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Cases are now at 684, with 57 deaths; 474 of the cases are pneumonic, a serious form.
Weekly flu season reports resumed today in the United States and Europe, with low flu activity reported in both parts of the world, according to updates today from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a collaboration between the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe.
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
A multi-hospital study in South Korea has identified risk factors for infection with multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens in patients with hemodialysis-associated pneumonia (HDAP), researchers reported yesterday in BMC Infectious Diseases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) today said it has received word of an attack at medical facilities in Syria that destroyed the only vaccines cold room in a district where several polio cases have been reported over the past several months.
As access to drinking water continues to pose a problem, leptospirosis infections and deaths have been reported.
The Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) today reported the state's first locally acquired Zika case of the year, putting the nation's total this year at three local cases.
In a statement, Florida Health said the locally transmitted case has been confirmed in Manatee County, which wasn't one of the areas to report cases last year.
An antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) at a long-term acute care hospital in Detroit improved antimicrobial prescribing practices, reduced costs, and has proven to be sustainable, researchers report today in the American Journal of Infection Control.
A trial at the end of Liberia's Ebola outbreak shows 2 candidate vaccines posed no major safety concerns and triggered immune responses that lasted at least a year.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) reported a new case of MERS-CoV in Riyadh today.
A 58-year-old Saudi man was diagnosed as having MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) after presenting with symptoms. He is in critical condition and is not a healthcare worker. The source of the man's infection is listed as "primary," meaning it is unlikely he contracted the virus from another person.
The first shipment of Anthim (obiltoxaximab) injection, a novel treatment for the inhalation of Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax, has arrived in the US Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) according to a press release yesterday from Elusys Therapeutics, Inc. Elusys manufactures Anthim and has received more than $240 million from the US government to develop the drug over the past 15 years.
Using comparisons with top performers worked well.
Italy's chikungunya outbreak has expanded to a second region, and the total number of suspected or confirmed cases has climbed to 298 as of Oct 4, a rise of 115 cases from World Health Organization's update at the end of September.
Three studies presented at IDWeek 2017 in San Diego last week focused on the emerging colistin-resistance gene MCR-1 in the United States.
Many Saudi MERS-CoV cases still involve contact with camels or drinking raw camel milk.
Also, the CDC's travel notice said local officials are scaling up flea control and have cancelled mass gatherings.
Slaughter of chickens infected with H5N1 avian influenza can produce airborne viruses that can infect birds and mammals, according to findings from a series of animal experiments done by a research team led by the US Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The investigators reported their finding on Oct 6 in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) today reported that six more states have suspected cases of monkeypox, a disease caused by a rare smallpox-like virus. There are now 31 suspected cases in seven states: Bayelsa, Rivers, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Ogun, and Cross River.
The Texas case is in a county where illnesses were reported last year.
Researchers say better communication about antibiotics is needed, and dentists need to be included in stewardship programs.
Viral changes, birth year, repeat vaccinations, and waning protection may all play a role.
