China today reported two more H7N9 avian influenza infections in humans, and the country's top health officials have announced an update to treatment recommendations for patients.
The latest cases are both from Sichuan province in southwestern China, according to a state news agency report translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board.
Over the past 4 days, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported a flurry of MERS cases, one of them fatal and all involving men.
Five more babies have been born in the United States with Zika-related birth defects, according to updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are now 43 babies in the country with documented defects from the mosquito-borne illness.
China reported two more H7N9 avian influenza cases, including the season's second case detected in Beijing, according to official sources and state media.
Surprisingly, tests on placental cells that correspond to the earliest pregnancy stages found more damage from the African Zika strain than the Asian one.
Zika doesn't appear to transmit efficiently through breast milk, but questions still remain. Also, experiments with macaques found a low risk of spread by saliva.
One more H7N9 avian flu infection was reported from China today, a sign of ongoing activity that is within striking distance of the record 319 cases reported during the second wave of activity during the winter of 2013-14.
In a sign of an ongoing steady stream of H7N9 avian flu cases, five new infections have been reported, four from China's mainland plus an imported infection in Taiwan, according to statements yesterday and today from Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP).
The vaccine protected macaques from infection 5 weeks later and mice 5 months later.
A study yesterday in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found that 0.2% of US women they screened contracted Zika after traveling to endemic areas while pregnant.
