News Scan for Aug 22, 2014

News brief

Florida confirms 2 more locally acquired chikungunya cases

Two Palm Beach County, Fla., residents have acquired chikungunya locally, bringing the nation's total number of locally acquired cases to six, the Palm Beach Post reported yesterday.

State and county health officials said that a 43-year-old man and 35-year-old woman contracted the painful mosquito-borne disease without traveling to outbreak areas.

Their cases bring the county's total of locally acquired chikungunya cases to four and the US total to six. The other two cases were also in Florida: one each in St. Lucie and Miami-Dade counties.

So far this year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 640 US chikungunya cases, of which 636 have been travel-related. A chikungunya outbreak in the Caribbean and surrounding areas has reached almost 600,000 cases.
Aug 21 Palm Beach Post story
Aug 20 CIDRAP News item "US tally of travel-related chikungunya cases reaches 636"


Vietnam reports third H5N6 outbreak in birds

Vietnamese officials have confirmed a third outbreak of H5N6 avian flu in poultry this year. The strain killed 498 pheasants in village flocks, and the remaining 60 were culled to prevent disease spread, according to a report filed today with the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE).

The village is located in Lao Cai province in northern Vietnam. The previous outbreaks, affecting flocks of 80 and 1,900 poultry, as reported to the OIE last week, occurred in separate provinces in northern and central parts of the country. Those outbreaks happened in April and June; the report called the virus a new strain.

The current outbreak began on Aug 11. Samples from the affected birds were confirmed as highly pathogenic H5N6 by an advanced clinical laboratory, the report said.

Samples taken from nearby flocks tested negative.
Aug 22 OIE report
Aug 13
CIDRAP News scan on previous outbreaks

 

NIH awards $14.5 million for anthrax research

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) a 5-year, $14.5 million grant to continue its research on the effect on humans of Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes anthrax, the OMRF said in a news release.

The grant comes from the NIH's Cooperative Centers for Human Immunology program, which aims to identify new vaccines and drug targets.

The grant covers projects that will study the regions of B anthracis that cause inflammation, human pathology of the disease, administration of the anthrax vaccine in US military personnel, infection-related inflammation, movement of anthrax spores from the lungs to the rest of the body, and peptides made by human immune cells that neutralize B anthracis.

"Historically, researchers have focused on the anthrax bacteria themselves," said OMRF President Stephen Prescott, MD. "OMRF scientists decided, instead, to study how the human immune system forms—or fails to form—immune responses to those bacteria.
Aug 20 OMRF news release

Food Outbreak Scan for Aug 22, 2014

News brief

Four salmonellosis cases tied to recalled nut butter

Four illnesses in four states have been confirmed in a Salmonella outbreak likely associated with recalled nut butter, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an update yesterday.

Connecticut, Iowa, Tennessee, and Texas have each reported one case, the CDC said. Illness-onset dates ranged from Jan 22 to May 16, and patients' ages vary from 3 to 83 years, with a median of 36. One patient required hospitalization.

"Collaborative investigation efforts of state, local, and federal public health and regulatory agencies indicate that almond and peanut butter manufactured by nSpired Natural Foods, Inc. is the likely source of this outbreak," the CDC said.

The Food and Drug Administration isolated the outbreak strain of Salmonella Braenderup from environmental samples collected from an nSpired Natural Foods facility during routine inspections in January and July. And on Aug 19 the company, of San Leandro, Calif., recalled certain lots of almond and peanut butter because of potential contamination.

The recalled brands include Arrowhead Mills, MaraNatha, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Safeway, and Kroger.
Aug 21 CDC update
Aug 20 CIDRAP News Scan on recall

 

Multistate Salmonella outbreak tied to bearded dragons called over

The CDC this week declared that a Salmonella outbreak linked to pet bearded dragons is over after affecting 166 people in 36 states. The numbers are up from 150 cases in 35 states reported in the previous CDC update, on Jun 12.

The outbreak involved two strains: Salmonella Cotham (160 cases) and Salmonella Kisarawe (6 cases). Illness-onset dates ranged from Feb 20, 2012, to Jun 30, 2014. Patients' ages ranged from less than 1 year to 79, with a median of 3 years; 59% of patients were 5 years old or younger. Thirty-seven percent of cases involved hospitalization.

Of 10 isolates collected from patients, 1 was resistant to ceftriaxone, an antibiotic used to treat serious Salmonella infections, the CDC said.

California had the most cases, with 27, followed by New York and Wisconsin with 12 each.

"Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback findings linked this outbreak of human Salmonella infections to contact with pet bearded dragons purchased from multiple stores in different states," the CDC said.

The agency added that, although the outbreak is likely over, Salmonella infections from contact with bearded dragons are expected to continue at low levels. It advised pet owners to wash their hands after touching the reptiles—which can carry the bacterium without appearing ill—or their environs.
Aug 20 CDC update

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