A new letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine attempts to explain why Brazil saw fewer babies born with microcephaly in 2016 as compared to 2015, despite more suspected Zika infections. The authors suggest that 2016's second wave of Zika infections could have actually been another flavivirus, such as chikungunya.
The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH) reported one new case of MERS-CoV today in a woman who had indirect contact with camels.
More details emerged today on President Donald Trump's proposed budget, including plans to drastically cut research grant funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the current fiscal year, which ends in October.
The Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said today that the mainland reported 18 more H7N9 avian flu illnesses, 2 of them fatal, from Mar 17 to Mar 23, according to a regular weekly update.
After an unusually large surge of cases in December, China's H7N9 cases peaked in February. Though cases are declining, the country continues to report a steady stream of infections from a number of provinces.
An inexpensive heat-stable rotavirus vaccine was shown to be 67% effective in a resource-poor setting in Africa, providing renewed hope for addressing the deadly diarrhea-causing disease in children, a study today in the New England Journal of Medicine reported.
Seven more Escherichia coli O157:H7 illnesses have been reported in a multistate outbreak linked to soy nut butter from an Illinois company, raising the total so far to 23, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.
A report today from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling on the two federal agencies responsible for ensuring the safety of the food supply to address oversight gaps and collect more information on the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals.
The budget supports earlier commitment to Gavi vaccine initiatives but dials back funds for other global health efforts.
In an epidemiologic update on MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia today, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted that there were more cases in the first 2 months of 2017 than during the same period last year. The WHO also said its scientists are seeing younger women with the coronavirus, but that much of the disease's demographics haven't changed.
Officials in New York state have detected Listeria in intact raw milk Vulto cheese.