Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
How Your Cat or Dog Could Warn of a Bird Flu Outbreak
NYT Like most countries, the U.S. has no comprehensive national system for monitoring disease in companion animals — which leaves pets and people at risk. Trupanion, a Seattle-based pet insurance company, is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a disease tracking system for pets, the company announced this week. The […]
Aug 20, 2024
Influenza A (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N1) in domestic cats
Colorado Veterinary Medical Association Six feline cases of Influenza A (HPAI H5N1) have been diagnosed in domestic cats in Colorado during 2024. One of these cases was directly associated with a known infected commercial dairy facility. Two of the six cases were indoor only cats with no direct exposures to the virus. Three of the […]
Aug 20, 2024
How the World Sleepwalked Into the Global Mpox Emergency
Bloomberg A mutated form of mpox has been circulating in the Democratic Republic of Congo for months. Now the response to what has become a global health emergency faces a key obstacle: The country still doesn’t have a single vaccine. The absence of shots and challenges in understanding the spread of the disease in the […]
Aug 20, 2024
The untold story of how Nigeria’s mpox outbreak sparked a worldwide epidemic
Science Mpox circulated in Nigeria for 8 years before it sparked a global outbreak. What happened? And could it have been stopped? n 1 May 2017, a 35-year-old man with lesions all over his body came to the university hospital in Port Harcourt, an oil industry hub and the capital of Rivers state in southern Nigeria. […]
Aug 20, 2024
NYT The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over an outbreak that has spread to more than a dozen African countries. Mpox was declared a global health emergency on Wednesday for the second time in three years, as the World Health Organization urged action on a virus spreading rapidly through more than a dozen African […]
Aug 20, 2024
Mpox Case in Sweden Sets Off Concerns of Wider Spread in Europe
NYT Experts expect more cases to surface in European countries because of frequent travel to and from Africa, with the threat of contracting the disease raised from “very low” to “low.” The announcement that a new version of mpox had been discovered in Sweden this week was the first indication that the disease had slipped […]
Aug 20, 2024
Mpox is a global health emergency. Will it cause a lockdown like COVID? Experts say no
NBC News Mpox has been declared a global health emergency by WHO. What does this mean and where is it spreading? Experts discuss mpox outbreaks, symptoms, and risk. Mpox is now considered a global health emergency as cases surge in Central Africa and a new subtype of the virus, which causes severe illness, spreads to […]
Aug 20, 2024
Mpox Declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Now What?
Harvard Medical Making sense of the latest developments with HMS infectious disease specialist Daniel Kuritzkes. On Aug. 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the latest mpox outbreak in Africa a public health emergency of international concern. While the virus is not new, its behavior warrants vigilance and raises critical questions about infectivity, transmissibility, and the optimal […]
Aug 20, 2024
CDC warns clinicians about Oropouche virus disease that has turned deadly
Washington Post The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning clinicians to be on the lookout for a viral disease that is spread by small flies and some types of mosquitoes and that causes sudden fever, severe headaches and chills. Cases of Oropouche virus disease have been climbing in South America and the Caribbean […]
Aug 20, 2024
Mpox virus detected in Pakistan, health authorities say
Reuters Pakistan’s health ministry has confirmed at least one case of the mpox virus in a patient who had returned from a Gulf country, it said on Friday, though they did not yet know the strain of the virus. A health ministry spokesperson said the sequencing of the confirmed case was underway, and that it […]
Aug 20, 2024