The score suggests the nation has substantial health security but also room to improve.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported a new MERS-CoV case and the death of a previously reported patient. The new case brings the country's count of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) cases to 800.
Large contracts for developing improved diagnostics for influenza in point-of-care settings have been awarded to two companies by the federal government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today.
The number of chikungunya cases in the Caribbean and surrounding areas continues to grow, with 9,006 new cases bringing the outbreak total to 747,721, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported late last week.
Colombia reported the largest increase, with 3,347 new cases (from 1,350 to 4,697), followed by Martinique, with 2,390 new cases; Puerto Rico, with 1,166; and Guadeloupe, 880.
The number of confirmed enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) cases in US children has risen from 130 to 153 and the number of states affected from 12 to 18 in just the past 2 days, according to an update today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, California has just announced its first confirmed cases, which are not included in the CDC update.
A new federal contract awarded to a Pennsylvania company calls for the development of a "portable, low-cost, user-friendly" ventilator designed for use in public health emergencies, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today.
The toll in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC's) Ebola outbreak reached 62 cases and 35 deaths as of Sep 9, including 7 fatal cases in healthcare workers, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced yesterday.
The new numbers compare with 53 cases and 31 deaths reported on Sep 2. The outbreak involves a different Ebola virus species from the one circulating in West Africa and is a separate event.
The rate of two important healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in critically ill children decreased substantially from 2007 to 2012, an important factor in patient outcomes as well as in monetary savings, according to findings of a study yesterday in Pediatrics.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) said yesterday that it has requested US researchers to conduct a "safety stand-down" to assess stocks of potentially dangerous pathogens and outlined longer-term steps to ensure lab biosecurity.
Two Palm Beach County, Fla., residents have acquired chikungunya locally, bringing the nation's total number of locally acquired cases to six, the Palm Beach Post reported yesterday.
State and county health officials said that a 43-year-old man and 35-year-old woman contracted the painful mosquito-borne disease without traveling to outbreak areas.