H9N2 infects Egyptian boy
Egypt has reported an H9N2 avian influenza case involving a 7-year-old boy, the country's third such detection so far this year, according to a posting from ProMED Mail that is based on a notification from a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) database. ProMED Mail is the online reporting system of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.
The boy got sick on Apr 29, experiencing a high fever and a cough. His respiratory sample tested positive for H9N1 on May 7. The sample was also positive for influenza A and influenza B. An investigation found that the boy had a history of exposure to poultry at a live market. The boy recovered and was discharged.
According to the report, the case is Egypt's first documented co-infection with H9 and influenza B. The report didn't specify where the sick boy was from but noted that the other cases-patients this year were from Aswan and Cairo governorates and that the most recent outbreaks of H9N2 in poultry were in Cairo governorate in the first half of 2014.
In a February statement warning of flu co-circulation and avian flu outbreaks in birds, the World Health Organization (WHO) said H9N2 needs to be closely watched because it has provided "donor" genes to the H5N1 and H7N9 strains and has recently been implicated in human infections in China and Egypt.
May 22 ProMED Mail post
Feb 26 CIDRAP News story "WHO warns about influenza co-circulation, bird outbreaks"
PAHO: 16,000 new chikungunya outbreak cases
There have been more than 16,000 new chikungunya cases in the Americas, bringing the outbreak total to 1,446,750, according to the Pan American Health Organization's (PAHO's) weekly update on May 22.
The new numbers include a big jump in Colombia, which has been the outbreak hot spot for weeks. But they also include reductions in case numbers for several countries, so the net gain is 14,551 cases. The previous 3 weeks saw increases of about 5,600 to 13,000 new cases. The total so far this year is 309,803 cases.
Colombia reported 16,610 new chikungunya cases, for a total of 217,729. No other nation had an increase of even 100 cases. The largest downward adjustment in cases was in El Salvador, which reduced its case count from 10,583 in the previous week to 8,655 last week.
As in previous updates, many countries have not reported new cases in weeks. The outbreak began in December 2013 with the first locally acquired chikungunya case ever reported in the Americas, on St. Martin in the Caribbean.
May 22 PAHO update