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The chikungunya epidemic in the Caribbean is continuing to spill over into the United States, with 300 imported cases identified as of yesterday, an increase of 66 from a week earlier, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Genetic comparisons between variant H3N2 (H3N2v) influenza viruses collected from swine at Ohio fairs in 2012 and those collected from case-patients from a large outbreak that year showed an almost 100% match, according to a study today in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The findings raise the possibility of airborne spread, but an expert called them preliminary.
The authors say the world has made overall progress in fighting the three diseases.
Texas health officials have received 61 illness reports over the past month and are looking for a common source.
Officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday that it might be impossible to trace how H9N2 avian flu samples it sent to a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) lab in Athens, Ga., became cross-contaminated with the lethal H5N1 strain, Reuters reported yesterday.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) yesterday released a final report on a 2013 Escherichia coli outbreak traced to pre-packaged salads sold at Trader Joe's stores that sickened 33 people in four states, Food Safety News (FSN) reported today.
Sierra Leone's new cases nudge its total ahead of Guinea's, and Liberia also adds to its illness and death totals.
The increase was led by the Dominican Republic, which had almost 60,000 new cases.
The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was 75% effective in preschoolers but 90% effective against the strains covered in the seven-valent vaccine (PCV7), according to a British study in Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The new numbers bring history's largest Ebola outbreak to 982 cases and 613 deaths.
The outbreak is making ripples in Europe as Jamaica reports its first case.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said this week that the safety of gain-of-function (GOF) studies like a recent one involving the generation of a 1918-like influenza virus merits more public discussion, given the obligation of researchers to "first do no harm."
Two Florida residents have acquired chikungunya without leaving the country.
Only 16% of flu patients received antivirals, while 30% received antibiotics.
Researchers who analyzed the genome of a new coronavirus (CoV) from a South African bat sample demonstrated that it may be the ancestor of MERS-CoV, that a host switch from bats to camels may have taken place in Africa, and that camels are likely infecting humans rather than vice versa, according to a study yesterday in the Journal of Virology.
The hearing revealed systemic problems and worries about the safety culture of lab workers.
The NSABB chair says delays in developing a DURC policy have been to blame.
In the wake of finding smallpox vials in a storage area earlier this month and a congressional hearing today on federal lab biosecurity (see related story), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the earlier discovery also included more than 300 vials of pathogens such as influenza and dengue viruses, as
Their consensus statement calls for better tools to weigh risks and benefits.
