A report today from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling on the two federal agencies responsible for ensuring the safety of the food supply to address oversight gaps and collect more information on the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals.
Our weekly wrap-up of antimicrobial stewardship & antimicrobial resistance scans
Originally published by CIDRAP News Mar 16
Alabama officials have received results on samples collected from one of the state's recently announced avian flu outbreaks, indicating low-pathogenic H7N9 detected in guinea fowl at the TaCo-Bet Trade Day flea market in Jackson County.
Vietnam today reported another highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu outbreak, as two European countries—Romania and Slovenia—reported several more H5N8 outbreaks in wild birds and poultry, according to the latest updates from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
A new study by researchers with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that availability of antifungal susceptibility testing (AFST) at US hospitals has improved in recent years, but substantial gaps remain.
Saudi Arabia today announced a MERS-CoV infection in a patient in Jeddah whose exposure to the virus is still under review. The case is the fourth recent one reported from Jeddah.
The latest case involves a 51-year-old male expatriate whose is hospitalized in critical condition. He is not a healthcare worker, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).
A total of 961 cases of Salmonella illness have been linked to exposure to backyard poultry, according to an update today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The outbreaks have occurred in 48 states and resulted in 215 hospitalizations and 1 death.
In a study designed to help clinicians and health policy makers decide whether to recommend and offer annual flu vaccination, a new meta-analysis published today found no evidence that prior season immunization blunts the protection of the current seasonal vaccine.
Researchers from Ontario and Hong Kong published their meta-analysis of observational studies today in BMC Medicine.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) announced a new case of MERS-CoV yesterday, in a patient who had contact with camels, a known risk factor for contracting the virus.
A study today involving 111 patients found that early fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) dramatically improves survival in severe Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs).
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) reported two new cases of MERS-CoV today, one in Dumah Al Jandal and the other in Hail, both in the north-central part of the country.
China reported two H7N9 avian flu infections this week, both of them involving men in Xinjiang autonomous region in the far northwest of the country, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said today in an update.
An investigation into a 73-year-old Arizona woman's death related to a Francisella tularensis infection (tularemia) in June 2016 revealed that she probably contracted the bacterium, classified by federal health officials as a tier 1 select agent, from her pet dog.
UK researchers have discovered that microbes living at low populations densities—dubbed "lonely" microbes—have higher rates of mutations that cause antibiotic resistance, according to their study yesterday in PLoS Biology.
Researchers have discovered that more than 10% of patients with chronic ear infections at an ear, nose, and throat clinic in Angola were co-colonized with a fluoroquinolone-resistant bacterium commonly found in bird feces.
Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica are among the few Americas countries reporting small increases in Zika virus activity, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said in its Aug 25 epidemiologic update.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today said a Salmonella outbreak linked to pet turtles has sickened 37 people in 13 states, about one third of them children younger than 5 years.
Today the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) reported two new MERS-CoV cases in Dumah Al Jandal. At this time, it's not known if the new cases are related to a hospital outbreak in that city first reported at the beginning of August.
Molecular respiratory viral testing had minimal impact on reducing antibiotic utilization among viral pneumonia patients, according to a study yesterday in the American Journal of Infection Control.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed a new case of variant H1N2 flu (H1N2v) in a child in Ohio, the second US case this year caused by that strain, and the 20th variant flu case of the year.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported another MERS-CoV case involving contact with another patient in Dumah Al Jandal.
It's not known if the new case is related to a hospital outbreak in that city first reported a month ago. The MOH on Aug 30 confirmed two similar MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases in the same city.
German researchers have found a significant increase in strains of Escherichia coli carrying a gene linked to extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) production, according to a study yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) noted a new case of MERS-CoV over the weekend in a person who had direct contact with camels, a known risk factor for the virus.
A 57-year-old Saudi man from Hail was diagnosed as having MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) after presenting with symptoms of the virus. He is in critical condition.
The results of a World Health Organization (WHO) working group investigation into pregnancy and influenza research from 2014 to 2017 showed mixed results when it came to the extent that maternal vaccine protected pregnant women and infants up the age of 6 months from influenza.
