CIDRAP newsletters options
The new cases include 4 in children, as the second wave tilts more toward southern China.
Vietnam and China have each confirmed a case of H5N1 avian flu in recent days, with Vietnam's case proving fatal.
In Vietnam, a 60-year-old woman in Dong Thap province in the Mekong Delta died of the deadly virus on Jan 27, Than Nien News reported yesterday. The woman developed a fever and other symptoms on Jan 22, authorities said. She was hospitalized on Jan 23 in neighboring An Gian province on Jan 23, where she died.
A 67-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen in Riyadh is hospitalized for treatment of a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) announced yesterday.
In a statement dated yesterday, the ministry said the man has a chronic disease and is being treated in an intensive care unit. It gave no details about his possible sources of exposure to the virus or when he fell ill.
With China celebrating its Lunar New Year today, new reports of H7N9 cases slowed.
For a second straight week, most key indicators are down, and some have dropped 3 weeks in a row.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today filed a rule on sanitary transportation "to ensure that transportation practices do not create food safety risks," the agency said in the proposed rule.
The rule is part of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, and is the act's seventh and final rule. Today's filing complies with a court-ordered Jan 31 deadline, according to a Food Safety News (FSN) story today.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday released information detailing how clinicians can get investigational intravenous (IV) zanamivir (Relenza) for severely ill flu patients. The drug is in phase 3 clinical trials and can only be obtained by enrolling patients in ongoing clinical trials or an emergency investigational new drug request.
Six new cases push the 2nd-wave total to 137 as issues arise over poultry testing.
The programs could provide a model for other nations to protect against health threats.
In its annual snapshot, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday noted that states in 2012 and 2013 again benefited from the agency's support for public health readiness and response through its Public Health Emergency Preparedness program.
The report, published by the CDC's Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (OPHPR), highlighted several success stories, including:
A 60-year-old man has died in Riyadh of MERS-CoV, and a report details a MERS-related stillbirth case.
The rise in H7N9 cases sees no let-up, as a 3-person family cluster is reported.
Two doses of a combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella vaccine (MMRV) were more efficacious at preventing moderate to severe varicella infection (chickenpox) than one dose of monovalent varicella vaccine and markedly more effective against varicella of any severity, according to a study today in The Lancet.
Upcoming Chinese New Year gatherings will put humans in the crosshairs of both H7N9 and seasonal flu strains.
In addition to severe respiratory failure, nonrespiratory illnesses like shock and kidney injury were common in 12 intensive care unit (ICU) patients in Saudi Arabia who had Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infections, according to a study today in Annals of Internal Medicine.
The study also noted a low rate of MERS-CoV infection among healthcare workers (HCWs) who had contact with MERS patients.
In a study designed to shed light on a phenomenon seen in Canada of increased risk of pandemic 2009 H1N1 flu in those who received a flu vaccine the year before, ferrets given a seasonal flu shot had worse H1N1 disease than those who had not received the vaccine.
The WHO confirms two fatal cases cases and releases guidance for use in healthcare settings.
China confirms 14 new cases in five provinces as tests show a mixed picture on poultry farms.
A second case of H10N8 avian flu has been confirmed in the same province as the world's first case, which was reported last month, Chinese health officials told Xinhua, the nation's state-run newspaper.
Caribbean territories reporting indigenous cases of Chikungunya fever now number six and confirmed and suspected cases number at least 786, with several more imported cases as well, according to a Jan 24 report from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
That number is up from 485 in the previous update, from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, on Jan 20.
