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The rare strain has sickenened 132 people since early 2012.
Testing of nasal and eye swabs of camels in Oman found 5 of 76 samples positive for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and genetic sequencing showed that they were closely related to human viruses in the region
The WHO offered investigation help, with 33 more infections reported in Saudi Arabia and UAE.
Experts say possibilities include a change in the virus and a seasonal pattern to transmission.
North Korea has experienced another H5N1 avian flu outbreak in domestic poultry, according to a report yesterday from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Of a village flock of 501 birds, 136 were killed by the virus, the report said, and the remaining 365 were culled to prevent disease spread. The outbreak, which started on Apr 10, is in North Hwanghae province in the southern part of the country.
Scientists found that camels in three widely separated African countries had MERS-CoV-like antibodies.
Flu activity in Northern Hemisphere countries is headed toward interseasonal levels despite a late-season rise in influenza B activity in many areas, including Asia, the Middle East, and North America, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its latest global flu update. Though each flu season is different, flu experts say it's not unusual to see a late-season rise in influenza B activity.
Three new Ebola virus disease (EVD) cases, along with five deaths in previously announced infections, have been reported in Guinea, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa reported today. The new cases raise the country's overall number of cases to 208 and number of deaths to 136; 112 illnesses have been lab confirmed. So far 25 EVD infections, 16 of them fatal, have been reported in Guinea's healthcare workers.
The Saudi MERS count surged by 37 cases and 6 deaths in 3 days, including 21 new cases in Jeddah's outbreak.
The number of patients sickened by H7N9 influenza in China grew by three over the past 3 days, according to reports from three different provinces.
One case is in a 35-year-old woman from Jiangsu province who is hospitalized in critical condition, according to an Apr 19 health department statement translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
The outbreak in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, had six more cases, and Greece reported a case with a link to Jeddah.
Overall foodborne disease rates held steady in 2013, but Salmonella cases were lower than in the previous 3 years.
Flu activity in the United States continued to decline last week, but some indicators were up slightly, reflecting a late-season uptick in the Northeast, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Seven cases were added to the Jeddah outbreak in Saudi Arabia, and 3 in the UAE.
The now-197-case Ebola outbreak is caused by a novel strain, researchers say.
H5N1 avian flu has struck two chicken factory farms in North Korea's capital of Pyongyang, killing more than 46,000 birds, according to a report posted yesterday by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
In the first outbreak, all 46,217 birds died of the disease in three holding pens for layer hens on a farm at the Hadang chicken factory. The outbreak began Mar 21. Samples from the birds tested positive on Mar 26.
Encouraging results suggest that health departments may someday have an oral drug to help extinguish outbreaks.
The disease has made a long-feared leap outside the Middle East, killing a man in Malaysia and infecting a nurse in the Philippines.
Tongan health officials have confirmed a first-ever chikungunya outbreak affecting more than 10,000 people, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) report today. The Polynesian archipelago nation is home to about 100,000 people.
A Jeddah outbreak increased by 5 cases, while the WHO reports 10 recent cases in UAE health workers.
