Because of concerns about the accuracy of pulse oximeters due to the impacts of skin pigmentation and other factors, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today released draft guidance for industry and the FDA to use for nonclinical and clinical performance testing, labeling, and premarket submission. As an example of bias, a 2022 study found that pulse oximetry overestimated arterial oxygen saturation in racial and ethnic minority groups, a trend researchers said could lead to treatment disparities in Black and Hispanic COVID patients.
Pakistan and Oman are the latest countries outside of Africa to report clade 1 mpox cases, which were reported in December, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its latest weekly communicable disease threat report. The ECDC noted, however, that the patients had not traveled to Africa, but rather, as with a clade 1 case reported from India, the patients have a history of travel to the United Arab Emirates, which hasn't reported any known clade 1 cases. The new detections push the number of countries outside of Africa to report clade 1 mpox to 10. Limited secondary transmission has been reported in only 2—the United Kingdom and Germany.
Media reports have described a rise surge of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases in northern China, and though official Chinese sources haven't documented the rise, a Chinese official was quoted as saying that HMPV activity is part of normal winter peak in respiratory virus illnesses. Paul Hunter, MD, with the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, said in a Science Media Centre statement that the virus was first identified 25 years ago and is one of a constellation of viruses that causes common colds, but can cause severe disease in older people, children younger than 2 years, and those with underlying health conditions. He said detections have risen with the increased use of molecular diagnostic panels, so it's not clear if yearly increases are real or due or increased testing. Hunter said HMPV cases are trending a little higher in the UK this season, but he added that there aren't any signs yet that the virus poses a more serious global issue.
California urges pertussis vaccination amid rising cases
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on January 3 warned that the state's pertussis (whooping cough) cases are on the rise and urged pregnant women in their last trimester and family members or caregivers of infants to receive the tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccine.
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From January to October 2024, the CDPH received reports of more than 2,000 patients, including 62 infants younger than 4 months older who were hospitalized. One of the hospitalized babies died from his or her infection. For comparison, California recorded 400 pertussis cases during the same timeframe in 2023.
Caused by Bordetella pertussis, the bacterial disease is highly contagious and can cause severe illness, especially in infants.
Rise part of national trend
Tomás J. Aragón, MD, DrPH, CDPH director and state public health officer, said the easing of COVID precautions may be contributing to whooping cough's return to prepandemic levels. "Infants are particularly vulnerable, and that's why CDPH especially encourages people who are pregnant to receive the Tdap vaccine in their third trimester, which will pass along protective antibodies to the baby," he said.
Infants can't receive their first DTaP dose until they are 2 months old. Other groups that should receive the vaccine are adolescents ages 11 or 12 years and adults every 10 years.
California's jump in pertussis activity mirrors a national trend. The latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) note that six times as many cases were reported in 2024 as of the middle of December compared to the same period in 2023. It added that the number this year is higher than in 2019, before the pandemic.
Idaho, Louisiana report CWD cases in captive elk, deer
Both Idaho and Louisiana have reported chronic wasting disease (CWD) detections in captive cervids, and the detection in Idaho marks the second time the prion disease has been found in captive elk in that state.
Officials from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) confirmed CWD in an elk from a captive facility in Jefferson County. Officials said the new case had no association with the CWD-positive captive bull elk identified in Madison County in December 2024.
The captive facility conducts CWD testing after every cervid death, as part of enhanced screening in place since 2023. According to ISDA, CWD was first detected in wild deer in Idaho in 2021 and the following year in wild elk. Cervids are members of the deer family.
Three more captive Louisiana deer test positive
Late last week, officials with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry said that, after they analyzed records of deer transfers following a positive CWD test in a captive deer in Jefferson Davis Parish in December 2024, three deer at separate deer farms in Tangipahoa, St. Landry, and Concordia parishes have tested positive for the prion disease.
These farms, which also participate in the state deer program, have been issued a quarantine restricting movement into or out of the facility, including live deer or deer products.
"These farms, which also participate in the state deer program, have been issued a quarantine restricting movement into or out of the facility, including live deer or deer products," the agency said.
According to the Natchez Democrat, the deer in Concordia Parish is 2-year-old doe. The animal is part of a hunting herd of 60 deer, all now quarantined.
CWD is an always-fatal prion disease affecting elk, moose, reindeer, and deer. It was first detected in North America in 1967 in a captive mule deer in Colorado. Prions are misfolded proteins that affect the brain and nervous system.
