A 20th health zone in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has confirmed its first Ebola case, according to today's update from the ministry of health. A young woman who was a case-contact of patient in Butembo, refused follow-up, and died is the first case-patient recorded in Lubero.
The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday posted a summary of five MERS-CoV cases reported by Saudi Arabia during December, covering new clinical details that weren't included in initial reports.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today recorded 3 new cases of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), bringing the total for 2018 to 196 confirmed cases. The confirmed cases are among the 357 reports that CDC received of patients under investigation.
2018 has seen the most AFM cases of any year since the CDC began tracking the mysterious illness in 2014.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) today recorded a new MERS-CoV case for epidemiologic week 51.
The patient is a 47-year-old man who is in home isolation with a MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infection. The man is from Al-Kharj, about 48 miles south of Riyadh. He had camel contact, a known risk factor for MERS transmission.
Despite last week's suggestion that the country's acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) outbreak was at its peak, new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show 24 more cases recorded last week, raising outbreak totals to 158. The outbreak now surpasses 2016's total of 149 confirmed cases, which was the previous high.
According to a survey conducted in the middle of November, only 43% of Americans said they have been vaccinated against flu, 14% plan on being vaccinated, while 41% said they don't plan on being immunized against the disease.
In the latest global polio developments, Pakistan reported two new wild poliovirus type 1 cases and three African countries reported seven more vaccine-derived polio cases in their outbreaks, according to today's weekly update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported one new MERS-CoV case for epidemiologic week 44. The MOH did not note any cases in epidemiologic week 43, which was last week.
The new case of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) occurred in a 74-year-old man from Riyadh who had contact with camels—a known risk factor for MERS transmission. The man is currently hospitalized.
A phase 2 study of an adjuvanted subunit vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) in young and middle-aged adults with the latent form of the disease found that it was 54% effective against progression to the active pulmonary form of the disease. An international team led by scientists from GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine's developer, reported its findings today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The new data highlight an especially profound impact on the very young and very old.
