News Scan for Mar 28, 2016

News brief
Topics
Antimicrobial Stewardship
E coli
Foodborne Disease
Healthcare-Associated Infections
MERS-CoV

Saudis report 3 MERS cases in three towns, 1 fatal

Saudi Arabian officials have reported three more MERS cases and one resulting death in the past 2 days, including a case in Buraydah, the site of a series of mostly healthcare-related cases this month.

Yesterday the Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) reported MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases in two elderly Saudi men. One patient is a 76-year-old in Buraydah who is in stable condition, and the other was a 78-year-old in Ha'il who died of the disease.

The Buraydah man is listed as a household contact of another MERS patient; his illness raises the number of MERS cases in the city since Mar 3 to 31. The source of exposure for the Ha'il man is under investigation, the MOH said. Neither man was a healthcare worker. Buraydah is in north-central Saudi Arabia, and Ha'il lies in an adjoining province to the west.

Today the MOH reported that a 65-year-old Saudi man in Turbah, a town southeast of Mecca, is in critical condition with MERS. He had contact with camels and is not a healthcare worker.

The new cases boost the nation's MERS count to 1,360 cases, including 580 deaths, and 16 patients still being treated.
Mar 28 MOH update
Mar 27 MOH update

 

Upper Midwest E coli outbreak tied to sprouts called over after 11 cases

The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) late last week said that a sprout-related outbreak of Escherichia coli O157 cases in Minnesota and Wisconsin is considered over after 11 cases were reported, 2 more than a month ago.

Minnesota and Wisconsin each reported a new case since the agency's previous update on Feb 25, bringing the states to 8 and 3 cases, respectively. Two of the outbreak patients required hospitalization but none died, the CDC said. Illness-onset dates vary from Jan 17 to Feb 17, with patients ranging from 17 to 84 years old, with a median age of 28.

All nine patients interviewed by health officials said they ate or possibly ate alfalfa sprouts in the week before they fell ill.

"This outbreak appears to be over," the CDC said in a statement. "Collaborative investigative efforts of state, local, and federal public health and regulatory officials indicate that alfalfa sprouts produced by Jack & The Green Sprouts of River Falls, Wisconsin, were the likely source of this outbreak."

The company recalled all of its alfalfa and alfalfa onion sprout products on Feb 25.

The outbreak is separate from a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Muenchen infections linked to alfalfa sprouts produced by Sweetwater Farms of Inman, Kan., the CDC pointed out. As of Mar 4, that outbreak had sickened 13 people in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania.
Mar 25 CDC statement
Feb 25 CIDRAP News scan on previous update

 

Recalled endoscope, still being used, suspected cause of new outbreak

A contaminated reusable duodenoscope that falls within a January recall by its manufacturer was still being used by an unnamed hospital and is the likely cause of two recent deaths and six illnesses there, says a Mar 25 story in the Los Angeles Times.

The recalled scopes, used in the endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) procedure, are extremely difficult to disinfect and have been linked with at least 25 outbreaks worldwide. Olympus, the scope's Tokyo-based manufacturer, recalled the scopes in January after a US Senate investigation. Hospitals are required to return the scopes, 4,400 of which are in use, to Olympus for replacement with a redesigned device. The company expects to have all the scopes replaced by August, the story says.

In the meantime, hospitals are continuing to use the scopes. In the investigation that led to the recall, it was found that none of the 16 US hospitals that had experienced outbreaks had filed the required federal reports required when a medical device causes a death. Notably, the new cases were reported by the manufacturer, not the involved hospital.

The name of the hospital where the cases occurred is not being named because of patient privacy laws, the story said. The scope involved in the new outbreak, purchased in June of 2012 and repaired in August 2014 by Olympus, has been used nearly 800 times.

Olympus provides 85% of the duodenoscopes used in US hospitals; Pentax and Fujifilm manufacture the scopes as well, and their devices have also been linked with contamination-caused illnesses.
Mar 25 LA Times story

 

Avian Flu Scan for Mar 28, 2016

News brief
Topics
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)

China reports another H7N9 case

Chinese officials have reported another human case of H7N9 avian flu, according to FluTrackers, an infectious disease message board.

The illness involves a 45-year-old man who is hospitalized in critical condition in Xuancheng, a city in east-central China's Anhui province, according to translated government information posted by FluTrackers. The patient had contact with live poultry, and his case was confirmed Mar 25, officials said.

The report came a week after Hong Kong reported an H7N9 case in a resident who had traveled to the mainland.

The new case increases the global H7N9 tally to 769, according to a list maintained by FluTrackers.
Mar 27 FluTrackers notice
FluTrackers H7N9 case list

 

After nearly 5-month lull, H5N8 avian flu reappears in South Korea

South Korea has reported its first outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N8 avian influenza on a poultry farm in almost 5 months, the country's Yonhap news agency reported on Mar 26.

The farm, which culled 10,900 ducks and is under quarantine to contain spread of the disease, is about 80 km east of Seoul in the northwest region of the country, according to the story.

H5N8 was last reported in South Korea in November 2015. The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reported the first of 12 H5N8 outbreaks involving the death or destruction of more than 144,000 birds in the southwest part of the country in September 2014; the agency posted a final report in February of this year. No OIE report of the new outbreak has yet been posted.
Mar 26 Yonhap item
Feb 12 OIE final report

 

This week's top reads

  1. Alpacas infected with H5N1 avian flu in Idaho

    In other developments, H5N1 was detected in feral cats in New Mexico and more dairy herds in affected states.

    Lisa Schnirring
    alpaca and chickens

  2. High-path avian flu strikes Iowa layer farm as USDA reports more mammal detections

    The USDA's updated list of H5N1 detections in mammals includes domestic cats in 4 states.

    Lisa Schnirring

  3. H5N1 traces found in muscle from culled dairy cow; Michigan reports 3 more affected herds

    The positive sample was from 1 of 96 culled dairy cows that were tested at slaughter, and none of the meat entered the food supply.

    Lisa Schnirring

  4. Study reveals persistent risk of death, symptoms in COVID survivors at 3 years

    "A brief, seemingly innocuous or benign encounter with the virus can still lead to health problems years later," one study author says.

    Mary Van Beusekom
    Woman with headache

  5. Study confirms infection in mice fed H5N1-contaminated raw milk

    The group also used the contaminated milk samples to examine heat treatment and refrigeration impacts.

    Lisa Schnirring
    milk samples

  6. China reports fatal H5N6 avian flu case

    An investigation found that the woman had been exposed to backyard poultry before she became ill. 

    Lisa Schnirring

  7. USDA expands support for H5N1 response to more dairy producers

    Also today the USDA confirmed 6 more outbreaks in dairy herds and announced 5 more poultry outbreaks, all from Minnesota.

    Lisa Schnirring
    farmer feeding calves

  8. WHO: COVID-19 pandemic reversed decade of life expectancy gains

    In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 was the top cause of death for the region of the Americas.

    Stephanie Soucheray
    cadaver

  9. Second dairy farm worker infected with H5 avian flu in Michigan

    Unlike similar earlier cases in the United States, the newly reported patient had respiratory symptoms.

    Lisa Schnirring
    dairy worker

  10. COVID patients at higher risk for respiratory complications well after infection, study finds

    The risk of developing post-acute respiratory conditions was highest in the first 3 months after COVID-19 infection but was still elevated after 6 months.

    Mary Van Beusekom
    Woman coughing with hand on chest

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