Valley Fever

Age, race, income linked to rates of telehealth visits in COVID pandemic

Older people, Asians, and those with Medicaid coverage and preference for a non-English language at one US hospital system had fewer completed telemedicine visits than their peers during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study of patients scheduled for primary care or specialty telehealth visits at the University of Pennsylvania.

CDC declares coconut-linked Salmonella investigation over

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.

H7N9 sickens two from Anhui province

Two new H7N9 influenza infections were reported in China today, both from Anhui province, according to a health department statement translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.

Both patients are men, ages 69 and 58, who are hospitalized in critical condition. The cases are the second and third to be reported in Anhui province this week and lift its overall number of H7N9 cases to 14.

H5N1 kills 46,000 chickens in North Korea's capital

H5N1 avian flu has struck two chicken factory farms in North Korea's capital of Pyongyang, killing more than 46,000 birds, according to a report posted yesterday by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

In the first outbreak, all 46,217 birds died of the disease in three holding pens for layer hens on a farm at the Hadang chicken factory. The outbreak began Mar 21. Samples from the birds tested positive on Mar 26.

California's valley fever hospitalization rate doubled from 2000 to 2011

The rate of hospitalizations for coccidioidomycosis, or valley fever, in California doubled from 2000 to 2011, and close to 16,000 patients needed hospital care for the fungal disease during that span, according to a report today by California public health officials.