Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | 23 February 2015 – A team of experts from  the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and Institut Pasteur, France concluded a mission to Saudi Arabia to assess the current situation of the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS-CoV)...

WHO team in Arafat oversees implementation of appropriate public health measures for prevention, early detection and rapid response to MERS-CoV among pilgrims to Makkah Cairo, 7 October 2014 – In view of the ongoing public health threats from the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, the WHO Regional Office has stepped...

The current Ebola outbreak is by far the largest and the first multi-country outbreak of the disease ever reported in its 38-year history. Six countries in west Africa are affected: Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Senegal and are now reporting laboratory-confirmed cases. The current epidemic trend of EVD...

25 July 2014 - The disease early warning system (DEWS) of Pakistan has recently detected a seasonal spike of human infections of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever. From 30 March to 20 July 2014, a total of 42 cases of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, including 10 deaths (case-fatality rate: 24%) have been reported across the country. Of these...

WHO/T. Jasarevic2 May 2014 - A team of experts from WHO started a two-day mission yesterday in Jeddah to assist national health authorities to investigate the recent increase in number of people infected by MERS-CoV. From mid-March 2014, 111 people have tested positive in the Jeddah area; the biggest single surge in the MERS-CoV outbreak since...

Established in April 2000, the GOARN is a network of WHO comprising institutions and health agencies that have the capacity to contribute technical resources for international outbreak response operations.Between 25 to 31 March 2014, the WHO Regional Office hosted its first pre-deployment course on international outbreak response for the Eastern...

27 March 2014 – The Ministry of Health and Population in Egypt recently reported two new human cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infections to WHO. These cases were reported after no other cases had been reported for almost one year. One of the cases was a 56-year-old female from Damanhour district of Behaira governorate with onset of...

A two-day consultative meeting to determine the public health research agenda for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) took place in the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean in Cairo from 15 to 16 December 2013.  The meeting was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture of...

06 October 2013 – From 1 January to 29 September 2013, a total of 77 suspected cases of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF), including 15 deaths (case–fatality rate 19.4%) were reported from Pakistan. So far, 48 of these reported cases have been laboratory-confirmed. The laboratory tests have been performed at the National Institute of Health in...

By June 2013, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of registered Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries exceeded 1.8 million and the current situation is now viewed as one of the worst humanitarian crisis and conflicts the world has seen in decades.23 July 2013, Cairo - The current...