In 2013, just 57% of girls and 35% of boys had received 1 of 3 doses of HPV vaccine.
Although some studies have suggested that the quadrivalent (four-strain) human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may raise the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), which is a blood clot that lodges in a vein, a Danish study released today in JAMA of more than 500,000 girls and women who received the vaccine did not find an increased VTE incidence.
The overall epidemiologic status of Guinea's Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak is improving, with 4 of the 6 locations that have reported cases passing the 21-day incubation period with no new cases, according to an update from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa. Two incubation periods need to pass before the outbreak can be declared over in a particular location.
Tongan health officials have confirmed a first-ever chikungunya outbreak affecting more than 10,000 people, according to an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) report today. The Polynesian archipelago nation is home to about 100,000 people.
Editor's Note: The H5N1 item was corrected on Apr 1 to accurately reflect the date of Laos's previous H5N1 outbreak.
H5N1 avian flu has returned to Laotian poultry after a hiatus of almost 4 years, striking a village flock of more than 5,000 birds, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reported today.
In an update today on the Ebola virus outbreak in Guinea, the World Health Organization (WHO) African Regional Office said in a statement that two more patients have died, pushing the number of fatalities to 62. The number of suspected cases remained at 86, for a case-fatality ratio of 72%.
Two doses of quadrivalent (four-strain) human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine provide good protection against genital warts (condylomata), but three doses are better, according to a large Swedish study published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed a fatal case of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia, adding to information in an Oct 31 statement from the Saudi government about the death of a 56-year-old.
South Korea and the United States will establish a surveillance system against biological weapon threats from North Korea, Seoul-based The Chosun Ilbo reported today.
Progress in the uptake of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in US teen girls has stalled, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.
