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Blanket immigrant TB screening inefficient, study says

Blanket screening of all immigrants for tuberculosis (TB)—as is done in Canada, the United States, Australia, and some European countries—wastes resources and should instead focus on only those arriving from high-risk countries, according to a study from University of Toronto researchers published yesterday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

Cases in multistate cucumber Salmonella outbreak near 700

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) received reports of 113 additional cases of salmonellosis likely linked to cucumbers in the past week, raising the outbreak total to 671, the agency said in an update yesterday.

HHS funds 2 projects to aid flu vaccine development

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is funding two projects to aid in developing better seasonal flu vaccines and in improving pandemic flu preparedness, the agency said in a news release yesterday.

BARDA exercises $18 million option for Ebola vaccine

NewLink Genetics today announced that the federal government has exercised an $18 million option to ramp up the production of its experimental Ebola vaccine VSV-EBOV, according to a statement from the company. The company has licensed the vaccine from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the developer of the vaccine, which is furthest along in clinical studies in the West African outbreak region.

Health workers in Guinea had 42 times the risk of Ebola, report says

Healthcare workers (HCWs) in Guinea last year had an incidence of Ebola virus disease 42 times higher than non-HCWs, and lab technicians, physicians, and men were especially hit hard, according to a report today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

Flu vaccine tied to lower rates of flu-related pneumonia

The seasonal flu vaccine might cut the risk of contracting flu-associated pneumonia acquired in the community by more than half, a study today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found.

WHO committee continues Ebola emergency, temporary measures

An emergency committee established to advise the World Health Organization (WHO) on Ebola outbreak response steps met for the seventh time last week and today announced that ongoing transmission and other factors still meet the threshold for a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) as defined by the International Health Regulations.

Global flu activity stays low, with upticks in Asia, Latin America

Influenza activity worldwide remains low, with upticks in some Asian and Latin American countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in an update.

Jordan MERS cases rise to 16; no new Saudi cases

Jordan's health ministry today reported another MERS-CoV case, involving a 53-year-old man who had contact with an earlier case, according to a report from Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). The story's Amman dateline and the man's status as a contact suggest that his infection is likely related to a hospital outbreak in the Jordanian capital.

Salmonella cases linked to cucumbers top 700

The multistate outbreak of salmonellosis linked to imported cucumbers has grown by 61 cases, to 732, and an additional death has been reported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday in an update.

One more state is affected, bringing that total to 35, the CDC said. The outbreak has now caused four deaths.

Coadministering Tdap, flu vaccine during pregnancy found safe

Administering tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine together with the flu vaccine during pregnancy was found as safe as administering them sequentially, according to a retrospective cohort study published this week in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Gaps in measles vaccination rates places 1 in 8 US kids at risk

Inadequate measles vaccination coverage places one in eight US kids at risk for contracting the disease and one in four of those 3 years old or younger, according to data presented today at IDWeek in San Diego, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), a sponsor of the conference, reported today in a press release.

Both US rotavirus vaccines shown 80% effective in kids

Vaccine effectiveness (VE) for both US-approved rotavirus vaccines— the five-strain (RV5) and single-strain (RV1) versions—is 80% in children, according to a study published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Two H7N9 cases reported in China

Chinese officials have reported two H7N9 infections that occurred between September and Oct 10, but no details about the cases were available. The infections were noted in a government National Health and Family Planning Commission notifiable diseases overview in Chinese published on Oct 10 that was flagged, translated, and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.

PAHO reports 3,400 new chikungunya cases

The chikungunya outbreak in the Caribbean and the Americas continued to expand slowly, as the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) added 3,409 new cases in its weekly update published late last week.

Saudi Arabia reports new MERS case; 61 in Korea quarantined

For the fourth day in a row Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) has reported a MERS-CoV infection in a foreign woman in her 20s in Riyadh who is not a healthcare worker, while South Korea has quarantined 61 people after a man tested positive for the virus days after he had recovered from the disease.

USDA awards contracts for stockpiled avian flu vaccine for poultry

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has awarded contracts to two companies to manufacture doses of avian flu vaccine for the nation's veterinary stockpile in case the measure is needed to combat the disease in poultry, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said in a press release yesterday.

IOM report lists priorities for emerging ID countermeasures

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) this week published a report on a 2-day medical countermeasure workshop it held in late March to discuss how to how better develop and deliver medical countermeasures (MCMs) for emerging infectious disease threats, based on challenges that flared up during West Africa's Ebola outbreak.

Fourth wave of H7N9 begins in China

Human cases of H7N9 avian influenza are expected to rise in number in southeastern China over the next several months, according to an update yesterday from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

The FAO said the fourth wave of H7N9 began Oct 2 after the first two human infections since July were reported in Zhejiang Province.

Salmonella outbreak investigations tied to frozen chicken declared over

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Oct 16 released final reports on two separate Salmonella outbreaks linked to frozen chicken entrees.

Chikungunya outbreak in Americas grows by almost 2,500 cases

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) on Oct 16 reported 2,464 new cases of chikungunya in the Caribbean and Americas.

The new total includes 573,708 suspected and 23,875 confirmed local acquired cases and 875 imported cases reported in 2015, or 598,458 total for the year. The previous PAHO update included 3,409 new cases.

Southern Hemisphere flu activity continues to ebb

Levels of flu and other respiratory viruses are declining in the Southern Hemisphere, with little activity or only sporadic detections elsewhere, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a global flu update yesterday, based on data as of the first week of October.

Hospital upgrades nurse Ebola survivor's condition to serious but stable

The condition of a Scottish nurse who is hospitalized with neurologic complications following an Ebola infection has been upgraded from critical to serious but stable, Royal Free London hospital said yesterday in an update.

Recent flu vaccination associated with decreased risk for severe disease

A study of hospital admission for severe acute respiratory infections (SARIs) in military personnel found that recent flu vaccination lowered the risk of severe disease, while occupational factors and comorbidities may increase SARI risk, according to findings yesterday in Vaccine.

Cholera outbreak in Iraq spreads as cases increase in Tanzania

More than 500 new cholera cases have been reported in Iraq since last week, and the outbreak has spread to the northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan, according to a Middle East Online update yesterday.