Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported one new MERS-CoV case for epidemiologic week 44. The MOH did not note any cases in epidemiologic week 43, which was last week.
The new case of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) occurred in a 74-year-old man from Riyadh who had contact with camels—a known risk factor for MERS transmission. The man is currently hospitalized.
A phase 2 study of an adjuvanted subunit vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) in young and middle-aged adults with the latent form of the disease found that it was 54% effective against progression to the active pulmonary form of the disease. An international team led by scientists from GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine's developer, reported its findings today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The new data highlight an especially profound impact on the very young and very old.
An Emirates Airline flight arriving at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates at about 9 am this morning was held on the tarmac after 100 people were reportedly ill on the flight. According Eric Phillips, press secretary with the New York mayor's office, there were 521 people on the flight, which stopped in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, after it began in Dubai.
A mumps outbreak centered in Anchorage, Alaska, has chugged along for more than a year and reached nearly 400 cases despite a series of vaccination recommendations that expanded to include the entire state, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC's) ministry of health confirmed that the new Ebola outbreak in the eastern reaches of the country is caused by the Zaire Ebola virus species, according to Science magazine.
Two strains of herpesvirus were twice as high in people with Alzheimer's disease.
In a major development today on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly under way in Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank Group announced the launch of a new mechanism to firm up global health security, an independent monitoring board to regularly assess country preparedness to handle outbreaks, pandemics, and other health emergencies.
Frequent tampon changing is not recommended to prevent toxic shock, a US expert says.
The United States Senate today confirmed Alex Azar, a pharmaceutical executive, to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to media reports.