Avian influenza viruses with components similar to those in the 1918 pandemic flu virus still circulate in nature, and genetic engineering experiments suggest it would take only a few mutations to turn them into a human threat, according to a team of scientists led by Yoshiro Kawaoka, DVM, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin.
The risk of post-vaccination seizures in 1-year-olds was twice as high with the combined measles-mumps-rubella-varicella (MMRV) vaccine compared with the MMR and varicella vaccines (MMR+V) administered separately, but the absolute risk is small, according to a study yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).
Both urban and rural residents in China interviewed in late spring and early summer last year—after the spring peak in H7N9 cases—reported fairly high exposure to poultry but fairly low anxiety about the disease, according to a study yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
H7N9 has infected a father and son, as researchers report new clues about the virus.
The Caribbean chikungunya outbreak grew by 6,303 cases in the past week to reach 63,489 suspected, probable, or confirmed cases, according to an update today from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The count is up from 57,186 cases a week ago.
The debate over experiments that increase avian flu virus transmissibility heats up.
Two new H7N9 influenza infections were reported in China today, both from Anhui province, according to a health department statement translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
Both patients are men, ages 69 and 58, who are hospitalized in critical condition. The cases are the second and third to be reported in Anhui province this week and lift its overall number of H7N9 cases to 14.
In a moment that health officials have anticipated, the Florida Department of Health (FDH) today reported three cases of mosquito-borne chikungunya fever, all imported from the current 45,000-plus-case outbreak in the Caribbean.
China reported another H7N9 influenza case today, in a 66-year-old man from Jiangsu province, according to a provincial health department notice translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
The man got sick after he slaughtered a pigeon he bought at a live market. He is listed in critical condition at a hospital in Wuxi.
A new case of H7N9 avian influenza has been reported in China, according to postings today on FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
The case-patient is a 71-year-old man from Meizhou Xingning in Guangdong province. His case was diagnosed yesterday, say the postings, and he is reportedly receiving treatment and in stable condition.
