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Response efforts are shifting into their next phase: building capacity to detect every case.
The world is "dangerously unpreprepared" for future pandemics, and a private-public sector proposal that includes a pandemic facility and insurance coverage could help countries across the globe mitigate the risk, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said today in a speech at Georgetown University.
The Northern Hemisphere continues to see high levels of influenza A (H3N2), especially in North America and northwestern Europe, according to a Jan 26 World Health Organization (WHO) report.
The international relief group calls for a multimillion-dollar "Marshall Plan" to aid outbreak nations as cases in the region top 22,000.
Also, US officials report more details on the H5N8 outbreak on a California turkey farm.
Tuberculosis cases decreased by 6% during 2012 in 29 European countries, while hot spots in northern Europe and the Baltic states remained, according to a report issued today by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
The husband of a British Columbia woman who was found to have the first H7N9 avian flu case in North America probably was infected with the virus too, according to a Canadian Press (CP) report today.
British Columbia officials said test results are still pending for the man, but he may test negative for the illness because he had already recovered when samples were taken, according to the story.
H5N8 has now been found in US commercial poultry after infecting wild birds and backyard flocks.
A British Columbia resident who recently returned from China is recovering from H7N9 avian flu.
The proposals aim to improve the agency's ability to handle global health emergencies.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today confirmed that an outbreak of measles tied to southern California Disney parks in recent weeks has risen to 73 cases in California and 14 elsewhere, including 1 in Mexico.
The first batch of an experimental Ebola vaccine landed today in an outbreak country, with officials projecting a trial launch in Liberia within weeks.
Researchers note how chains of transmission helped Ebola spread in Conakry, Guinea, and 3 CDC reports detail outbreak response efforts.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Bexsero, a Novartis vaccine to prevent meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B in people 10 through 25 years, the second group B vaccine approved by the FDA.
US flu activity last week showed some signs of decline but continued at an elevated pace, well above epidemic levels, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly update.
Liberia has 46 new Ebola cases, Sierra Leone 22, and Guinea 2.
Officials are assessing farm and public health workers after widespread outbreaks.
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Health (MOH) today confirmed three new MERS-CoV cases in elderly Riyadh residents, which means the city has had seven cases in 5 days.
All three patients with MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) are in critical condition, the MOH said in an update. They are an 84-year-old woman and two men, 80 and 77. None are healthcare workers or had preexisting disease.
China has reported three more H7N9 avian flu infections, two in Zhejiang province and one in Guangdong province, according to an analysis of Chinese state media report and a provincial health department report by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
Cases continued to drop, with WHO advisors saying complacency is the biggest obstacle to getting to zero.
