Red Cross delivers food, medicine to besieged Syrian town

Red Cross said on Thursday it had delivered food for more than 12,000 people to the besieged Syrian town of Mouadamiya near Damascus, enough for only three weeks and that regular access was needed. Medical supplies for 10,000 people were also brought into the town of 50,000 on Wednesday on convoys of the the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Syrian Arab Red Crescent, it said in a statement. The agency is seeking access to bring more aid to the besieged town of Madaya in Rural Damascus and the villages of Foua and Kafraya in Idlib.
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WHO calls for further investigation into sexual spread of Zika virus

A municipal worker fumigates inside a building to help control the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in CaracasBy Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) voiced concern on Wednesday over a report the Zika virus had been sexually transmitted in the United States and called for further investigation into the mosquito-borne virus. The first known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States was reported in Dallas, Texas on Tuesday by local health officials, who said it likely was contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite. This needs to be further investigated to understand the conditions and how often or likely sexual transmission is, and whether or not other body fluids are implicated," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters.

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NewLink Genetics says working on Zika vaccine

(Reuters) – U.S. drug developer NewLink Genetics Corp joined the race to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus, a day after the World Health Organization declared the mosquito-borne disease an international public health emergency. NewLink said on Tuesday it had initiated a project to develop new treatment options for the disease. NewLink is also developing an ebola vaccine with Merck that has proved to be highly effective against the deadly virus in a large trial in Guinea.
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