The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday released a nine-page interview questionnaire to help in investigation of suspected and confirmed MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infections.
The questionnaire is intended mainly for gathering information about how patients were exposed to the virus. It includes detailed questions about travel history and exposure to animals, foods, and sick persons.
After 16 years of efforts, Colombia has become the first country in the world to eliminate the parasitic disease onchocerciasis, or river blindness, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced yesterday.
Iowa and Texas reported nine new Cyclospora cases each, while Nebraska has had five more, adding 23 cases to an outbreak that may involve as many as 258 illnesses.
The subdivided farm bill that the US House of Representatives passed last week contains a little-known provision which could further delay implementation of the 2011 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), Food Safety News (FSN) reported.
A 3-year-old boy from Cambodia's eastern Prey Veng province has tested positive for H5N1 avian flu, marking the country's 14th case this year, according to Xinhua, China's state news agency, today.
Four more people have been sickened with hepatitis A after eating a berry mix that contained contaminated pomegranate seeds from Turkey, raising the total the 131, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in its latest update.
Four more patients have been hospitalized for their infections, raising that total to 59. The latest illness onset is Jun 24.
A multistate outbreak of fungal infections linked to contaminated steroids grew in June by 4 cases and 3 deaths, to 749 cases and 61 deaths, the CDC said today. Its previous update was Jun 3.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) yesterday urged its member countries to establish and maintain rapid detection and reporting systems for vancomycin resistance, based on the first isolation of vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) in Latin America.
Canadian health officials said an American man hospitalized in Edmonton after getting sick on a plane tested positive for an H7 virus after traveling to China, though he doesn't have an active flu infection, the Canadian Press reported today.
The elderly man was on a flight from Cairo to San Francisco when he got sick and became unconscious, and the airline diverted the plane to Edmonton.
A meta-analysis of 34 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) suggests that seasonal influenza vaccines can provide significant protection against flu even if the circulating flu strains don't match those in the vaccine, according to a Canadian team of researchers.
