Since the wet season began in late 2017, Malawi has seen a severe spike in cholera cases.
The Ministry of Health reported that the disease has caused 30 deaths and almost 900 cases this year throughout the African country.
Malawi’s capital city, Lilongwe, is currently being hit the hardest by the outbreak. Cholera spread to 352 people in Lilongwe and caused 18 deaths, as of April 12.
Whether it’s the estimated $54 billion SARS outbreak in Asia in 2002 or the $4.7 million measles outbreak in the Netherlands from 2013, epidemics cost money. Minnesota battled a measles outbreak in 2017 that totaled $1 million. Meanwhile, West Africa’s widely-publicized Ebola epidemic in 2014 tallied $32.6 billion.
Even these figures from groups such as the World Bank struggle to completely grasp the financial ramifications of such events.
No matter where it is or what disease spreads, an outbreak isn’t cheap.
Scientists believe that typhoid fever is an ancient illness tracing back millennia. They believe the disease may have caused Greece’s plague in 430 B.C. and helped extinguish the Jamestown Colony in the 1600s. Historians suspect that typhoid killed over 6,000 of the colonists that settled there.
Even despite that long history, we’re still struggling with the disease to this day, this time in the form of a superbug.
Typhoid fever is a highly contagious bacterium caused by the Salmonella typhi bacteria. The bacterium gets into food or drink, usually leading to symptoms withing one or two weeks.
While shingles is not a new illness, it has been featured heavily in the news recently due to Lin-Manuel Miranda. The playwright, actor and singer announced on April 5 that he was quarantining himself from his newborn son due to an official diagnosis.
For Miranda, the notable symptom was a migraine. Other symptoms of shingles can often include itching, pain or tingling in an area where a rash will develop, fever, chills and an upset stomach.
The World Health Organization (WHO) works closely with government officials in over 150 different countries. They divide those countries into six regions to provide aid and health to their citizens.
In keeping with their goal, the organization might look ahead to future health risks. So, how can they plan for an outbreak that doesn’t exist?
The WHO is making preparations for an unknown epidemic dubbed “Disease X.”
