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Scientists say they have identified genes that cause a deadly heart condition that can only be cured by transplants of the heart or lungs.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension kills 50% of those affected within five years, but little was known about what caused the condition in certain people.

Currently, experts say they have discovered five genes that cause the illness.

The findings could result in earlier detection of the disease and ultimately new treatments, researchers say.

The Borno State Government has confirmed three persons dead in fresh cholera outbreak in Kukawa Local Government area of the state.

Commissioner for Health, Dr Haruna Mshelia made the disclosure when the Director General, World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Ghebrayesus, visited the WHO’s Emergency and Response Centre in Maiduguri.

He said that about 700 cases of cholera were recorded in Baga, Doron Baga and Kukawa in the past weeks.

The Federal Government has appealed to World Health Organisation (WHO) to establish reference laboratory in the country as part of efforts to reduce time interval between detection and response to yellow fever epidemic in Nigeria.

Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, made the appeal during the exit press briefing by WHO Director-General, Dr Tedro Ghebreyesus, on Friday in Abuja.

Maxima Maduka, Chief Dental Therapist, Garki Hospital, Abuja, during an interview on Friday, urged people to inculcate the practice of using dental floss to remove food particles between the teeth instead of using tooth picks.

Dental floss is a cord of thin filaments used to remove food particles and dental plague between the teeth in areas a toothbrush is unable to reach.

Maduka, said dental floss, specially made to clean between the teeth, was safer and healthier than tooth pick.

The World Health Organisation (WHO), through its Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, revealed that it will work closely with health partners to vaccinate more than 25 million persons in Nigeria against yellow fever in 2018.

Dr. Ghebreyesus, made the disclosure at the African Launch of “Strategy to Eliminate Yellow Fever Epidemic” (EYE Strategy) in Abuja.

The health expert added it was relevant to launch a new strategy of eradicating yellow fever in Africa, considering that the world was currently facing a growing risk of the disease.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday inaugurated the Abia Tele-health initiative, otherwise known as ‘Dial-a-doctor’ initiative, describing it as commendable effort in the healthcare delivery system in the state. Speaking at the event held at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia, Osinbajo said that Abia had blazed the trail in the utilisation of Global System of Mobile Telecommunication (GSM) in the delivery of quality healthcare to the people of the state.