Infectious diseases can break out
suddenly, almost anywhere in the world,
and with devastating impacts. They have become a serious concern to world leaders
- from cholera to bird flu, here are 10 that
threaten populations around the globe.

Ebola
The aid organisation Médecins Sans
Frontières has described the Ebola
outbreak in West Africa as “out of control”.
There is no cure or specific treatment
beyond immediate intensive care.
The virus has now killed 660 people across
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since the
outbreak began in February. With a
mortality rate as high as 90 per cent in
some cases, it has put a terrible strain on
a string of weak health systems.
A growing number of health workers have
also themselves fallen victim to the
disease, despite stringent requirements
regarding the use of protective clothing
and visors. Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids. There is no cure for the disease.The only
treatment available is to keep the patient
hydrated – as would be the case with any
fever.

Mers
Last month the WHO held its sixth
emergency committee meeting to discuss
the international response to the Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) virus,
which has now infected at least 839
people since it emerged in Saudi Arabia
two years ago, killing at least 291 of them.
While most cases are believed to involve
people who have been in direct contact
with camels in the Middle East, isolated
incidences have been reported across the
US, Asia and Europe – including Britain.
Experts believe this adds to the growing
evidence that Mers is being passed on in
hospital environments from human to
human – and a recent, worrying study
suggests the virus is now also airborne

Plague
Experts believe this adds to the growing
evidence that Mers is being passed on in
hospital environments from human to
human – and a recent, worrying study
suggests the virus is now also airborne

Plague
There is a commonly-held view that the
bubonic plague is a matter of interest only
in history books, rather than a viable
threat in the present day.
A bacterial infection, it wiped out roughly
half the population of Europe in the 14th
century and millions more during an
outbreak in China in the 19th century.
But the disease is still endemic to the Far
East, and returned to headlines this week
when a Chinese town of 30,000 was
placed on lockdown after the death of a
man
who investigators believe handled a
marmot – a small rodent – while farming.

Mers
Last month the WHO held its sixth
emergency committee meeting to discuss
the international response to the Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) virus,
which has now infected at least 839
people since it emerged in Saudi Arabia
two years ago, killing at least 291 of them.
While most cases are believed to involve
people who have been in direct contact
with camels in the Middle East, isolated
incidences have been reported across the
US, Asia and Europe – including Britain.
Mers
Last month the WHO held its sixth
emergency committee meeting to discuss
the international response to the Middle
East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) virus,
which has now infected at least 839
people since it emerged in Saudi Arabia
two years ago, killing at least 291 of them.
While most cases are believed to involve
people who have been in direct contact
with camels in the Middle East, isolated
incidences have been reported across the
US, Asia and Europe – including Britain.
But in the most recent case, reported to
the WHO by Iran, a 67-year-old woman
died in hospital having had no history of
travel or history of contact with animals or
raw camel products. Experts believe this adds to the growing
evidence that Mers is being passed on in
hospital environments from human to
human – and a recent, worrying study
suggests the virus is now also airborn

H7N9 avian flu
As an example of the threat posed by
avian flu viruses generally, the strand
H7N9 is particularly concerning because it
leads patients to become “severely ill”, the
WHO said.
According to the agency’s most recent risk
assessment on the dangers of human
infections from H7N9, at least 450 cases
have been confirmed – resulting in 165
deaths. There remains a long-standing threat from
H5N1, which though rarer is fatal in two-
thirds of cases. And in February Chinese
scientists said newly-discovered H10N8
had “pandemic potential.
HIV/Aids
Though huge steps have been made in
research and treatment of HIV/Aids since
the discovery of the virus in the 1980s, it
still affects more than 35 million people
worldwide and contributed to the deaths of
around 1.5 million people in 2013.
The virus continues to be identified by the
WHO as a major global public health issue.
The agency estimates that it has claimed
a total of 39 million lives in 30 years.
While the effectiveness of antiretroviral
drugs means people with HIV can enjoy
healthy and productive lives, a cure
remains elusive because of the disease’s
ability to incorporate itself into 'reservoirs'
in our DNA, beyond the reach of drugs or
the immune system.

Polio
Polio is a highly infectious disease that
mainly affects children under five, and has
been the subject of a huge international
eradication effort since the 1988 World
Health Assembly.
In that time cases have reduced by 99 per
cent, but the virus remains endemic in
three countries – Afghanistan, Nigeria and
Pakistan.
The disease is incurable but entirely
preventable using a cheap and readily-
available vaccine. It invades the nervous
system and can cause total paralysis in a
matter of hours, with up to 10 per cent of
children then dying when their breathing
muscles stop working.
The WHO says that “as long as a single
child remains infected, children in all
countries are at risk of contracting polio”,
and that even now a global outbreak could
lead to 200,000 new cases every year
within a decade.

Viral hepatitis
On Monday 28 July, the WHO marked
World Hepatitis Day with a campaign to
urge the world to “think again” about a
group of infectious diseases that kill almost
1.4 million people every year.
In Kenya, where HIV/Aids was declared a
national disaster a decade ago, recent
figures showed that hepatitis infections
have surpassed HIV for the first time.
This year the focus of World Hepatitis Day
was particularly on Hepatitis C, one of
the five strands of the virus for which
there is no vaccine.
Hepatitis C affects 130 to 150 million people
around the world, and up to half a million
die each year from associated liver
diseases.
Measles
Around 84 per cent of the world’s children
have been vaccinated against measles ,
and a safe and cost-effective vaccine is
available globally.
Yet despite this, there are more than
120,000 deaths from measles every year –
the equivalent of around 14 child deaths
an hour.
The WHO describes measles as a “highly
contagious, serious disease”, which caused
2.6 million deaths a year as recently as
1980.
It is spread by coughing and sneezing,
and remains active and contagious in the
air for up to two hours.

Meningitis
Bacterial meningitis breaks out in
epidemics across sub-Saharan Africa,
causing a high fever, headaches and
vomiting. It involves a serious infection of
the lining around the brain and spinal
cord, and kills up to 10 per cent of patients
within 24 to 48 hours of symptoms
emerging.
The last epidemic, in 2009, affected 14
countries and led to more than 5,000
deaths, the biggest toll for almost 20
years.
Cholera
Once a disease that affected the whole
world, cholera still poses a threat in
developing countries, disaster areas and
conflict zones today.
There are up to five million cases, resulting
in 120,000 deaths, every year, according
to the WHO.
It is described as “an extremely virulent
disease” and a “global threat to public
health” by the agency, and can kill within
hours of drinking or using contaminated
water.

With Ebola,others are child's play. With no vaccine,where else to turn to,than hope on divine intervention.

Ebola is the scariest of them all.