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Saudi Arabia today reported five more MERS cases, including three in Hofuf, which has been a hot spot lately because of an apparent hospital outbreak.
Two of the three Hofuf patients, Saudi men ages 41 and 29 years, are healthcare workers who had contact with other MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) patients, the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) reported. They are in stable condition.
A WHO report today on 9 recent cases implies the virus spread in hospitals in Hofuf and Taif.
Reasons for not using a vaccine include low effectiveness and likely loss of markets for US poultry.
South Korea reported 6 more MERS cases today, 2 fatal, raising the total to 41.
Scientists from Singapore and Australia found that the revised World Health Organization (WHO) case definition for influenza-like illness (ILI) bested case definitions from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the European Centre for Disease Protection and Control (ECDC), according to their report today in Eurosurveillance.
The WHO said little is known about virus spread in the outbreak but noted transmission is more common in health settings.
Probable avian flu has struck poultry farms in Minnesota and Iowa and a small flock in Nebraska.
One of the latest Ebola cases is a stillborn baby born to a mother who tested negative but had been exposed to the virus earlier.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday released its final Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD), a rule that aims to put all uses of medically important antibiotics in food animals under veterinary supervision by the end of next year.
The states report 3 new outbreaks, and the CDC posts an advisory for health professionals.
Korean cases reach 30, but experts say the outbreak does not differ much from earlier Saudi ones.
The head of the United Nations Ebola response in Guinea yesterday raised concerns about recent violence and attacks aimed at response activities in three different districts.
The eastern Saudi city of Hofuf has had 6 cases in 3 days, while Oman reports its 6th case.
Thirteen new MERS cases were reported in South Korea, all with hospital links to the country's first case.
Flocks from 21,000 to 50,000 birds in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota were hit, and tests for H5N2 are pending.
Sierra Leone is reporting a spate of new Ebola cases in a new hot spot in the Kaffu Bullom part of Port Loko district, located in the western part of the country, according to official and media reports.
China's case involves a traveler from South Korea, part of a now 12-case cluster.
Avian flu outbreaks hit six more poultry flocks in Iowa and Minnesota, according to announcements today from the two states.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) reported probable H5 outbreaks at a 400,000-bird pullet farm in Wright County, located in the central part of the state. It also said the virus struck a turkey farm that kept 42,000 birds in Sac County, in west-central Iowa.
An investigation into more than 200 high-containment labs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia by a team of reports for USA Today Network of Gannett newspapers and TV stations revealed hundreds of lab accidents, safety violations, and "near misses," USA Today noted today in a lengthy report.
A business traveler related to 2 South Korean patients is in isolation in China after traveling through Hong Kong.
