Foodborne Disease

CDC dragged its feet on lab mishap reporting policy, USA Today says

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) waited until last week to set a policy to centralize reporting of all lab mishaps within the agency despite previous high-profile lab accidents and promises of change, according to a USA Today story yesterday.

Saudi MERS total grows by four

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has sickened four more people in Saudi Arabia in the past 2 days, one of them fatally, according to reports from the country's Ministry of Health (MOH).

Saudi Arabia reports new MERS case

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday announced a new MERS-CoV case after going 4 days without one, and a study in macaques identified two drugs that might be candidate for human trials.

CDC: Salmonella outbreak tied to raw chicken products grows to 7

An outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to raw, frozen, stuffed chicken products has grown to seven cases, with Oklahoma announcing its first case, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in an update.

Multistate Salmonella outbreak tied to raw tuna grows to 60 cases

Seven new cases of salmonellosis linked to frozen raw tuna have increased the current outbreak total to 60 cases in 11 states, an increase of 2 states since the last update on Jun 5, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday.

The outbreak is caused by Salmonella Paratyphi B variant L(+) tartrate(+) bacteria, formerly known as Salmonella Java, the CDC said.

Minnesota adds two cases to raw fish Salmonella outbreak

Minnesota health officials yesterday linked two recent Salmonella infections to an unusual multistate outbreak tied to raw tuna. The outbreak, first announced by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on May 21, involves Salmonella Paratyphi B variant L(+) tartrate(+). As of Jun 5, the CDC had received reports of 53 cases from 9 states.

Texas Cyclospora outbreaks grows to 161 cases

The Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) reported 10 new Cyclospora infections yesterday, lifting the outbreak total to 161 cases.

So far 31 of the state's 254 counties have reported cases, with Travis County, which includes Austin, reporting by far the most illnesses, with 73. Dallas County is second with 14.

Saudi Arabia confirms 2 new MERS cases

After going 9 straight days without a MERS-CoV case, Saudi Arabia today reported two.

Power outages, airflow system failures reported at CDC labs

In 2013 and 2014, high-containment laboratories at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) logged about a dozen power outages and airflow system failures that could have compromised safety, USA Today reported yesterday.

The problems were disclosed in a lab incident summary that the newspaper obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. They occurred between January 2013 and July 2014.

Oral killed cholera vaccine shown 53% effective in real-life use

A large study in Bangladesh of oral killed whole-cell cholera vaccine found that it cut disease rates in half, even with moderate coverage, according to a report yesterday in The Lancet.