Brazil is considering calling on Cuba to send doctors and has mobilized its military to join the nation's public health workers in battling a deadly outbreak of the mosquito-borne viral illness, dengue fever, which has killed 67 people and infected more than 45,000.

For the past few years, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil has been at the center of a resurgence of the disease in South America

Following the outbreak of the deadly yellow fever in Paraguay, more than 1.27 million residents have now been vaccinated, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has reported. All of Paraguay's 18 departments have received vaccines, with as much as 83 percent of the population in Asuncion, the capital.

According to the last update issued by WHO on Friday, the number of confirmed cases across Paraguay has risen by six to 22. So far the disease has taken the toll of six lives while another 12 suspected cases are under investigation by health authorities

Scientists have achieved a breakthrough in the treatment of type 2 diabetes by using skin secretions from a South American frog. A compound isolated from the frog stimulates insulin release.

The synthetic version of the compound-- pseudin-2 -- could be used to produce new drugs, scientists from the University of Ulster and United Arab Emirates University reported on Monday. They tested a synthetic version of pseudin-2, which protects the frog from infection, and found it stimulated the secretion of insulin in pancreatic cells in the laboratory and importantly

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has organized the supply of two million doses of yellow fever vaccine to Paraguay as health authorities in the South American country battle a deadly outbreak of the viral disease.

The vaccine doses were obtained from the WHO's International Coordinating Group on Provision of Vaccines, the agency said in an update released today. Brazil has sent 850,000 doses and Peru has dispatched 144,000, adding to the 300,000 that Paraguay already has on reserve

For the first time ever, scientists have released a detailed map highlighting the world's hotspots for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). Using data from past 65 years, the map pinpoints the locations where majority of these new diseases come from wildlife.

EID's such as HIV, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), West Nile virus and Ebola are indeed on the rise. The study has determined that zoonoses, diseases that originate in animals, are the current and most important threat in causing new diseases to emerge. The study analysed 335 incidents of previous disease emergence beginning in 1940 and concluded that most of these EID's originated in wildlife