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The steady drumbeat of MERS-CoV cases in Saudi Arabia continued today, as the country's Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed two new cases and two deaths in previously reported patients.
An analysis of viruses from the second wave of H7N9 avian flu in China that began in late 2013 shows a rapid expansion both geographically and in genetic diversity, which poses a challenge to disease control and demonstrates the potential of H7N9 to emerge as a pandemic strain in humans, according to a study summarized in a letter to Naturetoday.
The committee has been tasked with presenting by May a report on what has been called a slow response to the outbreak.
Also, the USDA says the Minnesota H5N2 strain matches a Washington isolate.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers who head a House oversight and investigations subcommittee yesterday sent letters to five federal health officials asking how lessons learned from this flu season—with its flu vaccine mismatched to the main circulating strain—could be used to improve the nation's flu preparedness in time for the next season.
A 72-year-old Saudi woman has died of MERS-CoV in Buraydah, and a previously reported MERS patient has also died, the country's Ministry of Health (MOH) said today as a top official noted more international help with the outbreak.
Saudi Arabia confirms 7 new cases, while Germany reports an imported case and Qatar has its 2nd of the year.
H5N2 avian flu—which surfaced in Minnesota poultry last week—has now struck at least one turkey farm in Missouri.
Nineteen new H7N9 avian influenza cases have been reported in seven of China's provinces over the past 3 days, though basic epidemiologic details are known for only six of them, according to official reports, including health department notices translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received reports of 3 more measles cases last week, nudging the national total to 173 so far this year, a large chunk of them part of an ongoing multistate outbreak linked to Disneyland in California, according to an update today. The pace of the increase seems to have slowed, compared with the 16-case increase the CDC reported last week.
The finding marks the first appearance of high-path H5N2 in the Mississippi Flyway.
Saudi Arabia notes 2 new cases and the WHO details 10 previously reported ones.
Flu activity in the United States was elevated last week for the fifteenth week in a row, but surveillance markers show that levels continue to decline.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that the percentage of doctor visits for flulike illness dropped from 3% to 2.5% last week, but it is still above the national baseline of 2%.
With its Mar 7 launch date, the trial's main goal is to see if ring vaccination can knock down Ebola hot spots.
The 2 nations have destroyed more than 2.7 million poultry to combat H5N8 and H5N2.
Using a new method to estimate influenza-related hospitalizations and deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calculates that somewhere between 5,000 and 27,000 Americans died of flu-related causes during each of the three flu seasons from 2010-11 through 2012-13.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported three new MERS-CoV cases in separate cities, one of which was fatal.
The newly reported fatality involved a 73-year-old Saudi man in Riyadh. Potential exposure to MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) in a healthcare setting is under investigation. He had no recent contact with animals or with MERS cases in the community.
Although Liberia had no new cases, Guinea reported 51 and Sierra Leone 81 as response hurdles emerge.
The change of 2 strains was expected but was not without considerable discussion.
Another MERS-CoV case today in Riyadh boosts the number of MERS cases in Saudi Arabia this month to 13, 12 of which have been in Riyadh. The country's Ministry of Health (MOH) also confirmed a death in a previously reported patient.
In related news, a study today found no evidence of the virus in Bactrian (two-humped) camels.
