Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported two more MERS cases today, both of which occurred in Riyadh.
The first patient is a 53-year-old Saudi man who is in stable condition, the MOH said. The other patient is a 24-year-old foreigner who is hospitalized in an intensive care unit (ICU).
A team led by Duke University researchers has developed a gene-detecting test that could help physicians determine whether an acute respiratory infection (ARI) is caused by a virus or a bacterium, which could reduce antibiotic overprescribing, according to a study yesterday in Science Translational Medicine.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has replaced its longtime head of national lab regulation after a series of key lab safety breaches involving bioterror pathogens like Bacillus anthracis—which causes anthrax—and H5N1 avian flu viruses, USA Today reported yesterday.
A live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) candidate for H7N9 avian flu produced a good immune response and was shown safe in a phase 1 human trial, researchers from Russia and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today noted that it has received reports of 43 cases of an especially resistant form of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) in recent years, often among patients who traveled internationally, according to a report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday stepped down its travel warnings for both Sierra Leone and Liberia, with Ebola activity continuing at zero weekly cases in both countries.
Liberia was declared free of the disease for a second time on Sep 3, and Sierra Leone will reach that mark on Nov 7 if no new cases are detected before then.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that 140 more infections and one more death have been reported in a multistate outbreak linked to cucumbers tainted with strains of Salmonella Poona.
Officials identified a cooling tower at the Opera House Hotel in New York City's South Bronx as the source of a recent outbreak of Legionnaires' disease, according to a New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) press release yesterday.
The health department also confirmed that, given no new cases or onset of symptoms since Aug 3, the outbreak is officially over.
In two separate reports this week to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced closure to its follow-up to H5N8 avian flu outbreaks and noted that 11 states—because of measures taken after H5N2 outbreaks—are now free to move poultry domestically and internationally.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that it and partner groups working on earthquake response in Nepal are deploying extra medications and equipment to prevent the spread of diarrheal diseases such as cholera, which can spread when disasters damage and contaminate the clean water supply.
Groups estimate that at least 2.8 million people have been displaced, with many living in 16 makeshift camps.
