The biggest push to vaccinate children in seven Middle Eastern countries against polio starts this week, with a goal of reaching 23 million kids in Syria and neighboring nations, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today. The campaign aims to reach all children under age 5 over the next few months, whether they live at home or in displaced populations.
Saudi Arabia's health ministry today announced two more Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infections, one of which appears to be in a health worker with an asymptomatic infection who had contact with a confirmed case, according to a machine-translation of a statement posted on the ministry's Web site.
An expert on variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human form of the animal malady known as mad cow disease, claims that the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) has neglected to employ recently developed methods of sterilizing surgical instruments used on patients with the disease, thus putting subsequent surgical patients at risk, said a story last week in The Independent.
The influenza vaccine did not reduce the risk of hospitalization for flu after vaccine failure, according to an analysis of 8 years of data published yesterday in Vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed three cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection in Saudi Arabia that the country's Ministry of Health (MOH) first reported last week. Two of the cases proved fatal.
As has been the pattern with Saudi MERS-CoV cases, the WHO report contained little information on the cases.
Construction has begun on a plant in north Florida that will enable the Department of Defense (DoD) to produce its own vaccines and drugs against potential bioterror threats, an effort that appears to duplicate Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) efforts, the Los Angeles Times reported.
At least 32 people have now been sickened in a four-state Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak tied to ready-to-eat salads sold at Trader Joe's stores, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday. That number is 6 cases higher than reported in the CDC's initial notice on the outbreak on Nov 10, and Texas has confirmed its first case.
A 37-year-old Riyadh resident has died of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, according to a brief translated statement from the Saudi Arabian health ministry today.
The CDC noted some hope in Afghanistan and Pakistan—but the disease reappeared in Cameroon.
The number of people infected by Salmonella linked to chicken products produced by Foster Farms at three facilities in California has grown to 389 in 23 states and Puerto Rico, up by 27 cases and 2 states in the past 3 weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in an update yesterday.
