Researchers looking for mutations that might make H7N9 avian influenza more easily transmissible among people identified three amino acid changes that would make the virus more likely to bind to human airway receptors. A team of researchers from the United States, including those from The Scripps Research Institute, and the Netherlands reported its findings today in PLoS Pathogens.
Two countries reported more highly pathogenic avian flu outbreaks: H5N8 in Russia and H5N2 in South Korea, according to notifications today from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Russia's outbreak began on May 4 in backyard birds in the Republic of Tatarstan in the west. The virus killed 13 of 51 birds, and authorities culled the remaining ones as part of the response measures.
Saudi Arabia has announced one new MERS-CoV case over the past 4 days, according to updates from the country's Ministry of Health (MOH).
Over the weekend, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) fleshed out more details on 22 recent H7N9 avian flu cases, 8 of them fatal, that were reported Apr 28 to May 4 from China's mainland, signaling continued steady activity in the country's fifth and biggest wave of infections.
Vaccine effectiveness was 65% in preventing deaths in healthy children and 51% in high-risk kids.
The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH) reported one new case of MERS-CoV today in a woman who had indirect contact with camels.
Animal health officials in Alabama yesterday reported one more low-pathogenic H7N9 avian influenza outbreak, this time affecting a commercial farm in Cullman County, located in the north central part of the state, not far from where earlier events occurred.
Yesterday Saudi Arabia announced one new MERS-CoV case in a healthcare worker from Wadi Al-Dawasir. This is the tenth case in what appears to be a hospital-based outbreak in that city.
The patient is a 36-year-old expatriate man who presented with no symptoms of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus). His infection is listed as secondary and acquired in a healthcare setting.
Vietnam today reported two more highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu outbreaks, raising the number of affected provinces this year to seven, according to a report from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
The vaccine cut deaths 36.4% in a severe flu season but not at all in the next season.
