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Taiwan officials today reported a new H7N9 avian flu case on the mainland, while Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) provided details on eight recent cases in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.
The initial effectiveness investigations flagged a problem with the 2009 H1N1 vaccine virus in the inhaled version and drove improvement efforts.
Four of the 8 H5N6 cases ever reported have been in the past 2 weeks, and H7N9 has topped 700 cases.
According to the first-ever global burden estimates for melioidosis, the disease is sharply underreported in 45 endemic countries, it's probably endemic in 34 more, and conditions are suitable for the disease in parts of the United States and Japan.
The next step in the deliberations is a 2-day National Academies of Science symposium in March.
The new, worrisome MCR-1 resistance gene has been detected in 6 more nations.
The findings add more evidence that resistance is common in parts of Cambodia.
Kansas researchers have developed a vaccine that they say can protect poultry against multiple H5 avian flu strains, but chicken producers remain reluctant to use such vaccines because of possible foreign bans on US poultry products, according to reports yesterday.
Some topics: weighing risks and benefits, ethical issues, and global involvement.
Johnson & Johnson's prime-boost Ebola vaccine regimen is entering phase 2 clinical trials in both healthy and HIV-infected people, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) announced yesterday in a press release.
Three of the world's seven human cases of H5N6 have now been reported in the past 10 days, with Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) reporting a new case today, following cases on Dec 29 and Jan 4.
Also, a short report notes gender differences during the outbreak, such as higher survival in females.
Provincial officials in China have reported two new cases of H7N9 avian flu, according to reports yesterday and today.
The first case is in Ningbo city in Zhejiang province in east central China, according to a China News story yesterday translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board. The patient—whose age and sex were not specified—had contact with live poultry and is hospitalized.
All 3 nations have been hit hard; France has now had 66 high-path outbreaks.
Canada can now be added to the growing list of countries that have detected MCR-1, the recently identified worrisome gene that disables the last-line antibiotic colistin, after it was detected in a patient and in ground beef sold in 2010, the Toronto Star reported today.
After being identified for the first time in China in November, the gene has now been confirmed in samples from at least 11 countries.
Oman's case is its seventh, while the Saudi cases reflect typical exposure patterns.
The case prompts a travel advisory and adds to the list of affected countries.
Chinese health officials have confirmed the second case of H5N6 avian flu in a week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today, while also reporting a new case of H7N9 avian flu. The H5N6 infection is the world's sixth.
Social networks, though, were strong in poorer areas, which helped with disease control.
Health officials in China's Jiangxi province today announced an H7N9 avian influenza infection in a 46-year-old man from the city of Ganzhou, according to a provincial health department statement translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
The case is the eighth in China's fourth wave of illnesses and Jiangxi's first case since May.
