Cholera outbreaks in countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean region have reached a critical point, and the WHO and its partners are scaling up efforts to reduce the risk of spread to unaffected areas and neighboring countries, the agency said in a statement today.
According to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are now 88 babies born in the United States with Zika-related birth defects, an increase of 8 since the last report. The number of pregnancy losses showing Zika-related birth defects remains at 8.
A study involving rhesus macaques suggests that pre-existing dengue virus immunity does not result in more severe Zika disease, the second study this week to report this type of finding.
Also, a new US report outlines the usefulness of testing placental and fetal tissue.
An analysis of blood samples from Brazilian patients seen in an emergency department for acute febrile illness found no sign of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) in those with Zika infection who had previously been exposed to dengue virus.
A separate study found Zika virus in the saliva of 5 different mosquito species in Mexico.
Nine Brazilian infants with congenital Zika infections developed moderate to severe dysphagia, or problems with swallowing, increasing the risk of aspirating liquids and choking, according to a report yesterday in Emerging Infectious Disease.
The findings are consistent with an earlier report on women in US states.
President Donald Trump announced yesterday that Francis Collins, MD, PhD, an Obama administration holdover, will stay on as permanent director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), multiple media sites reported.
The World Health Organization (WHO) in its latest update reported a new suspected case of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), prompting the surveillance of 15 additional contacts. The suspected case is from the Ngayi health area, in northern DRC.
