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A recent flurry of human H5N1 influenza cases in Egypt continued with at least four more over the past 5 days, along with two deaths, according to media and government reports.
Two laboratory accidents at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) within the past 16 months may have exposed nine workers to a bacterium and a virus regarded as potential bioweapons, according to a report yesterday in The Frederick (Md.) News-Post.
The country has had 337 new cases this week, twice the number in Guinea and Liberia combined.
Three more Listeria monocytogenes infections have been identified in an outbreak linked to commercially produced caramel apples, raising the count to 32 cases in 11 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in an update today.
Egypt's ministry of health (MOH) today announced a case of H5N1 avian influenza in a 3-year-old boy in Giza governorate, bringing the country's 2014 total to 27 cases, according to a machine-translated statement posted by FluTrackers.
The MOH also reported the death from H5N1 of a 30-year-old woman from Ashmun, Monofia governorate, raising Egypt's H5N1 death toll this year to 11.
Bats in a hollow tree and a silent train of transmission may have fueled the unprecedented epidemic.
Total suspected and confirmed cases of chikungunya in the Caribbean and the Americas increased by 25,639 over the past 10 days, with most of the new cases in Colombia, according to an update yesterday from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Egypt's ministry of health (MOH) has announced another H5N1 avian influenza infection, this one in a 51-year-old man from Assiut governorate who is hospitalized, according to the ministry's translated statement posted today by Avian Flu Diary. The latest case lifts Egypt's total this year to 26, 10 of which were fatal, the MOH said.
Scotland detected its first Ebola case, as the illness toll topped 20,000 and the outbreak passed the 1-year mark.
Mishandling of lab material that may have contained live virus follows other CDC safety lapses earlier in the year.
Jordan and Saudi Arabia reported three new Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases over the past 5 days, according to media and government sources.
The nation's flu markers showed another sharp spike last week, with all 10 of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regions reporting that clinic visits for flu-like illness were above their baselines.
Overall, the percentage of doctor's visits for flu-like illness climbed from 3.7% to 5.5% last week, while the percentage of respiratory samples that were positive for flu increased from 25.9% to 28.1%
Sierra Leone's western area is seeing intense Ebola activity, and in Guinea a surge of cases in one area propelled the country into its highest weekly case incidence so far.
A University of Iowa scientist has been put on a year's probation for conducting research on MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) without the university's approval and in a lab lacking the required level of biosafety measures, the Des Moines Register reported yesterday.
Chinese researchers who tested 225 close contacts of H7N9 influenza patients found that about 10% of them carried antibodies suggesting they had been infected with the virus without getting sick, according to a letter yesterday in Emerging infectious Diseases.
The authors say the findings have proved useful in creating a more potent version.
An H5 avian flu virus strikes a large poultry flock in Vietnam, while H5N8 resurfaces in Germany.
A Kansas resident who died this past summer was infected with a new virus that may have been carried by ticks, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) reported in a press release yesterday.
China today reported the world's second known human case of H5N6 avian flu, in a 58-year-old man in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said.
The first case, in early May, was in Sichuan province and proved fatal.
The current H5N6 patient is hospitalized in critical condition in Guangzhou, the CHP said in a press release. His close contacts have shown no sign of illness.
Peramivir, made by BioCryst, is intended to be given to influenza patients in a single intravenous dose.
