Costa Rican health officials this week reported the two latest confirmed cases of Zika virus, contracted by a man and woman who recently traveled to Nicaragua. They bring the total number of confirmed cases in Costa Rica to 12.
The 41-year-old Costa Rican woman was in the U.S. without health or travel insurance and accumulated roughly $300,000 in health care costs during a six-day hospital admission.
The increase in cases of mosquito-borne diseases around the country prompted officials of the Public Health Ministry and the National Emergency Commission on Thursday evening to declare a state of emergency for 31 cantons at all seven provinces.
A virtually unused space near the train tracks in Freses, Curridabat, has become a community-designed space for chatting, gardening, listening to live music... and eating fish and chips.
A Canadian court Wednesday struck down federal rules governing the growing and distribution of medical marijuana, ruling that Canadians have a constitutional right to grow it for themselves at home.
U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday asked Congress to set aside $1.9 billion to respond to the Zika virus abroad and to prepare for it in the United States, saying the funds are necessary to halt the spread of the disease and "protect the health and safety of Americans."
Costa Rica Health Ministry officials on Monday confirmed that two women from the community of Sámara, in Guanacaste province, are the first confirmed cases of locally acquired Zika virus.
Most of the projected losses to the region take the form of foregone income from tourists — especially pregnant women — who might cancel their trips out of concern that contracting the virus could lead to birth defects.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis insisted Thursday that abortion was always a crime but hinted that the Church could exceptionally relax its ban on contraception for women at risk of contracting the Zika virus.
