The highly pathogenic H5N2 avian flu virus strain that caused outbreaks in poultry flocks across the United States is better adapted to chickens than a precursor H5N2 virus and is highly adapted to wild ducks, according to a new study by US Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists published in Virology.
Researchers detected H5N2 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses in air samples collected inside, immediately outside, and up to 70 meters from affected barns during the 2015 outbreak in the Midwest, according to a study in this month's issue of Avian Diseases. They also found H5N2 RNA in air samples up to 1 kilometer from barns that housed infected flocks.
The US government is awarding $20 million in prizes for innovative ideas for the development of rapid, point-of-care diagnostic lab tests to quickly identify antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to a National Institutes of Health (NIH) press release today.
The findings may explain infection in people who don't have direct bird contact.
A study in Liberia has produced more evidence of persistence of the Ebola virus in semen after patients' recovery from the disease, with some of them still testing positive more than a year after recovery and greater age indicated as a possible risk factor.
The proportion of pediatricians facing parents who refuse to vaccinate their children has grown markedly in recent years, to 87% according to a new survey from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published today in Pediatrics.
An international team of researchers is reporting transmission of antibiotic-resistant leprosy in Guinea.
Evidence is growing that the pika, a small mammal thought to be the inspiration behind the Pokemon Pikachu character, may play a role in the evolution of avian influenza viruses in China's Qinghai Lake region, according to new findings today from a Chinese research team.
The lake is major stopover for migrating birds that have spread highly pathogenic H5N1 to major global flyways.
After five human cases of avian influenza A (H7N9) appeared in China earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said that limited human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out for some that are part of a family cluster. Three of the five recent cases in humans appear to be in a cluster, the WHO said today in a statement.
Two new variant H3N2 (H3N2v) influenza cases have been reported in Ohio, both of them in people who had contact with pigs at agricultural fairs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its weekly flu update. The report also notes two H3N2v cases that were reported in Michigan a week ago.
