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Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported four new MERS cases and one death in the past 2 days, bringing the country's total to 855 cases since June 2012. The country has confirmed 10 cases in the past 5 days.
Two of China's provinces—Guangdong and Zhejiang— reported seven more H7N9 avian flu infections today, one of them fatal.
Officials say $1 billion is needed now, ahead of the upcoming rainy season.
Researchers in both places found vaccine effectiveness to be well below the already-low US numbers.
California officials yesterday confirmed 7 new measles cases in an outbreak that began in December, bringing the case total for the state to 99, while 5 babies at a Chicago-area daycare have also been diagnosed as having the disease.
Also yesterday, the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) pointed out the states having the lowest measles vaccination coverage in toddlers.
Agriculture officials in Taiwan yesterday said 51 more poultry farms have been struck by H5N8 avian influenza and 108 more facilities have reported more H5N2 outbreaks, with some of the locations hit by both strains, according to two separate reports to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
The newly reported patients are from Al-Kharj and Hofuf, and the WHO notes 9 previously reported cases.
For the first time this year, all 3 nations see an increase in cases, while the CDC reports on a December lab incident.
Chinese officials have reported another H7N9 avian flu illness, in Zhejiang province, and Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) today noted 49 cases that have occurred in recent weeks, but it's difficult to determine if any of them are new.
The median duration of colonization with community-based methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in ambulatory patients is 21 days, shorter than the previously thought duration of 6 to 9 months, and treatment with clindamycin is associated with more rapid clearance of the infection, say findings of a study published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Highlights include funds for antibiotic resistance, bioterrorism preparedness, and a unified food safety agency.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today published a summary of the recent US outbreaks of avian flu in birds in western states, and late last week it published two guidance documents in response to those detections.
Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) taken within 24 hours of flu symptom onset shortened the duration of all symptoms by 56%, but had no effect on household flu transmission or viral shedding, according to a study yesterday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
A clinical trial of 2 Ebola vaccine candidates was launched today near Liberia's capital, but falling case numbers may pose problems.
Avian flu caused by various strains was confirmed in the US, UK, Israel, Japan, Bulgaria, and South Korea.
California officials today said they have confirmed 92 measles cases since December, 59 of which are linked to visiting Disneyland, bringing the US total to more than 100 cases, while Toronto has confirmed 4 cases not linked to each other or to travel outside the country.
UNMEER head calls the situation "perilous," because the disease is still present in 25 of 66 districts in the three outbreak nations.
Analysis finds a significant reduction in symptom duration, risk of hospitalization, and likelihood of complications.
Influenza seems reluctant to release its grip on the United States, as most measures of flu activity showed little change last week, according to today's update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Two men have been stricken with MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia, bringing the total case count since June 2012 to 845, according to an update today from the country's ministry of health (MOH).
