Africa faces most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak on record as DR Congo cases near 10,000 - Xinhua

KINSHASA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Africa is grappling with "the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak in history", according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), as infections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) approach 10,000 and newly reported cases in Kenya and Nigeria raise concerns over the virus's spread across borders. Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya warned Tuesday that the outbreak had already affected multiple countries across three regions of Africa, calling for urgent international support to contain further transmission. Nearly five months after the outbreak was declared in the DRC, the epidemic has claimed more than 4,600 lives in the country and spread to eight of its 26 provinces, while imported infections have exposed vulnerabilities in cross-border disease surveillance. CROSS-BORDER SPREAD RAISES ALARM Nigeria on Tuesday confirmed its first case of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the same strain responsible for the ongoing epidemic in the DRC, becoming the fifth country to detect the virus since the outbreak began in May, according to the Nigerian health authorities.

KINSHASA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Africa is grappling with "the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak in history", according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), as infections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) approach 10,000 and newly reported cases in Kenya and Nigeria raise concerns over the virus's spread across borders. Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya warned Tuesday that the outbreak had already affected multiple countries across three regions of Africa, calling for urgent international support to contain further transmission. Nearly five months after the outbreak was declared in the DRC, the epidemic has claimed more than 4,600 lives in the country and spread to eight of its 26 provinces, while imported infections have exposed vulnerabilities in cross-border disease surveillance. CROSS-BORDER SPREAD RAISES ALARM Nigeria on Tuesday confirmed its first case of Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus, the same strain responsible for the ongoing epidemic in the DRC, becoming the fifth country to detect the virus since the outbreak began in May, according to the Nigerian health authorities.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added a third measles death to its dashboard on Wednesday, but the agency would not reveal whether the death occurred in Pennsylvania or another state – which is “notable” as the agency delays reporting other measles deaths, experts say. The CDC cited privacy laws in not sharing the name of the state, but experts say there are no privacy concerns in doing so – and this information is important for the public to have as the outbreak continues accelerating, growing by 8% in one week to 4,410 confirmed cases so far this year, nearly double last year’s count. “Due to privacy laws and legal restrictions, NCHS [the National Center for Health Statistics] cannot identify a state or provide additional details about the third individual,” a spokesperson with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) told the Guardian in response to questions about where the death took place. The spokesperson did not respond to follow-up questions about which laws and restrictions prevented that information from being shared. “I don’t buy it,” said Dorit Reiss, a professor of law at UC Law San Francisco.

News|Articles|October 22, 2026 A Contemporary Pediatrics Peer Exchange panel reviews RSV risk, testing, maternal vaccination, and long-acting monoclonal antibodies, and where infants still slip through the cracks. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has long been a fixture of the winter pediatric ward. With maternal vaccination and 2 long-acting monoclonal antibodies now available, a panel of pediatric infectious disease specialists says severe RSV in infants can become uncommon, if practices close the gaps in delivery. The discussion was moderated by Flor M. Munoz, MD, MSc, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Panelists were C. Buddy Creech, MD, MPH, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee; Eric Simões, MD, of the University of Colorado Anschutz in Aurora; and Tina Tan, MD, FAAP, FIDSA, FPIDS, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Pediatrics. Every infant is at riskRSV typically circulates in the US from October to April, but seasons start earlier and last longer in the Southeast, beginning as early as June in Florida, Tan said.

News|Articles|October 22, 2026 A Contemporary Pediatrics Peer Exchange panel reviews RSV risk, testing, maternal vaccination, and long-acting monoclonal antibodies, and where infants still slip through the cracks. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has long been a fixture of the winter pediatric ward. With maternal vaccination and 2 long-acting monoclonal antibodies now available, a panel of pediatric infectious disease specialists says severe RSV in infants can become uncommon, if practices close the gaps in delivery. The discussion was moderated by Flor M. Munoz, MD, MSc, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Panelists were C. Buddy Creech, MD, MPH, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee; Eric Simões, MD, of the University of Colorado Anschutz in Aurora; and Tina Tan, MD, FAAP, FIDSA, FPIDS, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, and editor-in-chief of Contemporary Pediatrics. Every infant is at riskRSV typically circulates in the US from October to April, but seasons start earlier and last longer in the Southeast, beginning as early as June in Florida, Tan said.

Saskatchewan has expanded breast cancer screening eligibility to women 40 and older and invested more than $15 million in breast health services since 2023-24.