Two biosecurity experts who have called for civil debate and mutual understanding surrounding dual-use research of concern (DURC) issues yesterday proposed a framework for moving forward.
German researchers yesterday reported evidence that enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), which caused a widespread outbreak of respiratory illness in American children last fall, also circulated at low levels in Germany at about the same time.
The ongoing string of MERS-CoV cases in Saudi Arabia continued with a report of three more late yesterday, along with three more deaths, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Today the MOH reported no new cases but noted two more deaths in previous cases. The latest reports raise the total cases this month to 71, with 30 deaths.
US agencies reported on what they billed as an improved method for sifting food outbreak data.
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Health (MOH) today confirmed three new MERS-CoV cases in elderly Riyadh residents, which means the city has had seven cases in 5 days.
All three patients with MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) are in critical condition, the MOH said in an update. They are an 84-year-old woman and two men, 80 and 77. None are healthcare workers or had preexisting disease.
The number of disease outbreaks linked to the drinking of unpasteurized milk has risen at an alarming rate, quadrupling from the period 1993-2006 to 2007-12, as more states allow the legal sale of raw milk, according to a study today in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) yesterday issued a series of recommendations to enhance the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service's (FSIS's) ability to prevent Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination of poultry products. The report is dated Sep 30.
The agency also establishes new steps to control Salmonella and Campylobacter in poultry.
The number of chikungunya cases imported into the United States rose by 41 in the past week, to 114, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an update yesterday. The number of states reporting imported cases climbed from 22 to 27, plus the US Virgin Islands.
Multidrug-resistant Salmonella has decreased and resistance to two important classes of antibiotics remains low, but resistance to the bacterium that causes typhoid fever is worrisome.
