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The H5N8 virus continues to fuel outbreaks, including a first detection in Ireland.
A new study published today in PLOS Medicine shows that the Zika virus triggers Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and causes congenial birth defects. Though these findings have been demonstrated by other studies, this is the largest systemic literature review of the most devastating outcomes of Zika infection to date.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today that it has reached a "significant milestone" in efforts to reduce the use of medically important antibiotics in food producing animals.
"Fighting Zika is the most complex epidemic response CDC has taken on," Frieden says.
Influenza activity in the United States picked up its pace in the penultimate week of 2016, according to an update today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
China, Hungary, Poland, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Finland and South Korea also reported new outbreaks.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today announced two new MERS-CoV illnesses, both of them involving expat women working as healthcare workers in Aseer, located in the southwestern corner of the country.
Also, a review of blood samples suggests Zika-linked microcephaly in Hawaii as far back as 2009.
Saudi Arabia late yesterday announced three more MERS cases in three cities, raising the total over the past week to six cases.
All three cases are listed as primary, meaning there are no known links to other MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases, the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) said. None of the patients work in healthcare or had exposure to camels.
The MOH listed the patients as:
In addition, phase 2 trial of an adenovirus-based vaccine shows it to be safe and immunogenic though protection less than prolonged.
Meanwhile, many countries across Europe and Asia continue to battle outbreaks of several strains.
Saudi Arabian health officials have reported three new MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infections in recent days, two of them involving exposure to camels. All three patients have symptoms and are in stable condition, officials said.
A new study has found that a quarter of Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from a nationwide network of hospitals are resistant to carbapenem antibiotics.
The shortened treatment didn't just come with clinical drawbacks. It also didn't improve antibiotic resistance rates.
Texas reports another local Zika case as DNA vaccine is successful in phase 1 trial.
Also, officials in France, Sweden, Finland, and Germany report more H5N8.
Experts are particularly concerned about the increase in sales of medically important antibiotics.
The federal government is for the first time cutting Medicare payments to hospitals that have high rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile, according to Kaiser Health News.
