CIDRAP newsletters options
In a small study, antibiotic treatment of cows nearly doubled emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from their manure, suggesting that worries about antimicrobial resistance may not be the only reason to use caution with antibiotics in farm animals, according to a report today in the Journal of the Royal Society B.
A new survey study hints that perceived discrimination may be a factor in low influenza vaccine uptake in racial and ethnic minorities, but the researchers found that it was not significant in comparison with other factors, such as education, according to a report in Medical Care.
Two strains of bacteria resistant to different antibiotics can protect each other when both drugs are present, the study finds.
Also, PAHO posts ethics guidance, and Colombia and Costa Rica note microcephaly.
Authorities in Uganda launched a large yellow fever vaccination campaign in several districts last weekend, the World Health Organization's (WHO's) African region said yesterday.
Flu vaccination during pregnancy lowered the risk of acute respiratory infections more than 60%.
The WHO director-general says a massive policy failure allowed mosquito control to lapse in the '70s.
Rapid genetic sequencing was instrumental in identifying transmission chains, one study noted.
Chinese officials reported another human case of H7N9 avian influenza, the second such infection in Hebei province in nearly 3 years, according to a post yesterday on Avian Flu Diary (AFD). Elsewhere, Egypt documented an H9 case in a toddler, according to a May 19 World Health Organization (WHO) report.
About half of hospitals have a comprehensive program, with 39% reporting all 7 CDC-recommended key elements.
CDC officials said fewer than a dozen birth defects and miscarriages have been reported in pregnant women who were infected with Zika virus.
The detection has triggered more efforts to beef up surveillance and testing capacity in African countries.
Only a few new yellow fever cases have been reported in Angola in the past week, but the mostly urban epidemic is still a big concern because of persistent transmission in seven provinces and expansion to new ones, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its weekly update today.
The authors say deaths could rise to 10 million a year by 2050 if action isn't taken.
In other developments, new community engagement programs are under way in the Americas, including a superhero-themed campaign aimed at kids.
Urban outbreaks in Angola and DRC don't constitute a public health emergency of international concern, experts say.
A preponderance of secondary MERS-CoV infections tend to occur in older and/or male relatives of a primary MERS patient and those with preexisting medical conditions, say findings of a study yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID). Risk factors for household transmission included sleeping in the same room with a MERS patient and direct patient care.
The synthetic macrolide process may allow easy development of new drugs.
Elsewhere, the WHO rates the Zika threat to Europe as low to moderate.
Late death from Ebola disease in survivors of earlier episodes is very rare, occurring in less than 1% of patients in a cohort study of Sierra Leone survivors published yesterday in BMJ. The study additionally found that the infecting dose of Ebola as measured by exposure level does not affect the severity of disease.
