Officials in Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province say the chance that a Dutch tourist diagnosed with hantavirus contracted it in Ushuaia is "almost zero". Surveys found no trace of the virus in the city's rodent population. The case is probably linked to another region.
Newly suspected hantavirus cases in southwestern Spain and on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha are widening the geographic footprint of the outbreak. Officials are investigating whether the strains line up. No deaths have so far been confirmed in either location.
Scientists say samples from sick passengers on an Atlantic cruise provide the strongest evidence yet that Andes hantavirus can spread person-to-person. The trait had not previously been confirmed outside South America. Public-health experts are recommending revisions to travel protocols.
A cruise ship found to be carrying cases of Andes hantavirus has reached the Canary Islands after days at sea. Spanish health authorities evacuated three more passengers and transferred them to intensive care. Officials are investigating whether the outbreak extends to a wider group.
The cruise outbreak has revived debate over the lack of any approved antiviral treatment for hantavirus. Academic researchers and US and EU health authorities are calling for a small but accelerated drug development push.
Australians living with motor neurone disease fear that reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will strip them of fast-tracked access. Patient family groups stress that waiting times are critical given the disease's prognosis.
New studies show climate change has lengthened the pollen season by an average of 20 days a year, exposing patients to more intense reactions. Experts link the rise in hospital admissions directly to emissions.
Health authorities are tracking new suspected hantavirus cases in Spain and the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. The findings raise the risk of geographic spread beyond the cruise-ship outbreak.
England has enacted a new community right-to-buy law giving residents priority to purchase important local assets. Public-health experts say the legislation could safeguard pubs, health hubs and green spaces that influence neighbourhood-level wellbeing.
Passengers stranded aboard the MV Hondius say conditions remain calm even as the cruise ship faces additional days at sea due to the hantavirus outbreak. Officials warn the disease may have spread on board.
A 35-year-old woman in Ethiopia has given birth to quintuplets after 12 years of trying to conceive. Spontaneous quintuplets occur in roughly one of every 60 million pregnancies, and specialists say the rate of multiple births has been rising globally with assisted reproduction.
Some passengers potentially exposed to hantavirus on the MV Hondius have already taken flights to multiple countries, raising concerns about wider spread. Experts say person-to-person transmission of the virus is rare but stress that the Andes strain warrants close travel-linked surveillance.
Helplines created under "Martha's Rule," set up after the preventable death of a teenager in England, have logged more than 1,700 calls from worried NHS staff in their first year. The scheme lets relatives and clinicians escalate concerns about a deteriorating patient and request an urgent second opinion.
Medicine shortages in England are worsening, with patients unable to access drugs for heart conditions, stroke prevention, eye infections and bipolar disorder. Industry bodies warn that supply and manufacturing bottlenecks are likely to persist in the coming months.
Death doulas, sometimes called soul midwives, offer non-medical emotional and practical support to dying people and their families. Their growing presence reflects rising demand for personalised, less clinical experiences at the end of life.
England's National Health Service will begin offering thousands of cancer patients an injectable form of an immunotherapy drug that takes only minutes to administer. The new format is expected to free hospital chairs and cut treatment time from hours to about seven minutes.
Hantaviruses are a family of pathogens spread mainly through the urine, droppings and saliva of rodents, with most strains not passing between people. The Andes strain, confirmed in the recent cruise ship outbreak, is the only variant known to cause rare human-to-human transmission.
The World Health Organization said two confirmed hantavirus cases on the MV Hondius cruise ship may indicate human-to-human transmission, a route considered rare for the pathogen. Three people connected to the outbreak have died, and the Andes strain has been identified in passengers.