UK officials, meanwhile, tally more cases and add previous COVID-19 as a possible cause.
The sensitivity of home rapid antigen COVID-19 tests peaks 4 days after symptom onset, suggesting that a negative antigen test should be followed by a second test in 1 or 2 days, according to a prospective study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (WDHS) in an alert to clinicians said it is investigating at least four unexplained hepatitis cases in children, including one who needed a liver transplant and one who died. Also, California officials said today that they are investigating seven cases
Following the reappearance of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC's) Equateur province, the country today launched an rVSV-EBOV vaccine campaign, tapping an initial shipment of 200 doses, the World Health Organization (WHO) African regional office said today.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has confirmed a second case in its latest Ebola outbreak in Equateur province, a close contact of the index patient. The newest patient has also died from her infection.
A modeling study estimates that COVID-19 vaccination prevented more than 1.5 million infections, 72,000 hospitalizations, and 19,000 deaths in the first 10 months of vaccination in California, according to a study published late last week in JAMA Network Open.
A 31-year-old woman from Spain contracted COVID-19 twice within 3 weeks, despite being fully vaccinated and recently receiving a booster shot, according to a case report that will be presented at the upcoming European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) meeting. The case provides evidence that the Omicron strain is able to evade previous immunity.
A randomized controlled trial found that suppressing androgen hormones in male COVID-19 patients hospitalized with the virus did not improve outcomes. The study was published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.
In the latest highly pathogenic avian flu developments, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) yesterday said samples from a third duck farm in Elkhart County were positive for avian influenza in preliminary testing.
In an email, the BOAH said the farm houses about 6,500 ducks and is near another quarantined site. It added that the control area extends slightly into Michigan's LaGrange County.
Officials are probing clusters of acute hepatitis in kids, many resulting in liver failure.
