Uganda's Ebola Sudan outbreak appears stable

News brief

Health officials from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) today said Uganda’s Ebola outbreak has stabilized and is under control, with the ongoing epidemiologic investigation suggesting a single transmission chain.

At a media briefing, Ngashi Ngongo, MD, PhD, MPH, head of Africa CDC's mpox incident management team, said the outbreak total stands at nine cases, which includes five healthcare workers. The fatality count remains at 1, for a case-fatality rate of 11.1%. The patient who died is the index case, a 32-year-old male nurse who became ill in mid-January. He visited a traditional healer and three different health facilities before he died in Kampala.

The other eight patients are all in stable condition, he said, adding that no transmission has been detected outside of single chain.

Vaccine trial progresses, serologic and animal studies planned

Mosoka Papa Fallah, PhD, acting director of the science and innovation directorate at Africa CDC, said 214 contacts have been identified and that a vaccine trial with an initial supply of 2,000 candidate vaccine doses is under way in seven of eight rings that have been identified. He added that an additional 10,000 doses are expected to arrive in the region. The vaccine is from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a nonprofit vaccine research organization based in New York City.

Fallah also said African officials have met to discuss a research protocol, which will include serology studies to assess if Ebola Sudan is circulating undetected in the region. Also, animal sampling will be conducted to get a better picture of those that may be harboring the virus.

At a World Health Organization (WHO) briefing yesterday, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said a therapeutics trial will soon begin in Uganda, after country officials clear the plan. Tedros said he has approved the release of $2 million more from the WHO’s emergency contingency fund, in addition to an initial $ 1 million allocation to support Uganda’s response.

CDC: 3 veterinarians had recent H5N1 infections but didn't know they had been exposed

News brief

Mary Van Beusekom, MS

Today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports on recent avian influenza A (H5N1) infections in three veterinarians who work with cattle but didn't know they had been exposed to the virus.

The CDC's analysis of blood samples from 150 bovine veterinarians in 46 US states and Canada during the current H5N1outbreak in dairy cows and poultry revealed that three asymptomatic US practitioners (2%) had antibodies to H5N1 in September, suggesting recent infection.

Two of them reported no exposures to infected animals, and one practiced in Georgia and South Carolina, which have had no known cases in cattle.

"These findings suggest there could be U.S. states with A(H5)-positive people and animals that have not yet been identified," the study authors wrote, adding that the risk to the general public remains low.

While the infected veterinarians reported wearing gloves or clothing covers when caring for cattle, none wore respiratory or eye protection, which are recommended when working with uninfected animals in regions with confirmed cases. "HPAI A(H5) virus is known to be present in high concentrations in milk produced by infected cattle, introducing infection risk through respiratory, ocular, and gastrointestinal exposure," the researchers wrote.

The current outbreak of H5N1 in dairy cattle was first detected in March 2024, with human cases identified infected dairy farm workers beginning in April.

More herd and bulk-milk testing needed

The results also confirm the importance of preventing H5N1 infections in animals and rapidly identifying infected dairy cattle through herd and bulk milk-testing programs, as the US Department of Agriculture announced in October, the researchers said.

Increased testing of herds and bulk milking tanks can help monitor for additional A(H5) positive herds and help better protect bovine veterinary practitioners and other animal workers.

"Increased testing of herds and bulk milking tanks can help monitor for additional A(H5) positive herds and help better protect bovine veterinary practitioners and other animal workers," they wrote. "Surveillance programs, such as herd and bulk milk testing and serosurveys, can aid in identifying areas of increased risk to bovine veterinary practitioners and workers to allow for appropriate engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protection equipment use."

Ohio announces human H5N1 avian flu case, state's first

News brief

Stephanie Soucheray, MA

A man from Mercer County, Ohio, is that state’s first human case of H5N1 avian flu, according to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). The man is a farm worker who was in contact with deceased commercial poultry.

People should avoid direct contact with poultry or wild birds and take proper precautions.

“While the risk to Ohioans is low, the best way to prevent bird flu is to avoid unprotected exposures to sick or dead birds or to their environment,” said ODH Director Bruce Vanderhoff, MD, MBA, in a press release. “People should avoid direct contact with poultry or wild birds and take proper precautions, including reaching out for guidance regarding personal protection and safe handling, if you must be around sick or dead birds.”

Ohio is bird flu hot spot

No information was provided on the condition of the man, but most human cases of H5N1 have been mild. So far, the United States has recorded 68 human cases of avian flu since 2024, with one death in a man from Louisiana.

Ohio is one of the epicenters of the US bird flu outbreak, with 54 outbreaks since the middle of January. The outbreaks have led to the loss of more than 10 million birds.

Two more Arkansas counties note CWD in deer for first time

News brief

Mary Van Beusekom, MS

White-tailed deer in field — Tom Koerner, USFWS / Flickr cc

Cleburne and Baxter have become the latest Arkansas counties to report chronic wasting disease (CWD)-positive deer, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) announced yesterday.

The two 2.5-year-old bucks in Cleburne County, located within a quarter-mile of each other, and a 3.5-year-old buck in Baxter were harvested during the hunting season, which ends Feb 28.

Baxter County is in the north-central part of the state, abutting Missouri. Cleburne County, located one county southeast of Baxter, was added to the CWD management zone in February 2024 after a deer in Craighead County, northeast of Cleburne, tested positive.

The probability of finding CWD in these counties eventually was high, given their proximity to other known positive cases.

AJ Riggs

In Cleburne County, a CWD-positive deer was found close to the Van Buren County line in 2022, along with a detection in neighboring Independence County. Baxter was added to the zone in 2019 after positive cases were reported in adjoining Marion and Searcy counties. In November, the AGFC reported one CWD case each in Conway and Stone counties, in the southeastern part of the state; it was the first detection for Conway.

"The probability of finding CWD in these counties eventually was high, given their proximity to other known positive cases," AJ Riggs, AGFC wildlife health biologist, said in yesterday's news release. "These new cases confirm that our protocols for early detection are effective."

AGFC said it has tested more than 67,500 deer and elk across the state to date, identifying CWD in 1,970 deer and 56 elk.

Health officials urge taking precautions

CWD is a fatal neurodegenerative disease of cervids such as deer, elk, and moose caused by infectious misfolded proteins called prions. The infection spreads from animal to animal through direct contact and environmental contamination.

While no human CWD cases have been reported, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization advise against eating meat from sick cervids and urge taking precautions when handling carcasses.