Social networks, though, were strong in poorer areas, which helped with disease control.
Forty-two days (two incubation periods) after its last Ebola patient tested negative for the virus, Guinea has been declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization (WHO), leaving only Liberia to achieve that status in the outbreak region of West Africa, the WHO said in a news release.
After going 9 days without reporting a MERS-CoV infection, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed a case yesterday.
Researchers used detailed exams in survivors to document eye problems, a common finding.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said that Ebola virus infection in West Africa continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), largely due to the potential for transmission of the virus from survivors and convalescent populations, according to a Dec 18 statement.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now investigating two separate Escherichia coli outbreaks tied to Chipotle restaurants, one involving 53 cases and the other 5, the agency said today in an update.
The criteria that Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) use in triaging West Africa Ebola patients resulted in more than a third of patients falsely testing positive, and the guidance needs to be revised, a study yesterday in Eurosurveillance concluded.
One study notes that US survivors were plagued with multiple, long-lasting symptoms.
The WHO also confirmed that Liberia's recent cluster was sparked by virus that emerged again in a family member who had been infected earlier.
The number of locally acquired dengue fever cases on the big island of Hawaii has risen by 10 in a week, to 149 cases, the Hawaii Department of Health (HDOH) said in an update yesterday.
Of the confirmed cases, 132 are in Hawaii residents and 17 involve visitors. Most of the total cases (116, or 78%) have occurred in adults, while 33 cases (22%) involve children. Illness onset occurred from Sep 11 to Dec 7.
