CIDRAP newsletters options
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.
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.
About half of hospitals have a comprehensive program, with 39% reporting all 7 CDC-recommended key elements.
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.
Death rates and demographic characteristics associated with H5N1avian flu infections have remained relatively stable, even in Egypt, where human cases surged dramatically more than a year ago, according to a study yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Though non-invasive contact with Ebola survivors poses little risk, contact with semen, ocular humor, and cerebrospinal fluid requires precautions.
Cambodia, Ghana, and Indonesia report H5N1, and Italy notes its 2nd H7N7 event this month.
No new MERS-CoV cases have been reported today, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has posted information on the case reported recently from Qatar as well as details of several previously reported cases from Saudi Arabia.
