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Seven outbreak countries are seeing a rise in microcephaly or Guillain-Barre disease.
The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced yesterday that it has finalized new federal standards designed to cut Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination in ground chicken and turkey, as well as in raw chicken breasts, legs, and wings.
In the week that closed out January, flu activity continued its slow rise, with one key marker—the percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for flu—rising from 5% to 6.8% compared with the previous week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly update.
Also, Dallas officials issue a follow-up on a recent sexual transmission case, groups announce new research pushes, and Florida declares a public health emergency.
China has two new H7N9 avian flu cases, both in men in the same district of Yongzhou city in Hunan province, according to local health officials.
Also today, the CDC added Jamaica and Tonga to its travel advisory, and an Indian company announced two vaccine candidates.
Although complete flu vaccine coverage increased dramatically from 2002-03 to 2011-12 in kids under 2 years old, it still falls well below 50% and is even lower in minority groups, according to a study yesterday in Pediatrics.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported a new MERS-CoV infection in a man who had contact with camels, the second case in 3 days, and agriculture officials said 85% of camels recently tested at a market in Jeddah harbored the virus.
The case also appears to be the first locally acquired Zika infection in the continental US in this outbreak.
Sanofi and NewLink announce efforts to develop Zika vaccines that will springboard off existing technologies.
Dovetailing with recent cases announced in Minnesota and a product recall, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that 11 Salmonella Virchow illnesses in 9 states have been linked to Garden of Life RAW Meal Organic Shake and Meal products.
Today's emergency declaration was tailored to spur coordinated international study into the possible serious complications of the disease.
In other developments, a Zika gene sequencing study found parallels with chikungunya, and experts are gearing up for an Aedes aegypti summit in Brazil.
In one worrisome finding, MCR-1 was found in chicken E coli alongside other resistance genes.
Two outbreaks of Escherichia coli O26 infections linked to Chipotle restaurants are now over after causing 60 total cases in 14 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement today.
Saudi Arabia today reported a new MERS-CoV case after a 5-day lull, and a new study shows effectiveness of a monoclonal antibody treatment in monkeys.
The new MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) case involves 43-year-old foreign man in Riyadh who is not a healthcare worker, the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) reported. He is in stable condition, and probable sources of infection are under investigation.
Also, more vaccine details emerge, including a candidate that might be available for emergency use this year.
A pair of US biotechnology companies today announced the launch of what appears to be the first phase 1 clinical trial of a MERS-CoV vaccine, while the World Health Organization (WHO) provided more details on the MERS-CoV case reported in Thailand earlier this week.
The United States saw another small uptick in flu activity last week, with increases seen in most indicators that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses to track the season. The percentage of respiratory specimens that tested positive for flu climbed from 4.2% to 5%, with the percentage of clinic visits for flulike illness hovering just above the national baseline.
The committee will meet Feb 1 to discuss the growing threat and possibly related neurologic complications.
