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Officials discuss health system recovery in West Africa, while Swiss vaccine trials hit a snag.
Researchers who tested more than 1,000 horses, donkeys, and mules in Spain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) say they found no evidence of past infection with MERS-CoV, although they were able to infect horse cells with the virus in a lab.
Despite the incomplete uptake and moderate effectiveness of the seasonal influenza vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that vaccination prevented more than 7 million illnesses and about 90,000 hospitalizations during the 2013-14 flu season.
The WHO and others are waging a battle to stop an "ominous spike" in Ebola cases in eastern Sierra Leone, while the western region is also a concern.
The number of disease outbreaks linked to the drinking of unpasteurized milk has risen at an alarming rate, quadrupling from the period 1993-2006 to 2007-12, as more states allow the legal sale of raw milk, according to a study today in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Canadian officials yesterday confirmed H5N2 avian flu in the three most recent poultry outbreaks in British Columbia's Fraser Valley, bringing to five the number of farms in the area infected with that strain, according to a report filed by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
The score suggests the nation has substantial health security but also room to improve.
Lessons learned this fall: (1) don't over-reassure, (2) acknowledge uncertainty, (3) don't overemphasize panic, and (4) don't ridicule overreactions.
Ebola incidence in Sierra Leone health workers was 100-fold that of the general population.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has verified three more reports of an unexplained polio-like illness in children, raising the total to 93 cases in 33 states over the past few months, according to a Dec 4 update.
As groups tailor their response, the outbreak hits 17,800 cases, 6,331 deaths.
A 61-year-old man from the Najran province of Saudi Arabia has become the country's 819th MERS-CoV case-patient, according to an update today from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH).
An H3N2 mismatch may portend a tough season and raises vaccine questions.
The CDC has fielded Ebola questions about 650 people, with 61 (9%) tested for the disease.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported a new MERS-CoV case today, bringing the country's total to 818 cases.
Influenza activity in the United States has picked up slightly but is still well below epidemic levels, while the mismatch between circulating H3N2 viruses and the vaccine strain rose to 58%, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its weekly update today.
Canadan officials confirm high-path H5N2, while the Netherlands and India combat more H5 in birds.
Several early vaccine trials are under way, and another American is airlifted home.
UK labs that handle the most dangerous pathogens have reported at least 116 accidents or other biosecurity breaches in the past 5 years—about one every 2 weeks—The Guardian reported today.
A systematic review published today of data on 15,698 children found that premature birth may need to be added to the risk factors that place children at risk for serious complications from influenza, but an accompanying commentary advised not reading too much into the findings.
