Researchers who analyzed the genome of a new coronavirus (CoV) from a South African bat sample demonstrated that it may be the ancestor of MERS-CoV, that a host switch from bats to camels may have taken place in Africa, and that camels are likely infecting humans rather than vice versa, according to a study yesterday in the Journal of Virology.
A US House of Representatives committee that will host a hearing on Jul 16 to question federal officials on recent incidents involving anthrax bacteria and other pathogens at US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) labs today unveiled some findings from its requests for documents and testimony about the agency's biosafety issues.
Saudi Arabia has begun work on a case-control study to try to pinpoint how people contract MERS-CoV, something that critics of the government's response have been demanding for many months, according to a Reuters report today.
Saudi Arabia reported one new MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) case today, raising the country's official total to 706 cases.
The latest patient is a 45-year-old expatriate who is hospitalized in Riyadh, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in today's update. He has no preexisting conditions and is not a healthcare worker. The ministry gave no information about how he was exposed to the virus.
An outbreak of an unknown febrile illness that initially prompted suspicion for hemorrhagic fever or Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has been diagnosed as dengue fever, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in a statement.
Study finds 87% vaccine effectiveness, as Haiti reports a 75% drop in cases over this time last year.
A Saudi man who contracted Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in November after tending sick camels had a virus nearly identical to that found in one of his camels, suggesting he contracted the disease from them, according to a letter yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Seven outbreaks of H5N1 avian flu among village flocks in seven separate provinces in northern and southern Vietnam have led to almost 20,000 new poultry deaths, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reported on Feb 22.
The H5N8 strain of avian flu has been found in wild geese in the same South Korean province that has seen H5N8 outbreaks in domestic ducks, according to a story today in The Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper.
California researchers say they have determined that a mosquito neuron that detects human breath also detects human skin odors, and they report the discovery of two compounds that may reduce the insects' ability to zero in on humans.
