Avian Flu Scan for Feb 13, 2015

News brief

Four H7N9 cases, one fatal, reported in China

The H7N9 avian influenza virus has sickened four more people, one fatally, ing China's Guangdong province, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said today in a statement.

Though few details were listed for the patients, the report said the latest case-patients include three men and one woman ages 51 to 82 years old. The 82-year-old man died from his infection, and the rest are hospitalized in critical condition.

Today's cases would increase the global total of H7N9 cases to 592, according to a running case list kept by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
Feb 13 CHP statement
FluTrackers H7N9 case list

Meanwhile, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said yesterday in an epidemiologic update that the H7N9 outbreaks are showing a seasonal pattern, with a peak from January through March in China's cold season and sporadic cases in the summer.

It said the third wave started in October and has included 114 cases as of Feb 11. For comparison, the ECDC said 135 cases were reported in the first wave in 2013 and 319 cases in the second wave, which occurred from the end of 2013 through part of 2014.

So far the case-fatality rate for the third wave, at 24%, appears to be lower than for the other two—32% for the first wave and 42% for the second wave. The information, however, may not be complete, the ECDC added.
Feb 12 ECDC epidemiologic update

 

FAO notes 6 previously unreported H5N1 cases in Egypt

In an animal influenza update yesterday, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recognized 22 human cases of H5N1 avian flu in Egypt from Jan 18 to Feb 7, and 6 of them appear to be new.

Three of the new cases are in Monufia governorate, while Dakahlia, Faiyum, and Suez governorates had one each, according to FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board that diligently tracks cases. The FAO did not provide any demographic or other information on these previously unreported cases.

FluTrackers has confirmed 53 H5N1 cases already this year in Egypt, on the basis of global health agency and health ministry statements. The country confirmed 30 cases all of last year, according to the most recent data from the World Health Organization.

The FAO report also noted an H9N2 avian flu infection in a 3-year-old boy in Aswan governorate, the first such case in Egypt. The boy has a history of contact with backyard poultry "which were apparently healthy," the agency said.
Feb 12 FAO report
Feb 13 FluTrackers post on the H5N1 cases
FluTrackers
H5N1 case listing

 

Another H5N1 outbreak strikes turkeys in western Israel

Israel has notified the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) of yet another outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu in the same region where multiple outbreaks have occurred in recent weeks, according to a report posted yesterday.

The outbreak occurred in 9-week-old turkeys on a farm in the village of Kefar Vitkin in Israel's Central District. Of 18,000 susceptible birds, 1,000 were infected, 200 fatally, for an apparent morbidity rate of 5.6% and an apparent case-fatality rate of 20%. The remaining birds in the flock were destroyed to prevent disease spread.

A quarantine of the farm was imposed and disinfection of the premises is planned. The OIE report says this outbreak is very near the village of Kfar Monash, where another H5N1 outbreak was very recently reported.

The Central District and the Haifa District just to its north have been the sites of eight H5N1 outbreaks among turkeys and chickens since the first of the year, according to OIE reports. Both are in western Israel with coastline along the Mediterranean.
Feb 12 OIE report
Feb 3 CIDRAP News scan on Israel outbreaks

News Scan for Feb 13, 2015

News brief

Another child hit by puzzling polio-like illness, CDC says

The national count of children affected by an unexplained polio-like illness that causes limb weakness has increased by one, to 112 in 34 states since August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in an update yesterday.

The cases largely coincided with a nationwide outbreak of severe respiratory infections in children caused by enterovirus D68 (EV-D68). Some patients with the polio-like illness tested positive for the virus, but investigators have not yet determined whether EV-D68 is the cause of the neurologic illness.

The CDC calls the polio-like illness acute flaccid myelitis. About two thirds of the children have had some improvement in their symptoms, but only one has fully recovered.

The agency and its partners are continuing to investigate the outbreak.
Feb 12 CDC update

 

CDC declares apple-related Listeria outbreak over

The Listeria monocytogenes outbreak that has sickened 35 people since last October appears to be over, according to a CDC update yesterday.

Since its previous update on Jan 10, the CDC reported three new cases of listeriosis related to contaminated apples and commercially produced, prepackaged caramel apples.

The Listeria outbreak affected 12 states, and 34 people required hospitalization. Seven patients died, 11 illnesses occurred in pregnant women or newborns with 1 case resulting in fetal loss, and 3 cases were associated with meningitis in children, the CDC said.

The FDA confirmed that the outbreak was related to Granny Smith and Gala apples from the Bidart Bros. apple processing plant in Bakersfield, Calif., which voluntarily recalled affected apples on Jan 6. Prepackaged caramel apples sold by Happy Apples, California Snack Foods, and Merb's Candies were voluntarily recalled at the end of last year.

The CDC continues to warn retailers and consumers not to eat prepackaged caramel apples affected by the recalls.
Feb 12 CDC update
Jan 12
CIDRAP News scan on previous update and strain confirmation

 

FDA clears test for determining whether active TB is contagious

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a test that can help healthcare workers determine whether patients who have active tuberculosis (TB) are contagious and require isolation, according to a press release yesterday.

The Xpert MTB/RTF Assay, manufactured by Cepheid of Sunnyvale, Calif., is a nucleic acid amplification test that can detect DNA from TB mycobacteria more efficiently than a traditional acid-fast bacilli (AFB) sputum smear culture, according to the release.

Patients with symptomatic active TB currently require three negative AFB tests 8 to 24 hours apart to show they are not contagious and can be removed from hospital airborne infection isolation. Cepheid's MTB/RTF test requires only one, or two consecutive, negative results to remove a patient from isolation.

Studies found that a single MTB/RTF test predicted a negative sputum smear 99.7% of the time, and two MTB/RTF tests predicted a negative smear 100% of the time.

The FDA cautions that the MTB/RTF assay does not replace the use of sputum smear culture for proper diagnosis of TB or as a means of identifying the appropriate antibiotics to administer. The assay also cannot detect TB in approximately 10% to 15% of patients with active pulmonary TB who generally do not require isolation but need proper diagnosis.
Feb 12 FDA press release

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