Vaccines are unavailable at least once a month, and 19% to 38% of shipments have temperature issues.
Israel and four European countries reported more highly pathogenic H5N8 outbreaks, according to the latest updates from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Israel reported six new outbreaks in the central part of the country, with start dates ranging from Jan 23 to Feb 12, five of them at farms (turkeys, ducks, and laying hens) and one involving three barn owls found dead at a nature park.
A review of Facebook posts on Zika virus found that misleading posts were more popular than ones containing accurate information, according to a recent study by a team from Tulane University.
The 2014-15 outbreak of H5N8 avian flu in Europe and then North America was likely driven by long-distant migrant birds and an unusually "promiscuous" clade, a study published today in Science found.
On Sep 17 the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH) reported one new MERS-CoV case, involving a Saudi man from Riyadh who had contact with camels.
The 50-year-old man is in stable condition after presenting with symptoms of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus). The MOH said the patient had direct contact with camels, a known risk factor for contracting the respiratory virus.
In the face of stalled federal dollars to fund the fight against Zika, Florida Governor Rick Scott said he would be allocating an additional $10 million in funds from the state’s General Revenue fund to fight the mosquito-borne illness. Florida has now spent $36.2 million on Zika.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday proposed adding Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis to the list of HHS select agents and toxins as a Tier 1 Select Agent, the most concerning as a possible bioterrorism agent.
Most recipients produced antibodies, but 34% had no immune response to the outbreak strain.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the age indication for Pfizer's Prevnar 13, the pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine, allowing its use in adults ages 18 through 49 years old, the company said yesterday in a press release.
A little over a week after reporting the first Elizabethkingia anopheles infection in the state, Illinois health officials yesterday reported 10 more, including 6 deaths, but tests show that the strain is different than the one implicated in Wisconsin's outbreak.
