Also, reseachers identify a Zika antibody that might open up new therapy and vaccine possibilities.
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) said there was a new case of MERS-CoV today linked to indirect camel exposure.
Health officials in Liberia have reported a second death in Monrovia linked to an unexplained illness cluster in people who attended the funeral of a religious leader in Greenville, located about 4 hours' drive south of the country's capital in Sinoe County, according to local media reports.
Over the weekend the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) said there was a new case of MERS-CoV diagnosed in a man who had contact with camels in the weeks prior to illness.
A 69-year-old Saudi man from Buraydah is in stable condition after presenting with symptoms of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infection. The man had direct exposure to camels, a known risk factor for contracting the virus.
The cost study looked at different attack-rate ranges, putting the upper-end estimate at as much as $2 billion.
Two new studies show fatal spinal damage and cognitive impairment associated with Zika infection.
Also, 2 more babies have been born in the US with Zika-related birth defects.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today announced a new MERS-CoV case, involving a 55-year-old expat man from Wadi Aldwasir who is hospitalized in critical condition. It's not clear if his illness is part of a recent hospital cluster reported from Wadi Aldwasir; he is not a healthcare worker and his infection source is listed as primary, meaning he didn't likely contract the virus from another person.
Puerto Rico may be underreporting or downplaying the numbers of babies born in the territory with Zika-related birth defects, Stat reported today, citing an unnamed former US health official.
Brazil, reporting thousands of new chikungunya cases, almost single-handedly produced another big jump in cases in the Americas for the second straight week, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported late last week.
PAHO reported 9,522 new confirmed and suspected cases in its Apr 14 update, after logging 7,231 new cases the week before. The case count for 2017 has now reached 29,841, PAHO said.
