A study involving simulated patients found that dispensing antibiotics without a prescription is common in Indonesian drug stores and pharmacies, despite regulations against it, researchers reported this week in BMJ Global Health.
Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal neurologic prion disease that affects members of the deer family, was detected in two cervids in Montana and Virginia. In 2019, 144 cases of CWD were reported in Montana and 1 case was reported in Virginia.
While both North America and Europe have detected chronic wasting disease (CWD) in cervids such as deer, the two continental strains are distinct, reports a study yesterday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
A paper today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports (MMWR) describes the first US case of Neisseria gonorrhoeae harboring a genetic element that confers resistance to a first-line antibiotic.
A study published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics suggests that long COVID is uncommon in children and teens and that risk factors include severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, younger age, and complex underlying chronic diseases.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines long COVID as continuous, relapsing, or new symptoms or conditions persisting at least 1 month after the initial infection.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday urged health providers to ask patients with suspected flu infections outside of the regular flu season to ask about any recent exposure to pigs.
Researchers in Taiwan have discovered a new mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.3.7 subvariant that they suggest may be responsible for severe neurologic complications observed in young children on the island. Their study was published yesterday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there were 303 additional cases of cyclosporiasis in a multistate outbreak linked to bagged salads sold at major grocery stores.
The CDC said 509 people in eight states have been sickened. Thirty-three people have been hospitalized, but there have been no deaths.
A phase 3 clinical trial involving 531 people living along the China-Myanmar border has shown that the antimalarial-antibacterial drug combination naphthoquine-azithromycin (NQAZ) is effective in preventing malarial Plasmodium infections.
A study yesterday in the Journal of Virology suggests that, while co-infection with influenza A and SARS-CoV-2 does not change the trajectory of influenza A, contracting influenza A first could suppress any COVID-19 infection caused by SARS-CoV-2.
High estimated blood viscosity (eBV) is significantly associated with greater risk of death from complications among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, suggests a retrospective study published yesterday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
A systematic review and meta-analysis published yesterday in BMJ estimates that 5.6% of COVID-19 survivors may face long-lasting changes to their sense of smell or taste, adding to concerns about the overall burden of long COVID.
One day after the United States said it would allow intradermal, fractional dosing of Bavarian Nordic's monkeypox vaccine, Jynneos, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for more trials on the practice.
Maine, which has confirmed only four monkeypox cases, today reported a case of the virus in a resident under the age of 18. No further details were released by the Maine Centers for Disease Control. Maine now joins California and Florida as states with pediatric cases.
Also, researchers in Spain detail a possible human-to-dog case.
Following the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization (EUA) of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine last month for the primary vaccine series, the company announced today that it has applied for an EUA for the vaccine to also be used as a booster in adults ages 18 and older.
Flu activity in the Northern Hemisphere is rising, with levels up sharply over the past few weeks in North America, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in its latest global flu update, which roughly covers the last half of October.
Boston public schools (BPS) yesterday announced the first monkeypox case in an "adult member of the BPS community," according to a letter sent to parents. The school district said the person was isolating at home, and the district was working to identify exposed individuals.
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically worsened disparities in all-cause death rates for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), Native Hawaiian, other Pacific Islander (NHOPI), and Black Americans and eroded mortality advantages for Asian and Hispanic groups, finds a study published yesterday in PNAS.
Uganda's health ministry on Twitter today reported four more lab-confirmed Ebola Sudan cases, as well as one more death in a patient with a confirmed infection. The developments push the country's overall total to 54 cases, 35 of them confirmed and 19 listed as probable. The latest death brings Uganda's fatality count to 25, 7 in confirmed patients and 18 in people who had probable infections.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported one more Ebola case in its latest outbreak in Equateur province in the country's northwest, raising the total to three, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) African regional office.
Flu activity is rising in some of the Southern Hemisphere's temperate countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa. At the global level, however, levels are declining following a March peak, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a global flu update that roughly covers the first half of June.
Other areas seeing rises are Chile and southern China, where H3N2 is the dominant strain.
Flu activity continued to rise in most of the nation last week, with three more pediatric flu deaths reported, but markers are still below epidemic baselines, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest update.
South Dakota reported three more highly pathogenic avian flu outbreaks on commercial poultry farms, while Maine reported another detection in a backyard flock, according to the latest updates from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Another 34 patients have tested positive for enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), raising the US total to 628 cases, and Florida has recorded its first confirmed case, according to today's update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Cases have now been confirmed in 44 states, the CDC reported. The only states with no confirmed cases are Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee, Alaska, and Hawaii.
A 46-year-old Saudi Arabian man has become the 772nd case of MERS-CoV in that country since June 2012. An update from the Saudi Ministry of health (MOH) today lists his case as well as the death of a previously reported MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronovirus) case-patient.
