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

Tobin Chisnall has opened his eyes and tried to pull out his feeding tube, the first sign of improvement from the little boy in almost a week.

An experimental serum treatment on two US missionaries has raised hopes of an effective treatment for the disease after doctors reported a "miraculous" improvement in the health of one of those who contracted the disease.

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.

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.

An American beauty queen has become a figurehead for diabetes sufferers after winning Miss Idaho contest while wearing her insulin pump.

Asthma inhalers can stunt the growth of children, UK research suggests.

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.

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.

Many microscopic bugs and bacteria live on our skin and within our various nooks and crannies.

Eating fast food and consuming sugary drinks renders the most common asthma inhaler ineffective, a study warns.

Wedding guests and eight serving staff at the exclusive Northern Club in Auckland fell sick in a suspected norovirus outbreak.

An outbreak of the Ebola virus, which started in a rural region of Guinea in West Africa, has now spread to the nation's capital Conakry. It now reportedly involves 122 people, of which 78 have died.

An outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever that doctors yesterday described as unprecedented has spread to three countries in West Africa.

A swine flu outbreak has struck in Hawke's Bay. Eight patients have been infected, including three who are in intensive care and one who is in a coma.

An ebola outbreak has killed almost 60 people in Guinea, and may have spread to neighbouring Sierra Leone.