News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity in the United States continued its late-season rise last week, with more respiratory specimens testing positive and more states reporting widespread activity, but flu-like illness stayed relatively low overall, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity in many Northern Hemisphere countries continued its late-season rise last week, with areas such as the United States, Canada, and Europe reporting steady increases.

Though flu activity overall is low, notable increases are occurring in North America, western Europe, and northern China, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity in the United States and Europe showed more signs of picking up last week, with labs in both parts of the world finding higher percentages of positives in tests of respiratory samples, according to new surveillance reports today.

(CIDRAP News) – Though botulism outbreaks in Europe are often traced to home-canned food, three recent outbreaks were linked to commercially distributed food, raising important food safety issues, investigators reported last week.

(CIDRAP News) – New surveillance data in Europe show a steep rise in the percentage of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia, a drug-resistant issue seen as a growing threat in the United States as well.