The steady drumbeat of MERS-CoV cases in Saudi Arabia continued today, as the country's Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed two new cases and two deaths in previously reported patients.
US agencies reported on what they billed as an improved method for sifting food outbreak data.
A new case of MERS-CoV and one death in a previously reported case bring totals since June 2012 to 900 and 383, respectively, in Saudi Arabia, according to a report today from the country's Ministry of Health (MOH).
The national count of children affected by an unexplained polio-like illness that causes limb weakness has increased by one, to 112 in 34 states since August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in an update yesterday.
California officials yesterday confirmed 7 new measles cases in an outbreak that began in December, bringing the case total for the state to 99, while 5 babies at a Chicago-area daycare have also been diagnosed as having the disease.
Also yesterday, the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) pointed out the states having the lowest measles vaccination coverage in toddlers.
Highlights include funds for antibiotic resistance, bioterrorism preparedness, and a unified food safety agency.
The world is "dangerously unpreprepared" for future pandemics, and a private-public sector proposal that includes a pandemic facility and insurance coverage could help countries across the globe mitigate the risk, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said today in a speech at Georgetown University.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) today confirmed that an outbreak of measles tied to southern California Disney parks in recent weeks has risen to 73 cases in California and 14 elsewhere, including 1 in Mexico.
Saudi Arabia's Minister of Health (MOH) today confirmed three new MERS-CoV cases in elderly Riyadh residents, which means the city has had seven cases in 5 days.
All three patients with MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) are in critical condition, the MOH said in an update. They are an 84-year-old woman and two men, 80 and 77. None are healthcare workers or had preexisting disease.
Oman has confirmed its second MERS-CoV case of the year—and its fourth overall—apparently in a contact of the most recent MERS patient, who has now died, according to media reports.
