Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Evolving Epidemiology of Mpox in Africa in 2024
NEJM For decades after the identification of mpox in humans in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 1970, the disease was largely confined to the rural areas of Central and West Africa and thus did not garner broad attention. On August 13, 2024, mpox was declared a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS) […]
Feb 4, 2025
The U.S. Is Having Its Mildest Covid Winter Yet
NYT But there have been plenty of other illnesses to go around. This winter’s Covid wave in the United States has been the gentlest to date, in a welcome reprieve. According to wastewater data aggregated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not only was there less Covid circulating over the holidays than in previous years, […]
Feb 4, 2025
Hundreds of ducks found sick or dead along Lake Michigan as outbreak of H5N1 bird flu hits Chicago area
WGN9 Hundreds of ducks infected with avian influenza — H5N1 bird flu — have been found along the shores of Lake Michigan in the Chicago area, prompting warnings from area health officials. The Chicago Bird Collision Monitors (CBCM), a volunteer conservation project dedicated to the protection of migratory birds, said in a post on its Facebook page Sunday that […]
Feb 4, 2025
Tuberculosis cases on the rise in NC after more than 30 years of decline
WRAL North Carolina faces an alarming resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) cases after enjoying over three decades of declining numbers. Health officials are urgently investigating the causes behind this spike. Continue reading
Feb 4, 2025
Kansas tuberculosis outbreak reminds us of long battle for public health — and importance of trust
Kansas Reflector “Don’t spit on sidewalk.” That’s some of the best advice ever, and I first read it on a paving brick in my hometown of Baxter Springs. I have since found the message repeated on sidewalks across Kansas, as the bricks were produced by the thousands. Artifacts of an early 20th century public health […]
Feb 4, 2025
Tuberculosis Outbreak, Highly Pathogenic Bird Flu Strain and Polar Bear Hair
Scientific American Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Hope your February is off to a great start. Let’s kick off the week by catching up on all the science news you might have missed. First, a quick note on some presidential moves that might impact health and science. Robert F. Kennedy […]
Feb 4, 2025
Will bird flu spark a human pandemic? Scientists say the risk is rising
Nature H5N1 is adapting to new mammalian hosts, raising the possibility of the virus spreading between humans. Ten months on from the shocking discovery that a virus usually carried by wild birds can readily infect cows, at least 68 people in North America have become ill from the pathogen and one person has died. Although many […]
Feb 4, 2025
Could the Bird Flu Become Airborne?
NYT Scientists were slow to recognize that Covid spreads through the air. Some are now trying to get ahead of the bird flu. In early February 2020, China locked down more than 50 million people, hoping to hinder the spread of a new coronavirus. No one knew at the time exactly how it was spreading, but Lidia […]
Feb 4, 2025
Uganda begins Ebola vaccine trial after new outbreak
BBC Uganda has launched a trial of a vaccine against the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, following an outbreak in the country that has killed one person and infected two others. The first patient, a 32-year-old male nurse, died last week. On Monday, the initial participant in the trial, who is currently in isolation, […]
Feb 4, 2025
Nurse dies from Ebola in Uganda as country declares first virus outbreak since 2022, health ministry says
PBS A nurse in Uganda has died of Ebola, a health official said Thursday, in the first recorded fatality since the last outbreak ended in 2023. The 32-year-old male nurse was an employee of Mulago Hospital, the main referral facility in the capital, Kampala, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the health ministry, told reporters Thursday. […]
Feb 3, 2025