Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported another case of MERS-CoV today, this time in a man who had contact with camels.
In an update to its epidemiologic week 5 report, the MOH said the patient was a 65-year-old man from Buraydah. He is hospitalized for his MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infection.
Two Middle East countries reported new MERS-CoV cases today, including four in Oman and one in Saudi Arabia, according to separate health ministry announcements.
Today in Eurosurveillance, researchers published the first estimates of vaccine effectiveness (VE) for the 2018-19 seasonal flu vaccine administered in Canada, showing that overall VE was 68% in a season driven by influenza A(H1N1) viruses and 72% against the predominant strain.
A New York resident who drank raw milk from a Pennsylvania dairy has contracted the nation's third known case of brucellosis caused by the antibiotic-resistant Brucella RB51 strain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in a Health Alert Network (HAN) notice. The previous two illnesses occurred in 2017.
According to a series of tweets made by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, the agency is trying its best to handle food safety inspections and other critical work during what has become the nation's longest government shutdown.
About 400 staffers have returned from furlough, 150 of them for food inspections.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today recorded 3 new cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), bringing the total for 2018 to 196 confirmed cases. The confirmed cases are among the 357 reports that CDC received of patients under investigation.
2018 has seen the most AFM cases of any year since the CDC began tracking the mysterious illness in 2014.
Because of the federal government shutdown, now in its third week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended all routine inspections of domestic food-processing facilities, a move that alarms some food safety advocates.
The partial government shutdown that began on Dec 22 will have limited impact on most federal public health activities, including flu surveillance and food safety actions, according to official statements and media reports.
In an update released Dec 24, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced 17 more cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) across the United States, raising this year’s total to 182.
Thirty-nine states have reported cases this year, and 336 cases are currently under investigation. Texas has the most cases with 25, followed by Colorado (15), and Ohio (12).
