The spotlight on brain injuries suffered by American troops in Iraq this month is an example of America’s episodic attention to this invisible war wound, which has affected hundreds of thousands over the past two decades but is not yet fully understood.Unlike physical wounds, such as burns or the loss …

For the third time in one week, a World Health Organization Emergency Committee will meet to decide whether the new coronavirus poses a global health threat.  The latest number of confirmed cases has risen to 7,700, including 170 deaths. The two previous emergency meetings ended inconclusively.  WHO experts were split on …

China counted 170 deaths from a new virus Thursday and more countries reported infections, including some spread locally, as foreign evacuees from China’s worst-hit region returned home to medical observation and even isolation.      India and the Philippines reported their first cases, in a traveler and a student who …

At Arizona State University, which hosts more than 13,300 international students, people are wearing face masks and petitioning the school to cancel classes after the coronavirus was diagnosed in someone at the university who had recently returned from China.“From stores selling out of surgical masks to students calling for class …

A massive mobilization is underway in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Officials are racing to build two new medical centers from the ground up in a matter of days. A new coronavirus spreading from the city is flooding the country’s health care system. Hospitals are overcrowded with sick people and …

The World Health Organization will decide Thursday whether to designate the coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, but countries are taking action. New travel warnings advise people to avoid nonessential travel to China, and airlines have begun suspending flights to cities in mainland China. For the millions of people now …

China has told farmers to step up vegetable production, opened roads for delivery trucks and is punishing those trying to profit in order to keep feeding residents of the locked down city of Wuhan at the center of the new coronavirus outbreak.Authorities cut most transport links to the central Chinese …

NASSARAWA, NIGERIA — Nigerian twin girls joined in the chest and abdominal regions are now living virtually normal lives, weeks after being successfully separated at the state-owned National Hospital.  Medical experts say the operation was the most complicated case of conjoined twins separation ever performed in Nigeria.An event in Abuja …

Explorers discovered the world’s seventh continent, Antarctica, 200 years ago.  A multinational power grab ensued.  It took until the late 1950s for countries to sign a treaty protecting the frozen landmass, but as VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, the pact never envisioned the challenges posed by climate change …

A plane evacuating more than 200 Americans from a Chinese city at the center of a virus outbreak continued Wednesday on to southern California after everyone aboard passed a health screening test in Anchorage, where the aircraft had stopped to refuel.All 201 passengers had already been through two screenings in …

African nations are preparing for what experts believe is the inevitable emergence of cases of coronavirus on the continent. With growing economic ties and increased travel between the African continent and China, health professionals say they must be ready to treat and isolate cases.On Tuesday, Ethiopia announced it had quarantined …

An airplane that a federal official said was evacuating as many as 240 Americans from a Chinese city at the center of a virus outbreak has landed in the U.S.The U.S. government chartered the plane to fly out diplomats from the U.S. Consulate in Wuhan, where the latest coronavirus outbreak …

The first evacuations of foreign nationals from China took place Wednesday as the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak soared to 132 people.A chartered jet flew 206 Japanese nationals from Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, to Tokyo’s Haneda airport Wednesday.  Four passengers were taken to a hospital after complaining …

The World Health Organization warns the evacuation of nationals from China to their home countries carries the risk of spreading the deadly coronavirus.  The WHO reports 4,428 cases of the disease in China, including 106 deaths. Another 45 cases are confirmed in 13 countries. WHO Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is wrapping …

At least five people in Australia have tested positive for the coronavirus.  The latest is a young Chinese student diagnosed in Sydney.  Australia is increasing its border and biosecurity measures. Medical authorities are warning it is likely there will be more confirmed cases in Australia of the potentially deadly coronavirus.  School …

Thailand has announced the 10th case of the coronavirus as government authorities say the outbreak is still under control. Meanwhile, Asian airlines such as Chinese Eastern Airline are still taking passengers home to China’s epicenter in Wuhan, despite a ban on outgoing flights from the epicenter. Steve Sandford speaks to …

The United States, Japan and other countries are sending planes to evacuate their citizens out of the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the global coronavirus outbreak that has now killed 106 people.Japan is sending a chartered jet to Wuhan Tuesday to evacuate about 200 of the 650 …

When it comes to prostate cancer, African American men have similar survival rates to white counterparts if they have equal access to health care, a new study suggests.Earlier research has found African Americans are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as whites, and the reasons may include diagnosis …

Countries around the world are planning to evacuate diplomatic staff and private citizens from Chinese areas hit by the new coronavirus, which is spreading quickly.Wuhan, a city of 11 million people in the Chinese province of Hubei, is the epicentre of the outbreak. Wuhan is in virtual lockdown and much …

Countries with citizens in the central Chinese city that’s the epicenter of a viral outbreak are planning evacuations as the number of illnesses grow and China takes drastic measures to try to stop the spread of the virus.A look at steps being taken: — CHINA: The government cut transportation links …

An expert in China warns that the new strain of virus originating from the Chinese city of Wuhan could be gaining strength and increasing its ability to transfer from one person to another. The coronavirus that is causing respiratory problems similar to pneumonia has sickened close to 3,000 people worldwide …

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited the city of Wuhan on Monday to meet with health officials and examine the response to the outbreak of a coronavirus that has killed 80 people.Wuhan is the center of the outbreak and people there and in several other cities face strict restrictions on movement …

Private American citizens living and working in Wuhan are being warned there will not be room for many of them on an evacuation flight being prepared for U.S. consular staff in the epicenter of the Coronavirus epidemic.”The Department of State is making arrangements to relocate its personnel stationed at the …

The U.N. refugee agency welcomes a ruling by the U.N. Human Rights Committee this past week that people fleeing climate-related and natural disasters have a valid claim for international protection.The case in question concerns Ioane Teitiota, a man from the Pacific island of Kiribati, whose claim for protection as a …

Algae often gets a bad rap — for creating dead zones in the ocean and toxic pond scum when the “wrong” algae blooms. But algae has a talent people need: as a crop it can provide carbon-neutral fuels, foods and products, even in salty water, even in the desert. To make algae products a reality, scientists at …