Government accused of slow response to disease outbreak
Vaccine hesitancy, health staff shortages and overcrowding in remote communities could all be causes of a diphtheria outbreak, the federal health minister says.
virus diseases
Protesters set fire to Ebola tents in dispute over body
Tents have been burned to the ground at an Ebola treatment centre in eastern Congo as people rioted after being stopped from retrieving the body of a local man.
WHO warns of high risk that Ebola ‘spreading rapidly’
The World Health Organisation is revising upward its assessment of the risk of Ebola within the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Uganda confirms new Ebola cases as tracing steps up
Uganda's Ebola cases have risen to five, as authorities warn the risk of a epidemic is "very high" in neighbouring Congo, where the outbreak began.
Ebola clinic tent set ablaze in Congo with 18 leaving
Residents in eastern Congo have attacked and burned part of a health centre treating Ebola patients.
Ebola case confirmed in rebel-held area of DR Congo
A rebel-held area of the Democratic Republic of Congo - hundreds of kilometres from an Ebola outbreak's epicentre - has recorded a fatal case of the disease.
‘Concerning outbreak’: respiratory disease cases rising
Case numbers in one of Australia's worst diphtheria outbreaks are climbing, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joining the call for people to get vaccinated.
Ebola was likely circulating in Congo for two months
Experts suspect an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo started a couple of months ago, with 139 deaths reported so far.
Pandemic flashbacks as hantavirus group touches down
Scenes heavily reminiscent of the coronavirus pandemic have played out as passengers from a hantavirus-affected cruise ship touched down in Australia.
WHO revises down global hantavirus cases after US test
The total number of confirmed global hantavirus cases stands at 10, the World Health Organisation says as several people remain quarantined.
New Ebola outbreak confirmed in DR Congo, 80 deaths
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is convening an urgent meeting to reinforce preparedness following the latest outbreak of Ebola.
WHO declares global health emergency for Ebola outbreak
The United Nations health agency says 80 suspected deaths, eight laboratory-confirmed cases and 246 suspected cases of Ebola have been reported.
Ebola deaths in Congo rise to 131 as outbreak spreads
The World Health Organisation is voicing deep concern over the Ebola outbreak in central Africa, where authorities have recorded over two dozen more deaths.
Ebola toll to grow after virus quietly spread for weeks
Scores of people have died from Africa's Ebola outbreak and that number is expected to keep rising given how long the virus was able to circulate undetected.
US reports no hantavirus cases from cruise outbreak
Authorities say more hantavirus cases are expected from the cluster linked to a cruise ship, but stressed it does not pose a pandemic threat.
Dutch hospital isolates 12 over virus protocol breach
The number of Andean hantavirus cases from a cruise ship has risen to nine, while a Dutch hospital has put a dozen staff in quarantine as a precaution.
French hantavirus patient on life support
A doctor says a French woman being treated for hantavirus after being infected on a cruise ship is critically ill and being treated with an artificial lung.
Thousands face tests over dentist HIV, hepatitis risks
A retired dentist who treated thousands of patients over decades may have exposed them to serious bloodborne viruses such as HIV through poor infection control.
Two more test positive as ship evacuation nears end
Spain is preparing to send home the last of the passengers on a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, as two evacuees from the US and France test positive.
Last six passengers leave Hantavirus-hit ship
A hantavirus-hit vessel has departed Tenerife bound for the Netherlands after the final six passengers and some of its crew left the ship.
Spain readies for people from virus-hit cruise ship
Efforts continue to trace passengers of a hantavirus-hit cruise ship and their immediate contacts, while Spain prepares to receive people from the vessel.
Two suspected virus cases found in Spain, remote island
Authorities are racing to prevent further spread of the hantavirus from a cruise ship as more suspected cases are reported thousands of kilometres apart.
Australians last to leave virus-stricken cruise ship
Passengers on the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak are preparing to be screened before disembarking near a port in the the Canary Islands.
US cruise ship passenger tests positive for hantavirus
As passengers from a hantavirus-hit cruise ship fly home from the Canary Islands, one American passenger has tested positive to the deadly virus.
‘No apology’: quarantine for Aussies on virus-hit ship
To prevent the spread of a deadly virus, four citizens and a permanent resident returning from a plagued cruise will be placed in an official isolation centre.
Human-to-human hantavirus transfer suspected on cruise
A cruise ship is marooned in the Atlantic Ocean with seven confirmed or suspected hantavirus cases on board, but authorities say the risk to the public is low.
Vaccine not to be sneezed at as flu season approaches
Australia's leading health practitioners have outlined how dangerous the coming winter flu season could be if vaccination rates don't improve.
Hantavirus-hit cruise ship to head to Spain
Spain is allowing a cruise ship hit by hantavirus and three deaths to dock in the Canary Islands, as authorities investigate if transmission occurred on board.
Hantavirus-hit cruise ship evacuates three passengers
Three people have been taken for medical care from a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak as the stranded vessel prepares to head to Spain.
Nations race to track passengers of virus-hit ship
The race is on to track down passengers who left a hantavirus-hit cruise ship before it was became stranded in order to stop a deadly outbreak growing further.
‘One of the best pandemic responses in the world’: NZ
Jacinda Ardern has defended her government's pandemic record, saying they got "more than most" right on New Zealand's COVID-19 handling.