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Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
Two more babies have been born in the United States with Zika-related birth defects, raising the total to 36, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in an update. The number of Zika-related pregnancy losses remained at 5.
China has now confirmed 38 cases this season, compared with 10 at this point last season.
In updates yesterday and today, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) announced five new MERS-CoV cases, one of them fatal.
Yesterday the MOH reported four new MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases, two in Riyadh and a pair from Buraydah, located about 200 miles northwest of Riyadh in the north central part of the country.
An analysis of Neisseria gonorrhea isolates from a sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic in Amsterdam shows a rise in decreased susceptibility to azithromycin and ceftriaxone, researchers report today in Eurosurveillance.
The mutation "primed the pump" for bacteria to resist any antibiotic prescribed.
The Pakistani city of Quetta has launched a new 5-day vaccination campaign against polio targeted at children under the age of 5, Reuters reported today.
Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that a rare vaccine-derived type 2 strain of polio was found in sewage samples taken from Quetta in November. No cases of this type 2 polio have been reported in humans so far.
The Czech Republic today said highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza has been confirmed at two small poultry farms and in wild birds, Reuters reported today, citing the country's agriculture ministry. The outbreak is the country's first in nearly a decade.
The H5N8 virus continues to fuel outbreaks, including a first detection in Ireland.
A new study published today in PLOS Medicine shows that the Zika virus triggers Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and causes congenial birth defects. Though these findings have been demonstrated by other studies, this is the largest systemic literature review of the most devastating outcomes of Zika infection to date.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that it has reached a "significant milestone" in efforts to reduce the use of medically important antibiotics in food producing animals.
"Fighting Zika is the most complex epidemic response CDC has taken on," Frieden says.
Influenza activity in the United States picked up its pace in the penultimate week of 2016, according to an update today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
China, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Finland and South Korea also reported new outbreaks.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today announced two new MERS-CoV illnesses, both of them involving expat women working as healthcare workers in Aseer, located in the southwestern corner of the country.
Also, a review of blood samples suggests Zika-linked microcephaly in Hawaii as far back as 2009.
Saudi Arabia late yesterday announced three more MERS cases in three cities, raising the total over the past week to six cases.
All three cases are listed as primary, meaning there are no known links to other MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases, the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) said. None of the patients work in healthcare or had exposure to camels.
The MOH listed the patients as:
Meanwhile, many countries across Europe and Asia continue to battle outbreaks of several strains.
In addition, phase 2 trial of an adenovirus-based vaccine shows it to be safe and immunogenic though protection less than prolonged.
