In separate announcements today, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported two more Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) cases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of them fatal, raising the global MERS count to 200 cases.
Wild birds in Iceland harbor avian influenza viruses (AIVs) of entirely American lineage, entirely Eurasian lineage, and mixes of the two, providing compelling evidence of the importance of the North Atlantic as a corridor of virus movement and mixing, according to a study yesterday in PLoS One.
An emerging tick-borne bacterium in Europe, Asia, and Africa poses a risk for immunocompromised patients, causing an illness that could be mistaken for an underlying disease, according to a study published yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
A measles outbreak that started at a Christian school in Chilliwack, British Columbia, has now spread to a college campus near Vancouver, according to reports from Fraser Valley Health, the area's public health department, and British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).
A measles outbreak in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver has temporarily closed a school in eastern British Columbia after sickening nearly 100 students, and vaccine is being distributed to pharmacies and physicians' offices as the outbreak spreads from the school into the nearby communities, according to news sources this week.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) recently urged countries to strengthen surveillance and control of the New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase–producing (NDM) antibiotic resistance, based on continued spread and detection in several countries.
An outbreak on a cruise ship docked in Italy has so far affected only crew members.
A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel today made its recommendation on strains to include for the next flu season vaccine. The move is part of a process that the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) conducts to review the most current flu strains, surveillance, and updates on vaccine performance, uptake, and manufacturing.
Individuals in the San Francisco Bay area are being told to stay alert for symptoms of measles after an infected and contagious student at the University of California, Berkeley, attended classes and used public transportation before his diagnosis last week, according to news sources.
Immunization coverage in US adults for diseases other than influenza improved modestly in a few categories in 2012, but coverage in most target groups did not improve, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.