At least 32 people have now been sickened in a four-state Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak tied to ready-to-eat salads sold at Trader Joe's stores, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday. That number is 6 cases higher than reported in the CDC's initial notice on the outbreak on Nov 10, and Texas has confirmed its first case.
The World Health Organization (WHO), citing Chinese officials, today confirmed two H7N9 avian flu cases reported by the media yesterday and provided further details.
The first patient is a 3-year-old boy from Guangdong province who became sick Oct 29, was admitted to a local hospital on Oct 31, and was transferred to another hospital on Nov 4. He is in stable condition and had contact with live poultry, the WHO said.
Children's first measles-containing vaccine dose should be given by 15 months of age because of an increased risk of fever and seizures when given later in their second year, according to findings of a retrospective, cohort study published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics.
The United States experienced a marked increase in imported measles cases in 2011. A new analysis of 16 outbreaks that year involving imported measles found that they cost public health agencies from $2.7 million to $5.3 million.
Though toddler vaccine levels remain high, recent measles outbreaks have raised concern.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is asking for bids on a 24/7 service to provide global data on disease outbreaks and other biologic threats, the agency said in a release this week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a study to identify the long-term health effects of last fall's deadly fungal meningitis outbreak linked to tainted steroids and to determine which antifungal drugs work best, the Boston Globe reported recently.
In the latest investigation development in the multistate Listeria outbreak, Minnesota officials have detected the outbreak strain in two Crave Brothers cheeses.
Despite data collection gaps, there is strong evidence that poorer children are at greater risk for foodborne illness, according to a Jun 17 report from the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington, DC. Kids younger than 15 account for half of all foodborne illnesses, and young children are particularly vulnerable, the
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told private sector representatives and philanthropists yesterday that they should "make a smart investment in the world's future" by joining the United Nations in helping wipe out the world's deadliest infectious diseases—malaria, polio, tetanus, measles, and HIV—in the next 5 years.
