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The number of states reporting confirmed cases of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) has doubled, to 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today, and cases have been confirmed in Alberta as well.
EV-D68, a respiratory virus that was relatively rare until recently, has been sending children to hospital emergency departments with wheezing and breathing difficulty.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has found rare H3N1 influenza viruses in swine in two states in recent months, and two of the isolates carry genes from human seasonal flu viruses. The developments are grounds for serious concern about the potential spread of disease at fairs this fall, according to one animal health expert.
US lawmakers will hear from federal officials, ahead of an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Ebola.
Health officials reported another big spike in the Caribbean region's chikungunya outbreak, much of it due to updated surveillance information from the Dominican Republic, the hardest-hit country, according to the latest report from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). PAHO also reported a tripling of outbreak deaths, to 113.
Amid fears of out-of-control spread, experts raise the specter of virus mutations that could aid transmission.
As Cuba offers 165 health workers, cases continued unchecked, notably in Monrovia, Liberia.
A man and a woman have developed MERS-CoV illness in Saudi Arabia, continuing a trickle of recent cases, according to the nation's Ministry of Health (MOH).
The man, 43, is from the Saudi capital of Riyadh in the center of the country. He has no underlying medical conditions and is being treated in an intensive care unit (ICU).
The WHO has said that blood given by Ebola survivors may help Ebola patients.
As PAHO stresses mosquito control and other steps, the US chikungunya total tops 900 cases.
The toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC's) Ebola outbreak reached 62 cases and 35 deaths as of Sep 9, including 7 fatal cases in healthcare workers, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced yesterday.
The new numbers compare with 53 cases and 31 deaths reported on Sep 2. The outbreak involves a different Ebola virus species from the one circulating in West Africa and is a separate event.
A House bill totals $88 million, and the Gates Foundation adds $50 million.
An analysis of 4 years of records from 505 US hospitals suggests that duplicative use of antibiotics is pervasive, leading to needless costs and potentially increasing resistance to the drugs, says a report yesterday in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology (ICHE).
As countries scrambled to send aid, cases in West Africa increased by 325 and deaths by 191.
The rate of two important healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in critically ill children decreased substantially from 2007 to 2012, an important factor in patient outcomes as well as in monetary savings, according to findings of a study yesterday in Pediatrics.
EV-D68 earlier caused polio-like illness in 2 kids in California and has now affected about 12 states.
Ebola cases are increasing exponentially in Liberia, where taxis might transmit disease.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has done a poor job of managing supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) and antiviral medications to protect its workforce during an influenza pandemic, the department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found.
Saudi Arabia today confirmed one new MERS-CoV case, in a 60-year-old foreign health worker whose illness was detected in the city of Jubail, in the northeastern part of the country, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health (MOH).
The man is hospitalized in an intensive care unit, according to the report. He had no pre-existing disease, the MOH said.
Blood products may offer early help, while vaccines may be ready in November.
A search of government labs in the wake of a July discovery of old vials of smallpox virus has turned up additional improperly stored pathogens that cause plague, tularemia, melioidosis, botulism, and a certain foodborne disease, as well as the toxin ricin, the Washington Post reported today.
