Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) has reported five new MERS-CoV cases from Oct 25 to today and two deaths on Oct 25, bringing the country's total to 777 cases and 331 deaths since June 2012. One of the deaths occurred in a newly reported case.
The new case on Oct 25 was in a 75-year-old man from Taif, who had contact with suspected or confirmed cases in hospitals or clinics, although he was not a healthcare worker, the MOH said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed 126 new cases of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) in 46 states and the District of Columbia. The outbreak has now reached 922 cases, almost all of them in children, many of whom have asthma.
The Obama administration announced today that it is suspending funding of "gain-of-function" (GOF) studies on influenza and other viruses to allow time to assess the risks and benefits of such controversial research and develop a federal policy on it.
The Ebola virus responsible for an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that began in July bears similarities to previous outbreaks in equatorial Africa but is distinct from the virus causing the ongoing epidemic in West Africa and has a different zoonotic origin, say results of a study today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
For the fourth day in a row, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed a new case of MERS-CoV, this one in an 82-year old Saudi man from the city of Alkharj in the central part of the country not far from Riyadh, according to an MOH update today.
Qatar has reported its first MERS-CoV case this year, according to media reports, while Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed three new cases in as many days, all in men, none of whom are healthcare workers.
Two new MERS cases were confirmed in Taif, Saudia Arabia, in recent days, while the country's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported deaths in two other case-patients.
As of Sep 30, 86 new cases of chikungunya were brought into the United States by travelers, most of them visiting or coming from the Caribbean, according to this week's update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This brings the total count of imported cases to 1,200. Additionally, Florida has reported 11 locally acquired cases, a number that held steady since last week.
The number of chikungunya cases in the Caribbean and surrounding areas continues to grow, with 9,006 new cases bringing the outbreak total to 747,721, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported late last week.
Colombia reported the largest increase, with 3,347 new cases (from 1,350 to 4,697), followed by Martinique, with 2,390 new cases; Puerto Rico, with 1,166; and Guadeloupe, 880.
PAHO reports a large increase in the case count, driven largely by the Dominican Republic, and another locally acquired case is reported in Florida.
