Amid a widespread measles outbreak, the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) is considering recommending that physicians be compensated for counseling parents about the importance of childhood vaccines, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.
The committee is also looking at a recommendation that would set a minimum vaccination coverage goal for clinicians, the story said.
Health officials in the Philippines reported a case of MERS in a Filipino nurse who recently returned from Saudi Arabia, according to a Reuters story today.
The nurse returned to the Philippines last week and presented with a fever, body pain, cough, and difficulty breathing. She was diagnosed with MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) and is currently hospitalized in stable condition, the story said.
Officials confirm 4 new cases in California—107 total—and 1 in Chicago.
The resurgence of cases has stoked concerns the virus could become endemic again.
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.
California officials today said they have confirmed 92 measles cases since December, 59 of which are linked to visiting Disneyland, bringing the US total to more than 100 cases, while Toronto has confirmed 4 cases not linked to each other or to travel outside the country.
January's new cases alone top the total from some entire years, as outbreak spreads to 14 states.
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.
The national number of measles cases linked to exposure at California Disney parks has grown to 67, with 59 of the cases confirmed in California.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported 12,294 cases of chikungunya in the Caribbean and Americas on Jan 16, bringing the outbreak total to 1,133,561.
The new total includes 1,106,488 suspected and 24,127 confirmed locally acquired cases and 2,946 imported cases of the mosquito-borne disease.
