The number of bloodstream infections caused by Elizabethkingia anophelis in Wisconsin rose by 5 this week, to 59, bringing the number of US cases to 60.
In a Mar 23 update, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (WDHS) reported 52 confirmed, 4 possible, and 3 "under investigation" cases. Last week's Elizabethkingia total in the state was 54 cases.
A multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to nut butter produced by an Oregon company has reached 13 cases but now appears to be over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) said yesterday that a new norovirus strain implicated in outbreaks in Asia last winter has turned up in Minnesota. In a statement, it said sporadic cases involving the GII.17 Kawasaki strain were detected earlier this year, and that the strain was involved in an outbreak for the first time last week.
The first report from a surveillance system launched by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2009 to examine the acute gastroenteritis outbreak patterns that aren't part of foodborne or waterborne outbreaks found that noroviruses was by far the most frequently reported cause, with Shigella and Salmonella also making up a portion of the illnesses.
Multistate events are linked to 56% of outbreak deaths even though they make up just 3% of outbreaks.
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.
Measles was confirmed as the culprit in a Washington state woman's death this spring, the Washington State Department of Health (WSDH) said on Jul 2, the first US measles death in 12 years.
An investigation into a norovirus outbreak near Portland, Ore., in July 2014 revealed that the source was a swimming beach at a park, outlining the risk and need for preventive steps, especially in settings where water isn't treated.
Suspected botulism has sickened 24 people and killed 1 after a potluck lunch at a Lancaster, Ohio, church, Reuters reported today.
Fifty to 60 people attended the lunch on April 19 at Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church, and outbreak patients started getting sick on Apr 21, said Jennifer Valentine, a spokeswoman for the Fairfield (County) Department of Health.
A 9-month boy tested positive for Ebola after he died in Sierra Leone's Kailahun district, a former hot spot for the disease that had not seen a case over the past 4 months, Reuters reported today.
