HARARE: A Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe has killed nearly 500 people in the biggest outbreak recorded recently in the crisis-hit country, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.

The cholera, easily prevented and treated under normal circumstances, is a sign of Zimbabwe

HARARE: Zimbabwe has cut water supplies to the nation's capital Harare, state media reported on Monday, leaving most of the city dry as authorities struggle to contain a cholera epidemic.

BY SHAFQAT ALI, ISLAMABAD: While potential aid is still awaited in the quake hit areas in the Balochistan province, the victims are faced with outbreak of life threatening epidemics, officials said.

The unabated onslaught of dengue has made boom town Gurgaon the worst affected district in the national capital region (NCR), as the number of cases here has increased to 374. Nearly 500 cases have tested positive in NCR.

Confirming this, Gurgaon malaria officer Krishan Kumar said that of the total patients who tested positive, 12 were from outside the district.

High Sugar Levels Impair One's Ability To Fight Infection: Study Diabetes has now been found to be fuelling India's deadly tuberculosis (TB) epidemic. In fact, according to researchers, it may be to blame for more than 10% of TB cases in India and China.

- World Health Organization experts initiated a two-day exercise on Wednesday testing responses to a simulated neurological disease outbreak in Thailand, Vietnam and Canada. "We clarified issues that will serve us extremely well in the future, we now understand the issues extremely well," said David Heymann, Assistant Director-General on Health Security and Environment.

The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has made arrangements to prevent possible outbreaks of epidemics after floods subside in the affected areas under the direction of Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, a Ministry spokesman said. He said the Ministry will launch a joint programme in co-ordination with all Provincial Health Officers in the flood affected areas. Usually after floods, there is an outbreak of various diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, viral flu, fever, diarrhoea in the affected areas.

Workers in protective suits circled collapsed communities in trucks on Monday, spraying disinfectant on rubble from last month's massive earthquake as part of a government campaign to prevent disease outbreaks among the 5 million left homeless. Providing safe food, drinking water and temporary shelters was a priority following the May 12 earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people, the Health Ministry said. Bodies discovered in the rubble were being disinfected, ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said in an interview posted on the central government's Web site.

A boy feeds his younger brother at a temporary shelter after fleeing cyclone-hit areas in the Irrawaddy division of Myanmar on Thursday. Here are the health questions and answers in the aftermath of cyclone Nargis that slammed Myanmar recently: What is the main health risk after the cyclone?