According to an outbreak update from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), officials recorded three more confirmed cases of Ebola yesterday, including one in a patient who died in Butembo, a major city in North Kivu province.
An Emirates Airline flight arriving at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates at about 9 am this morning was held on the tarmac after 100 people were reportedly ill on the flight. According Eric Phillips, press secretary with the New York mayor's office, there were 521 people on the flight, which stopped in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, after it began in Dubai.
The US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and Empire Kosher Poultry, Inc. late last week issued a public health alert over Salmonella illnesses in several states that might be tied to raw chicken products.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday that tests involving a newly validated method to detect Cyclospora in fresh produce have confirmed the parasite in an unused package of expired salad mix processed by Fresh Express in Streamwood, Ill., that had been distributed to McDonald's.
Norovirus and Salmonella cause the most outbreaks and illnesses in food outbreaks in the United States, but Listeria, Salmonella, and Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) lead to the most serious illnesses and deaths, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) scientists reporting in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
In an update yesterday that came a day after the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC's) Ebola outbreak was declared over, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it now considers the risk to the region and the rest of the world as low.
In the latest developments involving two separate Cyclospora outbreaks, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 102 more cases linked to McDonald’s salads and 10 more cases linked to Del Monte fresh vegetable trays. So far, there's no evidence to suggest the two outbreaks are related, the CDC said.
Officials warn the strain might be widespread in the industry.
So far 21 people in 5 states have been sickened in the outbreak, and 5 patients have been hospitalized.
With 27 new infections, the case count in a multistate Salmonella Mbandaka outbreak tied to Kellog's Honey Smacks cereal has reached 100 cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in an update.
Two more states—Florida (2 cases) and Colorado (1)—have reported cases, bringing the number of affected states to 33. The CDC first reported the outbreak to the public on Jun 14.
