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In the face of stalled federal dollars to fund the fight against Zika, Florida Governor Rick Scott said he would be allocating an additional $10 million in funds from the state’s General Revenue fund to fight the mosquito-borne illness. Florida has now spent $36.2 million on Zika.
Advocacy groups want the FDA to take a harder line on antibiotic use in food-producing animals.
Experts cite virus mutations, rapid construction, guest workers, and dengue as possible factors in the recent surge of cases.
In other developments, industry reps raise concerns about the impact on businesses, as Florida's local case total continues to rise.
Although MCR-1 has often garnered drug-resistance headlines of late, an earlier gene that also confers antimicrobial resistance, NDM-1 (New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase) has not gone away, as evidenced by a study yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Researchers reported the gene in 27 Vibrio fluvialis isolates in Kolkata, India.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday proposed adding Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis to the list of HHS select agents and toxins as a Tier 1 Select Agent, the most concerning as a possible bioterrorism agent.
The report shows antimicrobial resistance mostly stable, with some declines and some worries.
Malaysia and Singapore give more details on local cases, while a new study from Europe shows uneven surveillance for microcephaly.
Investigators from the University of Pittsburgh yesterday reported 3 cases of ceftazidime-avibactam resistance after 37 patients who had carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections were treated with the combination, according to a case series in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
The highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu virus strain that caused outbreaks in poultry flocks across the United States is better adapted to chickens than a precursor H5N2 virus and is highly adapted to wild ducks, according to a new study by US Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists published in Virology.
Sepsis accounts for nearly a quarter of newborn deaths in India, with most episodes occurring within 3 days of birth.
Also, the case of an infected father and son underscores prevention in close contacts.
Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have identified three new strains of norovirus that have caused an epidemic of gastrointestinal disease in Australia this winter. Officials estimate that hundreds of thousands of Australians— most in nursing homes, hospitals, cruise ships, and daycares—have been infected with these new strains.
Researchers detected H5N2 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses in air samples collected inside, immediately outside, and up to 70 meters from affected barns during the 2015 outbreak in the Midwest, according to a study in this month's issue of Avian Diseases. They also found H5N2 RNA in air samples up to 1 kilometer from barns that housed infected flocks.
In other developments, Thailand and Singapore report several new Zika cases.
Yesterday the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH) said there was a new case of MERS in the city of Arar, while Austrian officials reported a case in a tourist from Saudi Arabia.
The case involved Caribbean travel and possible foodborne infection; also, officials note no spread in the first US case.
Also, officials report sexual transmission in Pennsylvania and the Netherlands.
Scientists have filmed the evolution of bacterial drug resistance in real time, noting that the pathogens can mutate to grow resistant to high levels of antibiotics in about 11 days, according to a study published yesterday in Science.
