New studies show H7N9 attaches readily to human respiratory tract cells and replicates well in pigs.
Over the 2 weeks that closed out August, flu activity in the world remained at low levels, with H3N2 as the predominant strain and 2009 pandemic H1N1 (pH1N1) and influenza B circulating in many countries as well, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report that a small study in macaques has shown promise of using a two-drug combination against infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), according to study findings published yesterday in Nature Medicine.
A new assessment says that avian flu "gain of function" research poses a serious outbreak risk.
Surveillance for pneumonia with an unknown cause and sentinel hospital-based surveillance in Beijing helped detect four cases of novel H7N9 avian flu, health officials from the city reported yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. These cases were reported previously by Chinese officials, but the report offers new details.
Confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis now total 663, according to updates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS).
In a pair of puzzling statements, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) on Sep 1 reported the recovery of four patients from Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infections, though two of them had previously been described as asymptomatic.
H7N9 studies from China revealed more about cytokine patterns in severely ill patients and reaffirmed airborne spread in ferrets.
Michigan health officials today reported a variant H3N2 (H3N2v) flu infection in a child who exhibited swine at the Berrien County Youth Fair, which took place Aug 12 through Aug 17 in Berrien Springs, Mich., in the southwest corner of the state.
The case raises the nation's number of H3N2v cases this year to 17. Though Michigan had a few H3N2v cases last summer, the child's illness is its first this year.
Evidence of some risk factors such as pregnancy and ethnicity for a severe outcome in patients with seasonal and pandemic influenza is largely limited or absent, which has implications for public policies regarding prioritization of groups for vaccination programs, according to a recent meta-analysis.
