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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported four variant H1N2 (H1N2v) cases in people who had contact with swine at fairs, two first reported by California yesterday and two from Michigan, the same day the agency released a new graphic novel aimed at teaching young people about the risk of variant flu in swine exhibit settings.
The health ministry says 54 suspected cases are being investigated, up from 47.
Neisseria gonorrhea and carbapenamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) remain the most commonly reported organisms with resistance to critical antibiotics in Australia, according to a report yesterday by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission).
Some European countries this year experienced an early start to their West Nile virus (WNV) transmission season, which could be related to earlier warmer temperatures and higher rainfall levels that foster populations of Culex mosquitoes that carry the virus, according to two reports published today in the latest issue of Eurosurveillance.
The results confirm, however, that the vaccine is most effective when given at younger ages.
The report covers 189 cases confirmed since the last assessment a year ago.
Influenza activity remains elevated in South America, has started to decline in southern Africa, and is still below seasonal threshold levels in Australia and New Zealand, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest update.
One week after the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC's) health ministry declared a new outbreak in the east of the country, an immunization campaign began today, which targeted frontline health workers from the Mangina Reference Health Center, the epicenter of the outbreak, who had been in contact with confirmed cases and their contacts.
So far, there are 43 confirmed and probable cases, and health officials are probing 46 additional supected illnesses.
Also, the CDC says to wait 3 months before trying to conceive rather than 6 after possible Zika exposure.
Canal water contamination with Escherichia coli O157:H7 near a Yuma, Ariz., romaine lettuce growing region might be linked to a large cattle facility, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday in an update.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) yesterday awarded its Antimicrobial Stewardship Centers of Excellence designation to 25 US hospitals.
Thirteen of the 43 cases are confirmed; 3 health workers were infected, 1 fatally.
Researchers with a large community hospital system report that a phased approach for implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs was associated with significant clinical and financial benefits.
After several months of silence, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) recently uploaded information on 30 new MERS-CoV case detections on its website, including a cluster of 11 household cases from Najran detected in late May and early June.
The outbreak is taking place in a war zone with difficult access, among other challenges.
In an update yesterday on a Cyclospora outbreak linked to McDonald's salads, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 109 more cases, raising the total to 395.
The number of affected states remained at 15, and the latest illness onset was Jul 20. So far 16 people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been reported.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today issued a warning about long-term azithromycin use in cancer patients who've undergone a donor stem cell transplant.
Data from 3 flu seasons show obese adults shed the virus about 1.5 times longer than non-obese adults.
