Today's News

With contagious diseases breaking out one after another across the world, a flu epidemic is rapidly spreading.

The World Health Organization has recently announced in a report that as winter began in the northern hemisphere, serious cases of respiratory virus infection caused by flu and other respiratory viruses increased in number. The flu season started about four weeks earlier than before in European countries, it said. At present, the flu outbreak has reached a high level in nearly 30 countries.

Measles, cholera, M-pox and other malignant contagious diseases continue to spread in the world.

Measles cases grow in number in different parts of the world including the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia.

Measles broke out in 44 areas of the US last year. Many of the measles cases were reportedly five- to 19-year-olds, making up about 42 percent of all patients.

Ascribing the rapid spread of measles in recent years largely to the fall of vaccination rates to below 80 percent after 2024, the WHO recommended vaccination in the high-risk areas as well as those where measles has broken out.

Last year, over 8 000 people died of cholera and M-pox in Africa.

In 24 African countries 308 935 people caught cholera and 7 131 died of it. The main cause of its outbreaks is that people live in an unsanitary environment drinking polluted water due to the armed conflicts and refugee crisis. Frequent downpours and floods are also contributors to the increasing danger of cholera outbreaks.

M-pox also killed 952 people out of over 132 000 patients.

Besides, diphtheria, hand-foot-mouth disease, malaria, dengue fever and other contagious diseases continue to break out.

And even avian flu viruses mutate into more hazardous ones, threatening the people’s health and safety.

Experts call on all nations to actively turn out for the preventive efforts by maintaining heightened vigilance against the spread of epidemics, providing hygienic environment and inoculating their citizens in time.