The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH) reported two deaths from MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) yesterday and today. The fatalities bring Saudi Arabia's total number of deaths from MERS-CoV since 2012 to 608.
The viruses causing outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5 avian flu that spread across North American poultry farms in late 2014 into the summer of 2015 did not persist in wild aquatic birds like ducks, suggesting they are not an ongoing source of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses, according to a study yesterday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
General Mills expanded its recall of flour products yesterday after four more people in two states became sick with Escherichia coli infections.
A new study has determined that there are three key factors that increase the risk for patient-to-patient transmission of carbapenemase-producing carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceceae (CP-CRE), dangerous drug-resistant bacteria that tends to strike patients in hospitals and nursing homes who are on ventilators, require catheters, or are taking long courses of antibiotics.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in its weekly yellow fever report yesterday, noted that genetic testing is under way to see if a Brazilian man picked up the disease after visiting Angola in March. The 58- year-old man from Niteroi died on Apr 2.
Screening of 1,427 bacterial isolates collected from patients in a large Hong Kong hospital during roughly 1-month period in December 2015 yielded 5 that were positive for MCR-1, a gene linked to resistance to colistin, a last-line antibiotic. A team from Hong Kong reported their findings yesterday in a letter yesterday to Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Flu season markers in the Southern Hemisphere show a mixed picture, with increases recorded in southern Africa and parts of South America, with low activity for this time of year in Australia and New Zealand, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its most recent update.
A new study has found that better compliance with treatment protocols can lead to quicker clearance of soft skin and tissue infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
After 7 days of no reported cases, the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH) reported a new case of MERS-CoV today. The case is not related to the current outbreak at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh.
Contrary to some hypotheses, 1918 pandemic flu did not shorten the lifespan of survivors, at least in male soldiers, New Zealand researchers reported today in Epidemiology and Infection.
Biotechnology firm Seres Therapeutics announced late last week that SER-109, a drug designed to treat patients with recurring Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs), failed in a phase 2 study.
A new study from a team of French researchers suggests that when bacteria acquire plasmids containing drug-resistant genes, they rarely lose them.
The H7N9 avian influenza virus has sickened two more people in China. The infections were detected in two of the country's biggest cities: Beijing and Shanghai.
Today the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the yellow fever outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is over, based on an announcement from the DRC. The declaration follows Angola's Dec 23 announcement that the outbreak had ended in that country. The DRC reported its last case on Jul 12, 2016.
China reported two more H7N9 avian influenza cases, including the season's second case detected in Beijing, according to official sources and state media.
An article yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases aims to help healthcare institutions comply with newly mandated antimicrobial stewardship standards by highlighting the habits of successful antimicrobial stewardship programs.
Israel and four European countries reported more highly pathogenic H5N8 outbreaks, according to the latest updates from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Israel reported six new outbreaks in the central part of the country, with start dates ranging from Jan 23 to Feb 12, five of them at farms (turkeys, ducks, and laying hens) and one involving three barn owls found dead at a nature park.
Five more babies have been born in the United States with Zika-related birth defects, according to updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are now 43 babies in the country with documented defects from the mosquito-borne illness.
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
Daptomycin is well-tolerated and effective in children with invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) skin infections, according to the results of a clinical trial published this week in Pediatrics.
An online calculator that predicts the risk for early onset sepsis (EOS) can cut antibiotic use in newborns nearly in half, according to a study yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics.
China today reported two more H7N9 avian influenza infections in humans, and the country's top health officials have announced an update to treatment recommendations for patients.
The latest cases are both from Sichuan province in southwestern China, according to a state news agency report translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
Flu activity remains elevated throughout much of the world, with the H3N2 variant dominating, according to a new update from the World Health Organization (WHO). The report said the peak of flu activity may be over in parts of Europe and North America, with some countries reporting a slight downward trend.
A study yesterday in BMC Infectious Diseases shows that critically ill children with tracheal Enterobacteriaceae infection are at risk for multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections.
The first known case of malaria resistant to the essential drug artemisinin was reported yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
