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Disease

Disease
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Disease. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
Illustration: Mario Cameira
Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

Is Hong Kong winning the war on cancer or facing new battle in late diagnosis?

While advanced therapies have nearly halved cancer death rate, low screening rates and late detection hold the city back.

Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

How an HKU-developed eczema product could help fight superbug threat

Ebola virus

Ebola shows world unprepared for next pandemic, ex-US CDC head says

Wellness

She quit smoking, then ran an ultra-marathon. How she finally kicked the habit

On World No Tobacco Day, we discover a marathon runner’s secret to quitting smoking and look at Hong Kong’s goal of a smoke-free generation.

Betania Victor runs the Long Beach Marathon in California in 2023. Before going cold turkey on cigarettes, Victor smoked a pack a day. Photo: Instagram/betaniayvr
Africa

Kenya court blocks US Ebola quarantine centre

The centre was supposed to house Americans arriving from DR Congo, which is battling a major Ebola outbreak.

Wellness

He lost his wife to a rare brain cancer. Here’s how he keeps going

After losing his wife Charissa to a rare, aggressive brain cancer, Antoine d’Haussy celebrated her life by starting a fundraising campaign.

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Hong Kong science and tech

3 scientists win Hong Kong’s Shaw Prize for developing therapy for rare leukaemia

Anne Dejean, Hugues de The and Chen Zhu share US$1.2 million life sciences and medicine prize for work on acute promyelocytic leukaemia.

Professor Emerita Anne Dejean, Professor Hugues de The and Professor Chen Zhu have won the life science and medicine award of the Shaw Prize. Photo: Shaw Prize Foundation
Africa

Uganda shuts border with DR Congo to curb surging Ebola outbreak

Defying WHO guidelines, temporary closure follows exposure of Ugandan health workers to the rare virus strain.

China’s private sector

Insilico, US partner to build AI models predicting disease decades ahead

Tie-up combines Hong Kong-listed Insilico Medicine’s algorithms with Human Longevity’s genomic data to advance personalised health research.

Africa

African Development Bank meets as shrinking aid, Ebola cast long shadows

The bank is pushing to tap Africa’s own financial resources to plug what it estimates is a US$400 billion annual development financing gap.

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French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenya’s President William Ruto pose for a photo with other African heads of state during the closing ceremony of the ‘Africa Forward’ Summit 2026 at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 12, 2026. Photo: Reuters
Science

Chinese scientists develop handheld cancer detection device

The new system is about 10,000 times more sensitive than traditional methods at detecting early-stage lung cancer.

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Chinese scientists have developed a handheld device that can detect early-stage cancer biomarkers from a single drop of blood with up to 94.9 per cent accuracy. Photo: Shutterstock
Wellness

Are mould and toxins in your home making you ill? How to reduce health risks

Mould thrives in humid climates, and certain furniture can introduce particles that can cause coughs and even cancer. Here’s how to stay safe.

Africa

Ebola spreads in eastern Congo as contact tracing falters

Health workers have only been able to follow up with a fraction of contacts, and some thought to be infected have fled treatment centres.

Wellness

How GLP-1s are more than just weight-loss wonders – but not without risk

Research suggests GLP-1s like Ozempic may help with more than just weight loss and type 2 diabetes, but experts warn of risks from abuse.

GLP-1 drugs offer broader health benefits beyond weight loss, but they carry serious risks requiring medical oversight, experts say. Illustration: Cameira
Africa

WHO raises risk assessment as DR Congo’s Ebola outbreak spreads ‘rapidly’

Chief of the UN health agency said the risk remains high for regional spread and low at global levels.

A medical worker checks temperature for a local journalist in Bunia, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Thursday. Photo: Xinhua
Trending in China

China ‘most devoted fraudster’ fakes hospital records to give wife free dialysis

Unemployed ex-factory worker who struggles to define meaning of love stays loyal to wife until the day she dies.

Africa

DR Congo police fire warning shots as protesters burn Ebola patient tents

Angry residents torch a medical facility in a town hit hard by the outbreak as mistrust deepens over burials.

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Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

Hong Kong issues red travel alert for DR Congo as Ebola outbreak spreads

139 suspected deaths and 600 suspected cases have been recorded in DR Congo and Uganda, with numbers expected to rise.

A woman cries as Red Cross workers carry the bodies of Ebola victims from a health centre in the DR Congo. Photo: AP
Hong Kong society

Editorial | Despite low risk of Ebola, Hong Kong is vigilant and prepared

City never had Ebola and has no direct flights to affected cities. Still, traveller screenings are stepped up and the quarantine bay readied.

Africa

Outbreak of rare Ebola strain sparks race to find vaccines and treatments

Doctors battling the deadly Bundibugyo strain in DR Congo will likely have to wait months for a vaccine.

Singapore

Singapore, Japan, South Korea boost Ebola screening after WHO alert

Other Asian nations including Vietnam and Indonesia have also announced increased monitoring or public health measures at ports of entry.

Aid workers set up an Ebola treatment centre in Bunia, DR Congo, on Tuesday. Photo: AP
Animals

Norway reports Europe’s first case of bird flu in a polar bear

The H5N5 variant was also found in a walrus found about 1,000km from the North Pole, and is thought to be the likely cause of death.

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A polar bear bear walks on the sea ice near glaciers on the Svalbard archipelago in April 2025. Photo: AFP
Ebola virus

WHO warns of ‘scale and speed’ of deadly Ebola outbreak

Deaths and cases surge in eastern DR Congo as rare Ebola strain spreads.

Africa

US to screen for Ebola at airports as American worker is infected

US implements airport screenings and suspends visa services following a WHO declaration over the deadly Ebola strain.

Africa

Silent spread of rare and deadly Ebola strain exposes surveillance gaps

A four-week detection delay for the Bundibugyo variant has left dozens dead in DR Congo and triggered a global alert.

Health workers in protective suits tend to an Ebola victim in an isolation tent in 2019. Photo: AP
Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals

Hong Kong urged to trigger travel alert to DR Congo, Uganda amid Ebola outbreak

Infectious disease expert says more preventive measures necessary, noting frequent exchanges between mainland Chinese and central African cities.

A general hospital in Goma, a major city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where the first case of Ebola in the current outbreak was reported. Photo: AFP
Africa

US citizens in DR Congo potentially exposed to Ebola, report says

CDC escalates its response to the latest deadly outbreak after the WHO declares an international emergency.

Hong Kong society

Hong Kong ramps up health checks for travellers from Africa after Ebola outbreak

Move follows WHO declaring outbreak of deadly disease on continent a ‘public health emergency of international concern’.

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