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Ebola has killed more than 11,200 people in West Africa since it broke out in December 2013. China, Africa's biggest trading partner, has sent hundreds of medical workers to Africa and contributed aid of more than $120 million to the anti-Ebola effort, after initially facing criticism for not doing enough.

Workers at Kenya’s main port strike over higher health costs

MOMBASA (Reuters) – More than 2,000 workers at East Africa’s biggest port in Kenya's coastal city Mombasa went on strike on Wednesday protesting an increase in the amount they will have to pay for state-run health insurance. The port, the biggest in the region, handles imports such as fuel for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia. Interruption of the port activities threatens regional business which heavily relies on cargo passing through the trade gateway.

Nurse who fought Maine Ebola quarantine moving out of state: report

(Reuters) – A nurse who treated Ebola patients in West Africa and publicly fought quarantine orders in New Jersey and Maine after returning to the United States last month has decided to move away from her home state, a newspaper in Maine reported. Kaci Hickox and her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, plan to leave Maine after Nov. 10, or the expiration of the monitoring period for the virus' 21-day incubation, according to the Press Herald newspaper. Wilbur did not say where the couple planned to move. “We’re going to try to get our lives back on track,” he told the newspaper on Friday. …

West African leaders name Togo’s president to lead Ebola response

ACCRA (Reuters) – West African leaders on Thursday appointed Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe to supervise the region's efforts to contain the deadly Ebola epidemic, which has killed nearly 5,000 people, mostly in the region. The leaders who gathered in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, called for accelerated efforts to make vaccines available against the disease, which has infected some 13,567 people in eight countries. …