A new study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases shows the Oropouche virus may be more widespread in Latin America than previously thought, and as many as 1 in 10 people living in the region have likely experienced a prior infection with the pathogen.

First identified in the 1950s, the virus causes nonspecific symptoms that are usually mild, including fever, chills, headache, pain in the limbs and, in some cases, nausea and skin rashes. The virus is mainly spread by biting midges and possibly some Culex mosquitoes.

But since a large outbreak began in 2023, more case reports of severe complications of infection in pregnant women and at least two deaths have been reported among more than 20,000 cases seen in Latin and Caribbean countries. 

Climate, rain behind uptick 

To understand the shift, researchers from Berlin’s Charite Hospital analyzed more than 9,400 blood samples collected from healthy and sick people in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru between 2001 and 2022. Antibodies against the virus were present in 6.3% of the samples. Samples taken from people living in the Amazon region showed a 10% prevalence of antibodies, while only 2% of samples from Costa Rica showed antibodies. 

Moreover, rain and weather patterns had a direct influence on the number of Oropoche virus infections, suggesting it was climate and environment — and not viral changes — fueling the current outbreak. 

We therefore assume that the current Oropouche outbreak has been fueled by weather phenomenons like El Niño.

“We therefore assume that the current Oropouche outbreak has been fueled by weather phenomenons like El Niño,” said Jan Felix Drexler, PhD, head of the virus epidemiology laboratory at Charite said in a press release from Charite. "By contrast, we have not found evidence that changing properties of the virus could provide an alternative explanation for the high case count at present. I think it’s possible that Oropouche virus will become even more widespread in the future as climate change progresses.”

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been found in five more Iowa counties, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) told the Cedar Rapids–based Gazette.

The newly affected counties, identified during the April 2024 to March 2025 CWD surveillance season, include Cedar, Davis, Shelby, Story, and Wapello. The new detections bring the CWD-positive county total in Iowa to 29. Cases in Pottawattamie and Fremont counties were reported in January 2025.

The season case total was 135 of 5,493 (2.5%) deer tested, up from 128 in 2023-24, 96 in 2022-23, 52 in 2021-22, and 21 in 2020-21. In total, 521 of the 106,000 (0.5%) Iowa deer tested for CWD since 2022 have had the fatal neurologic disease of cervids such as deer, moose, and elk.

Officials advise against eating CWD-positive venison

CWD is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy—the same disease group as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or "mad cow" disease. These diseases are caused by abnormally folded infectious proteins called prions. 

Human CWD cases haven't been reported, but health officials recommend not consuming the meat of CWD-positive animals and advise hunters who harvest deer in CWD-endemic areas to have their deer tested before eating the venison. 

COVID-19 infection was linked to a higher risk of new-onset mild and moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) in US children and adolescents from 2020 to 2023, according to recent findings from the National Institutes of Health's Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative.

The University of Pennsylvania-led research team assessed data on kidney outcomes from 1.9 million patients aged 20 years and younger with (487,400) and without (1.4 million) COVID-19 at 19 healthcare centers from March 2020 to May 2023, with up to 2 years of follow-up. The average age was 8.2 years, 51.0% were male, and 45% were White.

The results were published late last week in JAMA Network Open.

35% higher risk of moderate CKD at 1 to 6 months

COVID-19 was tied to higher odds of new-onset CKD of stage 2 or higher (hazard ratio [HR], 1.17) and CKD of stage 3 or up (HR, 1.35). In patients with preexisting CKD, COVID-19 was associated with an elevated risk of composite kidney outcomes (at least a 50% decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR], transplant, or end-stage kidney disease; HR, 1.15) 1 to 6 months post-infection. 

Results of this study suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with an increased risk of adverse kidney outcomes, including new-onset CKD and worsening kidney function, particularly among children with preexisting CKD or acute-phase AKI.

Children and adolescents with COVID-associated acute kidney injury (AKI) were at higher risk (HR, 1.29) for composite outcomes and at least a 30%, 40%, or 50% eGFR reduction at 3 to 6 months.

The study authors said that the mechanisms of COVID-linked CKD could include the direct effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the kidneys, as demonstrated by viral persistence in tissues and prolonged virus shedding. Alternatively, infection-induced chronic inflammation could destabilize blood flow, damaging the kidneys. Other possible causes could be the drugs used to treat severe COVID-19 and pandemic-related economic and social conditions. 

"Results of this study suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with an increased risk of adverse kidney outcomes, including new-onset CKD and worsening kidney function, particularly among children with preexisting CKD or acute-phase AKI, underscoring the importance of long-term monitoring for kidney health in children and adolescents affected by COVID-19," they concluded.

China has detected three more H9N2 avian flu cases, which involved two children and one adult from three different provinces, according to a weekly avian flu update from Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection (CHP).

The virus is known to circulate in poultry in China and other parts of Asia, and sporadic human infections continue to be reported, mainly from China. Infections are typically reported in children who usually experience mild infections. However, infections can be severe.

Illness onsets in February and March

One of the patients is a 7-year-old girl from Henan province whose symptoms began on February 11. Another infection also involved a child, a 5-year-old boy from Guangxi province who became ill on March 3. 

The third patient is a 35-year-old woman from Guizhou province who got sick on March 10. The CHP report didn’t note how the patients contracted the virus, but many H9N2 infections in the past were linked to exposure to poultry or poultry environments. The report didn’t list the conditions for the patients.

The new cases lift China’s H9N2 total for the year to five. In 2024, the country reported 11 cases.