Global Health

Somalia now has the dubious distinction of having the worst polio outbreak in the world. The country had been polio-free since 2007. If this outbreak gains a foothold, health workers fear it could spread into the Middle East.

The Pandoravirus is so big you can see it in an ordinary microscope. Scientists say its size may have helped fool amoebas and other potential hosts into eating it. But this virus doesn't pose a threat to humans. It's more of a Trojan virus than a surprise from Pandora's Box.

The number of babies born with the life-threatening disease will climb by a third in the next 40 years, scientists say. The vast majority of sickle cell cases will occur in developing countries, which don't have the resources to treat deadly complications arising from the genetic disorder.

Many families in rural Tajikistan spend hours each day collecting water from communal spigots or nearby rivers, where the water often isn't safe. When one village gets a new water system — and a tap in each yard — residents have more time to grow food and earn money to support their families.

The recommended change would mean that patients would begin treatment before they get extremely sick. In Africa, where millions of people are infected with HIV, a move to earlier treatment would be challenging for the public health system.

One Siberian city is tackling the problem of drug-resistant tuberculosis with a health program affectionately named for an earlier Russian innovation. In the modern Sputnik program, teams of nurses travel around the sprawling city of Tomsk, finding and treating the TB patients who are the hardest to reach.

David Green says capitalism practiced with empathy is the right way to make health care available to the masses. The social entrepreneur is working on medical devices and services that can make a difference in the developing world.

A family copes with tuberculosis in a place where a child infected with the illness may be shunned. Nurses are working hard to bring clean air and clear information to every home and every generation.

As the civil war continues, a new study says Syria's health care system is near collapse. Outbreaks of disease are on the rise in the country, and refugees sheltered beyond the border are also at great risk.

The world is closer than ever to wiping out polio. But a growing outbreak in the Horn of Africa has health workers worried that the virus could spread to surrounding regions. Thirty-one kids have been paralyzed by the poliovirus in the past two months, and the number is expected to rise.