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The H3N2 strain continues to dominate, especially affecting the elderly.
Daptomycin is well-tolerated and effective in children with invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin infections, according to the results of a clinical trial published this week in Pediatrics.
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
Five more babies have been born in the United States with Zika-related birth defects, according to updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are now 43 babies in the country with documented defects from the mosquito-borne illness.
The 61 new infections reported last week push the mainland's total to at least 419 cases.
Effectiveness so far this season is 48% in the US and slightly lower in Europe.
Israel and four European countries reported more highly pathogenic H5N8 outbreaks, according to the latest updates from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Israel reported six new outbreaks in the central part of the country, with start dates ranging from Jan 23 to Feb 12, five of them at farms (turkeys, ducks, and laying hens) and one involving three barn owls found dead at a nature park.
H5N5 struck wild birds wintering at a Czech Republic zoo, as H5N8 was detected in an outbreak at a peacock farm in Cameroon, the third African country to report the virus.
China reported two more H7N9 avian influenza cases, including the season's second case detected in Beijing, according to official sources and state media.
An article yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases aims to help healthcare institutions comply with newly mandated antimicrobial stewardship standards by highlighting the habits of successful antimicrobial stewardship programs.
Surprisingly, tests on placental cells that correspond to the earliest pregnancy stages found more damage from the African Zika strain than the Asian one.
Today the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the yellow fever outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is over, based on an announcement from the DRC. The declaration follows Angola's Dec 23 announcement that the outbreak had ended in that country. The DRC reported its last case on Jul 12, 2016.
A WHO overview of recent Saudi cases says a small hospital outbreak in Buraydah is now considered over.
In other developments, Iran reported several more H5N8 outbreaks and Bosnia and Herzegovina reported its first H5 outbreak of the season.
The H7N9 avian influenza virus has sickened two more people in China. The infections were detected in two of the country's biggest cities: Beijing and Shanghai.
Getting a flu shot 2 years in a row apparently can, under certain circumstances, backfire.
Since November China has totaled at least 347 H7N9 avian flu cases.
Flu markers rose to their highest points yet, as influenza B detections rose slightly, typical for the later months of the flu season.
Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have uncovered an alternative method by which bacteria can become resistant to antibiotics.
