One week after the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC's) health ministry declared a new outbreak in the east of the country, an immunization campaign began today, which targeted frontline health workers from the Mangina Reference Health Center, the epicenter of the outbreak, who had been in contact with confirmed cases and their contacts.
A report summing up all the investigation findings in India's Nipah virus outbreak says 17 of 19 patients appear to have contracted the virus from the index patient, a 26-year-old man, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported yesterday, citing findings released by health officials from Kerala state.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevent (CDC) today said it is investigating several Salmonella outbreaks totaling 124 cases in 36 states linked to contact with backyard poultry flocks.
Spending public health money on surveillance rather than on broad, expensive genomic surveys of animal diseases is a sounder investment and better way to prepare for the next pandemic or other global health emergency, three infectious disease experts wrote today in Nature.
The Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry yesterday and today ruled out some suspected cases based on lab tests and confirmed 2 more in the remote Iboko outbreak location, dropping the outbreak total to 50 cases, including 37 confirmed and 13 probable, with no suspected cases. No new deaths were reported, keeping that total at 25.
A new index that evaluates 60 global food companies on health, environmental, and social issues has found that more than three-quarters of those companies rank as "high risk" on antibiotic stewardship.
Tests on two earlier reported suspected Nipah virus cases from India's Karnataka state were negative for the virus, as another, previously unaffected state—Telangana—identified two possible cases and sent samples for testing, according to the latest media reports from India.
Local officials say the outbreak total has reached 36 cases, 14 confirmed and 22 suspected.
Authorities in a second Indian state are investigating two suspected Nipah virus infections, both of them in people who had traveled to Kerala state where they had contact with infected patients, Reuters reported today, citing a health official in Karnataka state.
The death toll for a Nipah virus outbreak in India's Kerala state now stands at 10, after at least 12 more people have been diagnosed as having the deadly virus, according to a Reuters report today.
Reuters said an additional nine people are being treated for infections with supportive care. Nipah virus is most commonly spread by fruit bats, and presents with severe, flu-like symptoms.