Haiti and the Dominican Republic continue to report cholera cases in early 2015 well above levels seen during the same period last year, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported late last week.
Another MERS-CoV case today in Riyadh boosts the number of MERS cases in Saudi Arabia this month to 13, 12 of which have been in Riyadh. The country's Ministry of Health (MOH) also confirmed a death in a previously reported patient.
In related news, a study today found no evidence of the virus in Bactrian (two-humped) camels.
To prevent cholera, chlorination programs have been launched in 107 of 500 rural water systems in Haiti.
California officials today said they have confirmed 92 measles cases since December, 59 of which are linked to visiting Disneyland, bringing the US total to more than 100 cases, while Toronto has confirmed 4 cases not linked to each other or to travel outside the country.
A fairly steady trickle of MERS-CoV cases in Saudi Arabia continued today with a report of two more, one of them fatal.
The committee that advises the federal government on biosecurity and dual-use research today approved a statement detailing its concerns about the US government moratorium on funding for "gain-of-function" (GOF) studies on influenza, MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus), and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
Confirmation has been received that a healthcare worker in Uganda who became ill Sep11 and died Sep 28 had Marburg virus, a relative of the Ebola virus causing havoc in several West African countries. The last Marburg outbreak in Uganda, affecting 20 people and killing 9 of them, was in 2012, according to a notice from the World Health Organization (WHO) today.
Costs associated with foodborne illnesses in the United States total more than $15.6 billion annually, according to a data product released Oct 7 by the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Economic Research Service containing updated estimates.
Vaccination coverage of young US children against all routinely recommended vaccines remained high and even increased for certain vaccines last year, according to data from the National Immunization Survey (NIS), published today in Morbidity Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
In its ongoing response to safety lapses at two of its high-containment labs, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today announced the members of an external lab safety work group. The 11-person group will advise CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, and the CDC's new director of lab safety, Michael Bell, MD, according to a statement.
