Former cop and convicted rapist Brad Shipton has a rare and aggressive form of dementia.

A New Zealander who arrived back in the country this week from Liberia - where an Ebola outbreak has killed almost 600 people - says he is shocked there was no testing as he passed through New Zealand Customs.

Cancer patient Samantha France dreams of going to Europe on a school trip as part of her history studies.

Three-year-old Denon Andrew is losing his sight.

ASpanish priest became the first European to die of the Ebola virus yesterday, as the World Health Organisation authorised the use of experimental drugs to fight it.

New Zealand border officials intend screening anyone arriving from West African countries afflicted by the deadly Ebola virus, which has claimed almost 1000 lives since March.

The guys who hang off Madison Ave in East Harlem are not what most people would describe as news-and-current affairs junkies.

In an era when the next pandemic can seem just a pathogen away, Ebola still retains a grisly fascination.

Fears that the west African Ebola outbreak could spread to other continents have grown. European and Asian countries are on alert and a leading medical charity says the epidemic is out of control.

New Zealand health experts are making contingency plans to manage the ebola virus in case the deadly disease arrives from West Africa.

Health officials will not start screening for deadly ebola infection among passengers arriving in NZ, despite the seriousness of the outbreak of the disease in West Africa.

As Ebola, Mers and HIV/Aids make headlines, what are the biggest risks to the world's health? And what is being done about them?

He's been labelled a 'national hero' for battling Sierra Leone's deadly Ebola outbreak. Now he's been infected with the disease that has no cure.

Senior American scientists have been abruptly dismissed from a US Government advisory board on dangerous biological agents.

A US government laboratory mistakenly mixed a common flu strain with a dangerous and deadly type of bird flu and shipped it to another lab.

Senior scientists have criticised an American university for allowing research on a pandemic strain of flu virus that escapes the human immune system.

A controversial scientist has deliberately created a pandemic strain of flu that can evade the human immune system.

If you're in a hurry to meet your maker, a religious pilgrimage may be the most direct route.

When Vicki Parry's highly trained Siberian husky nudges forcefully into her leg, she knows it's time to do a diabetes test of her blood-sugar level.

Measles outbreaks have forced two large Hamilton schools to quarantine students and cancel or postpone all sporting, cultural and academic trips for the rest of the term. One has postponed its school ball.

Australia is preparing for an invasion by an aggressive and exotic pest that threatens to spread dengue fever to southern capitals.

Hospital wards need to be redesigned to provide urgently needed defences against the spread of deadly, antibiotic-resistant superbugs.