In its latest epidemiologic update, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported late last week that 2,472 cases of measles had been confirmed in 11 countries in the Americas in 2018. PAHO said Venezuela and Brazil recorded the most activity, with more than 2,200 confirmed cases between them.
Health officials reported a total of 12 MERS-CoV cases in May, according to an overview published today by the World Health Organization's (WHO's) Eastern Mediterranean office. Eleven cases are from Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates recorded one.
Spending public health money on surveillance rather than on broad, expensive genomic surveys of animal diseases is a sounder investment and better way to prepare for the next pandemic or other global health emergency, three infectious disease experts wrote today in Nature.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that Secretary Sonny Perdue has authorized the movement of a modified, noninfectious version of the foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus from the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, off the coast of New York, to the US mainland for vaccine development and research purposes.
The office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced that it will purchase $25.2 million worth of anthrax antitoxin from Elusys Therapeutics for the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).
Difficulty distinguishing pneumonia from volume overload in a patient with renal failure delayed a MERS-CoV diagnosis at a Riyadh hospital last year, which led to a superspreading event that sickened 44 people at three health facilities, Saudi researchers reported in the American Journal of Infection Control.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) yesterday issued a health advisory about six confirmed measles cases, plus another from Nevada linked to the cluster. The Bay-area cases are from Santa Clara (5) and Alameda (1) counties and involve unvaccinated people.
Following an initial report of a case of measles at a daycare in Johnson County on Mar 8, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) said today that 10 cases in three counties have now been identified, including one not associated with the daycare center.
The ECDC reports 14,451 cases in 2017, up from 4,643 in 2016. Also, vaccination in Ghana is tied to higher childhood survival rates.
The United States Senate today confirmed Alex Azar, a pharmaceutical executive, to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to media reports.
