Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
The Texas Measles Outbreak Is Over, Officials Say
NYT The larger outbreak, which spread to New Mexico and Oklahoma, is still ongoing. The measles outbreak in West Texas, which hospitalized nearly a hundred and killed two young children, is officially over, state health officials announced in a news release Monday. Officials declare an outbreak over after no new cases have been reported for […]
Aug 20, 2025
Promising bird flu vaccine advances as organoids reveal how H5N1 scars airways
Medical Express Researchers at Texas Biomedical Research Institute have developed a new, proof-of-concept vaccine to protect people from the bird flu strain currently circulating in the United States. The team, led by Professor Luis Martinez-Sobrido, Ph.D. and Staff Scientist Ahmed M. Elsayed, Ph.D., recently published initial results in npj Vaccines. The live attenuated vaccine contains a weakened (attenuated) […]
Aug 20, 2025
New neuroinvasive cases of West Nile detected in New Orleans.
NOLA The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed a second human case of neuroinvasive West Nile virus in New Orleans, with a third presumptive case under investigation. In response, the city will conduct mosquito spraying Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, officials announced. While most infections are asymptomatic, West Nile can cause serious complications, particularly in […]
Aug 20, 2025
Rates of West Nile Virus increasing throughout Philadelphia region
ABC News The rates of West Nile Virus are increasing throughout the Philadelphia region. This is placing people at significant risk for the mosquito-borne illness. No one has tested positive for West Nile in Pennsylvania this year. However, officials say it has been detected in mosquitoes in nearly every Pennsylvania county. State statistics show 12 […]
Aug 20, 2025
A resident in South Lake Tahoe, California, has tested positive for plague, according to local health officials.
The person is believed to have been bitten by an infected flea while camping, officials said. In a separate incident last month, a person in Arizona died from plague. Plague is a disease caused by a type of bacteria that usually results in about seven cases nationally each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and […]
Aug 20, 2025
Why Covid Is Spreading Again This Summer
NYT Researchers are seeing an uptick in cases, as they have every summer since the pandemic began. Here’s why. Covid cases are climbing again this summer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s forecasting model estimates that infections are growing, or likely growing, in most states. While the agency is reporting low levels of the virus in […]
Aug 20, 2025
Under Pressure, CDC Unraveled This Mysterious Outbreak
MedPageToday We know what Legionella is thanks to an intense CDC investigation 50 years ago. Summer brings regular outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease — including an ongoing one in New York City that has killed five peopleopens in a new tab or window — but nearly 50 years ago, the bacterium that causes the disease was unknown to mankind. It […]
Aug 20, 2025
Dangerous tick-borne virus causes brain damage in vulnerable young patient
Fox Newborn baby fights for life after contracting Powassan virus. A 5-week-old baby in Boston is fighting for her life after a tick bite. The baby, Lily Sisco, was bitten while on a walk with her family on Martha’s Vineyard, her mother, Tiffany Sisco, told local news outlets. After returning from the walk, Sisco told […]
Aug 13, 2025
Rare exotic tick species identified in Connecticut
Yale Ticks likely hitchhiked across continents on human travelers, experts say. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) reports that it has identified four nonnative exotic tick species in Connecticut in recent years, with the blood-feeding parasites and disease vectors hitching a ride on unknowing travelers returning to the state. Although the exotic ticks found on […]
Aug 13, 2025
R.S.V. Season Is Approaching. Here’s How to Protect Yourself.
NYT Doctors recommend that eligible people get vaccinated in late summer or early fall so antibodies can kick in before cases spread. Respiratory syncytial virus, known as R.S.V., is one of the world’s most common respiratory illnesses and the leading reason infants go to the hospital in the United States. It infects roughly 64 million people around […]
Aug 13, 2025