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Health Check: Alarm Over Mysterious Respiratory Illness in China

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Bicolored White-toothed Shrew

2020/01/08 GMT

Alarm Over Mysterious Respiratory Illness in China

BBC World Service - Health Check, Alarm Over Mysterious Respiratory Illness in China

The scientist who solved the mystery of a killer brain disease and a shrew

The scientist who solved the mystery of a killer brain disease and a shrew.

As scientists try to identify a new respiratory illness in China we report on another medical mystery. German researchers who looked at the brains of people who died of encephalitis – an inflammation of the brain – found that they were infected with the same Borna virus carried by wild white-toothed shrews. They think that humans might catch the virus when their cats catch the rodents and bring them home. 

A new smartphone app is helping families and medical staff to understand the discomfort experienced every day by people living with inflammatory bowel disease. Patients with conditions like Crohns disease often need to get to a toilet quickly - so the charity Crohns and Colitis UK developed the app In My Shoes. Our reporter has tried it out along with staff from Southampton General hospital. 

We tend to think of students as being healthy - but a few years ago there were outbreaks of bacterial meningitis in colleges and universities across the UK. It’s spread by close physical contact including kissing and students are now encouraged to have a vaccine. But now a team of British researchers is developing an extra layer of protection - nose drops laced with friendly bacteria.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Paula McGrath

(Photo: Bicolored White-toothed Shrew. Credit: CreativeNature nl/Getty Images)

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