Madagascar's number of confirmed and suspected plague infections has climbed to 1,801, including 127 deaths, over the past few days, with the number of new cases from the pneumonic form of the disease continuing to decline, according to the latest situation report from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa.
Uganda's recently announced second lab-confirmed Marburg virus patient—part of a family cluster— visited two traditional healers for his symptoms, one of them across the border in western Kenya, the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) said today in its weekly outbreak and health emergencies bulletin.
Genetic analysis of H7N9 viruses obtained from Chinese poultry from 2013 to 2017 identified new mutations that make the virus more lethal in chickens and may pose a greater threat to human health, based on virulence and transmissibility tests in animal models. Researchers from China reported their findings Oct 24 in Cell Research.
The Florida Department of Health (Florida Health) today reported the state's first locally acquired Zika case of the year, putting the nation's total this year at three local cases.
In a statement, Florida Health said the locally transmitted case has been confirmed in Manatee County, which wasn't one of the areas to report cases last year.
Slaughter of chickens infected with H5N1 avian influenza can produce airborne viruses that can infect birds and mammals, according to findings from a series of animal experiments done by a research team led by the US Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The investigators reported their finding on Oct 6 in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Viral changes, birth year, repeat vaccinations, and waning protection may all play a role.
Coverage in adults over 50 increased, but immunization reached only 46.8% of the US population.
The changes will not be reflected in the vaccine used in the upcoming Northern Hemisphere season.
In the latest avian flu developments, France reported a low-pathogenic H5N3 outbreak at a turkey farm and Switzerland detected highly pathogenic H5N8 in a pair of wild swans, according to new notifications from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) reported a new case of MERS-CoV to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a WHO update yesterday.
A 78-year-old man from Al Ain was hospitalized on Aug 11 with symptoms of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection. The man was not a healthcare worker, but no other details of his exposure or risk factors were available at this time.
