South Korea's health ministry reported four more MERS-CoV infections today, boosting the total to 179, and said they have identified transmission that may have occurred outside of the hospital setting, according to media reports.
A US Army facility in Utah that mistakenly shipped live Bacillus anthracis to dozens of other labs over a 10-year period did not properly test its method for killing the bacterium, which causes anthrax, according to a USA Today story based on a government report.
A new genetic study of Ebola viruses in West Africa's epidemic, published yesterday in Nature, helps trace the disease's spread and, according to the authors, shows that the virus mutated at about the same rate observed in earlier outbreaks.
As cases drop slightly, vaccine trials suffer from lack of patients. Also, the NIH announces a trial involving survivors.
Saudi Arabia reports 4 new MERS cases, 3 in HofufSaudi Arabia's Minister of Health (MOH) reported four more MERS-CoV cases over the weekend and today—three in the hot spot city of Hofuf—in an outbreak that still simmers even as it gets overshadowed by MERS events in South Korea. The agency also reported three deaths in previously reported cases.
To prepare the nation better for cases of Ebola or other serious diseases, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has earmarked about $20 million to develop nine regional treatment centers across the country, HHS said today in a news release.
Also, new studies point to an outbreak strain that's less virulent than the 1976 virus and that anorexia and joint pain are common in survivors.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday released its final Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD), a rule that aims to put all uses of medically important antibiotics in food animals under veterinary supervision by the end of next year.
One of the latest Ebola cases is a stillborn baby born to a mother who tested negative but had been exposed to the virus earlier.
The head of the United Nations Ebola response in Guinea yesterday raised concerns about recent violence and attacks aimed at response activities in three different districts.
