Morning Briefing

"In newly independent South Sudan, deadly kala-azar disease is still raging in some of the most remote areas lacking basic health services," VOA News reports. "An infectious disease carried by a parasite and transmitted by the bite of a sand fly, kala-azar causes a fever that does not subside," the news service writes, noting that American physician Jill Seaman, who came to South Sudan in 1989, "said around 95 percent of kala-azar patients simply waste away or die after catching other infectious diseases" if the initial infection is left untreated.