The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) recently announced Nevada's first highly pathogenic avian flu outbreak in poultry, which struck a backyard flock in Carson City housing 40 birds.
Outbreaks involving the H5N1 strain have now been reported in 37 states and have led to the loss of more than 40 million birds.
A study in Qatar estimates that previous COVID-19 infection imparts 56% protection against future symptomatic infection caused by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, down from about 90% for other SARS-CoV-2 strains.
The study, published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), was led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar in Doha.
An analysis of US health insurance data found that post-discharge prophylactic antibiotics are commonly prescribed after mastectomy, but provide only a small reduction in surgical-site infections (SSIs), researchers reported today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
Results from an observational cohort study of pregnant women indicated a 96% vaccine effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19 infection and an 89% VE against hospitalization for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in pregnant women, according to a study in Nature Medicine today.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Public Health Vaccines (PHV), LLC, have announced a partnership agreement worth up to $43.6 million to support the development and manufacturing of a Nipah virus vaccine.
In a statement today CEPI said it will fund preclinical studies, clinical studies through phase 2, manufacturing, and an investigational stockpile of the vaccine candidate.
A study over four flu seasons of influenza and other respiratory illnesses at nine Canadian hospitals found that 95% of health providers have worked while sick, often when symptoms were mild or began during the workday. Researchers reported their findings yesterday in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA).
Two case contacts have fevers, and 2 nurses who cared for the man also have symptoms.
A group of patients in Inner Mongolia likely represent the first identified human cases of a new tick-borne illness, Alongshan virus (ALSV), which belongs to the jingmenvirus group in the flavivirus family. A description of ALSV and these cases was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Adults who had respiratory symptoms spread the virus to more people than other patients did.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today said measles counts have now grown to 268 cases in 15 states—62 more cases than the agency reported in a Mar 4 update. For comparison, the CDC reported 372 cases for all of 2018.
