For the first time, a wild white-tailed deer has been found with chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the city limits of Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, triggering the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to update surveillance plans across the state.
The Partnership for European Environmental Research (PEER) yesterday reported the launch of a new project that will use hospital wastewater to assess how antimicrobial stewardship programs are affecting levels of antibiotics and resistant bacteria released into the environment.
Researchers at a hospital in China found an 8.3% decline in antibiotic use among patients with non-COVID fever and respiratory symptoms during the pandemic, likely because of heightened awareness of viral pathogens, according to a study published late last week in the Journal of Infection.
Flu activity continued to rise in most of the nation last week, with three more pediatric flu deaths reported, but markers are still below epidemic baselines, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest update.
Implementation of a touchless hydrogen peroxide decontamination system at an acute care hospital was associated with a significant reduction in Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) rates over a 10-year period, researchers reported today in the American Journal of Infection Control.
Raising the number of states to report highly pathogenic avian flu in backyard flocks or commercial poultry this year to 15, federal and state officials today announced the first outbreak in Nebraska. In related developments, Missouri reported another outbreak in backyard poultry, and federal officials reported more H5 detections in wild birds, including the first in Ohio and Illinois.
Also, South Dakota reports a second outbreak in commercial poultry and Maine confirms a new outbreak in a backyard flock.
More than a third of new mothers early in the COVID-19 pandemic had symptoms of postpartum (after-birth) depression—nearly triple pre-pandemic levels—and one in five had major depressive symptoms, with symptoms for both disorders higher in women who fed their babies formula, according to a study yesterday in BMC Research Notes.
The outbreaks in backyard flocks bring the number of affected states this year to 13, the USDA says.
Delaware, Maryland, and Missouri report new highly pathogenic avian flu outbreaks.
