Ebola sickens 1 more in DRC outbreak, 110 total, 47 fatal
One more Ebola case has been reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Equateur province outbreak, lifting the overall total to 110, the World Health Organization (WHO) African regional office said in a Twitter update today.
No new deaths have been reported, keeping the outbreak's fatality count at 47.
The outbreak, the 11th involving Ebola in the DRC, was first detected in early June and is occurring in the same area in the country's northwest region as a similar outbreak in 2018, which led to 54 cases, 33 of them fatal. Investigations suggest that the new outbreak likely reflects a new jump from animals to people and doesn't seem related to the earlier outbreak or a recent large outbreak in the eastern DRC.
Sep 3 WHO African regional office tweet
US Salmonella outbreak linked to onions tops 1,000 cases
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week reported that 143 more people have been sickened with Salmonella infections linked to onions. The total number of people infected in the outbreak that began on Jun 19 is now 1,012, with cases reported in 47 states.
Epidemiologic and trace-back information indicates that red onions are the likely source of the outbreak strain of Salmonella Newport, but that white, yellow, or sweet yellow varieties are also likely to be contaminated because of the way onions are grown and harvested. In interviews, 90% of people reported eating onions or foods containing onions in the week before their illness started.
Thirty-four illness clusters have been identified in 13 states, and trace-back information from several of these clusters identified Thomson International, of Bakersfield, California, as the likely source of the red onions. The company recalled its onions on Aug 1, and other companies have since recalled foods made with recalled onions.
The CDC is urging consumers to check their homes for onions or other foods recalled by Thomson International and several other companies, including Food Lion, Giant Eagle, Kroger, Publix, Ralph's, Trader Joe's, and Walmart.
A total of 136 hospitalizations have been reported in the outbreak, with no deaths. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 732 bacterial isolates from ill people predicted antibiotic resistance in two isolates; one had predicted resistance to ampicillin, and the other to tetracycline. WGS also showed that an outbreak of Salmonella Newport in Canada is genetically related to the US outbreak.
Sep 1 CDC food safety alert
Wisconsin records first case of eastern equine encephalitis virus in 2020
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) announced yesterday the state's first case of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus this year, in a girl from Eau Claire County.
Last week the state announced that horses in three northwestern counties had also been diagnosed as having EEE, a mosquito-borne virus. The last human case in Wisconsin was in 2017.
Though human infections of EEE are rare, they can be deadly. According to the CDC, approximately 30% of those diagnosed with EEE die from the infection.
In addition to the Wisconsin case, three human cases of EEE have been recorded in Massachusetts this year, the CDC said.
Sep 2 DHS press release
CDC EEE page