Some of the key steps have included deployment of more community health workers and decentralized lab testing.
The test the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses to identify clade I mpox cases is 'most likely not reliable' for detection of the substrain identified in the study, the authors say.
Another mpox study today showed that dose-sparing vaccine administration of the Jynneos vaccine appeared to have worked.
Receive the latest infectious disease information.
In an unusual development, the United Kingdom today reported a second monkeypox case just 3 days after announcing its first case, but so far the investigation doesn't show a link between the two patients, Public Health England (PHE) said today in a statement.
The patient is a Nigeria resident who likely contracted the infection there before traveling to the United Kingdom.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) health ministry announced yesterday that it has received reports of 25 fever cases with symptoms similar to Ebola in North Kivu province in the eastern part of the country.
In a statement, it said the affected area is in the Mangina health district.
The death toll for a Nipah virus outbreak in India's Kerala state now stands at 10, after at least 12 more people have been diagnosed as having the deadly virus, according to a Reuters report today.
Reuters said an additional nine people are being treated for infections with supportive care. Nipah virus is most commonly spread by fruit bats, and presents with severe, flu-like symptoms.
Yesterday Liberian health officials warned of a monkeypox outbreak in the southern county of River Cess, according to China's state news service, Xinhua.
So far, officials have confirmed four cases of the smallpox-like virus, which is not typically deadly but can last several weeks. Officials are also monitoring some suspected cases. The incubation period for monkeypox can be up to 10 days, with lesions lasting 2 to 5 weeks.
The Central African Republic (CAR) declared an outbreak of monkeypox in Bambari district, according to the latest weekly World Health Organization (WHO) African regional office bulletin, dated Mar 30 but posted yesterday.
A 2-year follow-up study of the single-dose oral cholera vaccine (OCV) showed it was effective in adults and children over the age of 5 years. Consistent with results from the 6-month follow-up, the vaccine failed to protect children under the age of 5 from the disease.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) recorded two new cases of MERS-CoV in the past several days.
On Dec 30, a 55-year-old expatriate man from Khamis Mushait was diagnosed as having MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) after presenting with symptoms. He is in critical condition. The man's source of infection is listed as "primary," meaning it's unlikely he contracted the virus from another person.
Today the World Health Organization (WHO) updated its Q and A document that covers developments surrounding Dengvaxia, Sanofi's dengue vaccine. It says its Strategic Advisory Groups of Experts (SAGE) will undertake a full rigorous view of new data to update its position paper on the vaccine, which won't likely be available until after April 2018.
According to an updated situation report from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), there are now 61 monkeypox cases in that country, 5 more than last month. This is Africa's largest-ever monkeypox outbreak.
