A virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine for H7N9 avian flu protected mice against the virus in a challenge trial, Novavax Inc. reported in a Jul 26 article in Vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday released a nine-page interview questionnaire to help in investigation of suspected and confirmed MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infections.
The questionnaire is intended mainly for gathering information about how patients were exposed to the virus. It includes detailed questions about travel history and exposure to animals, foods, and sick persons.
Vaccination rates among US kindergarteners remain at high levels, with coverage near or exceeding the Healthy People 2020 target rate of 95% in most states, and exemption rates are holding steady, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.
Tomato growers in three southeastern states filed a claim in the US Court of Federal Claims this week seeking individual compensation totaling $40 million after the federal government mistakenly warned that certain varieties appeared to be linked to a 2008 Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, Food Safety News (FSN) reported today.
Illinois health officials yesterday reported the state's first variant H3N2 (H3N2v) influenza case of the summer, in a child who had contact with swine at a county fair.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) said in a statement that the infection was mild and was confirmed in a Boone County child who helped an exhibitor at the DuPage County Fair, which was held in late July.
Eight people in Florida have been sickened with the flesh-eating bacteria.
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.
A bipartisan group of 47 lawmakers sent a letter to President Trump yesterday, asking him to continue support for a comprehensive response across US government agencies to the Zika virus threat.
Over the past few days Saudi Arabia reported seven new MERS-CoV infections, including six that appear to be linked to a hospital outbreak in Wadi ad-Dawasir in the south central part of the country.
A study of hospital air contamination in JAMA Network Open last week found that 17.4% of air samples from environments near COVID-19 patients were positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, the virus that causes COVID-19, but only 8.6% contained viable virus.
China's Guangdong province reported another H7N9 influenza infection, along with a death in a previously reported case, according to a May 2 health department statement translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
The patient is a 53-year-old woman from Shenzhen who suffers from chronic bronchitis. She is hospitalized in stable condition.
Federal health officials today said 2 more hepatitis A infections have been reported in an outbreak linked to fresh blackberries from Fresh Thymes markets, raising the total to 16. One more state—Missouri—is reporting a case, putting the number of affected states at six.
First-year medical residents in Shanghai—500 miles away from the Chinese COVID-19 epicenter of Wuhan—had a steep decline in mood, increased depression and anxiety, and twice the level of fear of workplace violence in the first month of the pandemic, according to a research letter published yesterday in JAMA Network Open.
Monthly dentist surveys showed a cumulative infection rate of 2.6%, according to a study yesterday in the Journal of the American Dental Association (ADA). The researchers say these rates are lower than those in other health workers, such as physicians or emergency medical service professionals.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported two new cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, one of which was fatal.
The first patient is a 58-year-old male citizen of Al-Ahsa, who has "various chronic diseases." He is receiving medical treatment, but the MOH didn't provide any details on his condition or whether he had contact with any animals or infected people.
Ebola has sickened one more person in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Equateur province outbreak, upping the total to 73 cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) African regional office said today on Twitter.
No new deaths were reported, keeping the fatality count at 31.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reaching out to small- and medium-sized produce growers to address their questions about a proposed food safety rule issued in January, the agency said in a news release yesterday.
Reminding people when it's time to receive immunizations—through postcards, texts, and automated phone calls—can increase vaccination numbers, a team of Cochrane researchers reported today, based on an extensive review of 75 studies from 10 countries. Their findings appear in the Cochrane Library.
A modeling study published yesterday in The Lancet estimates that vaccination against 10 diseases from 2000 to 2030 will prevent 69 million vaccine-preventable deaths (VPDs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that a multistate Salmonella outbreak—first announced a month ago—appears to be over after it reached 27 cases in nine states.
Diagnostics company Avails Medical announced today that it has received an additional $1.7 million in funding from CARB-X (the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) to continue developing a rapid electronic antibiotic susceptibility test (AST).
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today posted a final investigation update for a Salmonella Reading outbreak that it first announced in July 2018, which reflects 79 new cases since its last report in February, lifting total cases to 358 in 42 states.
An international research group today warned that climate change could erode 50 years' of public health gains, but addressing the problem now presents a global health opportunity, according to a report today in The Lancet.
A UNICEF/WHO report highlights gender inequalities related to public health issues with household drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Officials at the Pasteur Institute in Paris say the laboratory's loss of 2,349 "tubes" containing fragments of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus does not pose an infection risk, but they call the lapse an "unacceptable mistake," according to media reports.
