Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
An Antiviral Drug for Smallpox Didn’t Help Patients with Mpox. What’s Next?
Columbia University In 2022, mpox infections surged in the United States and other Western countries, showing that a viral illness long considered endemic in central and western Africa was capable of traveling far and wide. To treat patients, infectious disease physicians turned to an antiviral drug, tecoviromat, originally developed to treat smallpox in case of […]
Mar 4, 2026
Acting CDC director Bhattacharya urges measles vaccines
The HIll Jay Bhattacharya, the recently appointed acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on Monday urged families to consider vaccinating against measles as outbreaks across the country continue. In a video statement posted on the social media platform X, Bhattacharya discussed the steps that the CDC is taking the address the measles […]
Mar 4, 2026
CDC deploys staff to curb South Carolina’s measles outbreak
Star Advertiser U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff will arrive in South Carolina next week to help the state contain the largest measles outbreak in the country in decades years, a state official said in a briefing on Wednesday. The first CDC on the ground assist comes some five months after the South […]
Mar 4, 2026
ICE confirms a measles outbreak in the nation’s largest detention facility in Texas
NBC News The agency said it’s closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with public health authorities while the facility has been closed to visitors and attorneys. People who tested positive for the highly contagious disease at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, have been “cohorted and separated from the rest of the detained population […]
Mar 4, 2026
Parents Tried to Shield Their Children From Vaccines. Instead They Got Measles.
NYT Spartanburg County in South Carolina is ground zero for the largest measles outbreak since 2000. One school has a vaccination rate of 21 percent. The Global Academy of South Carolina, a public charter school, is housed in a glittering modern building on a sprawling campus, a 10-minute drive from the spunky downtown Spartanburg. It […]
Mar 4, 2026
CDC Details Seasonal Trends for Respiratory Viruses in the United States
Infectious Disease Advisor In the United States, seasonal respiratory viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and SARS-CoV-2 continue to substantially impact younger children and older adults, according to study findings published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detailed respiratory virus activity between July 2024 and […]
Mar 4, 2026
Meeting on U.S. Measles Status Is Delayed Until November
NYT A highly anticipated meeting to review the United States’ measles elimination status has been postponed until November. An international panel of experts had invited the United States to a meeting in April to determine whether the ongoing spread of measles would cost the country its status, a designation granted to nations that have not […]
Mar 4, 2026
Flu was again worse than covid this winter. Is that pattern here to stay?
Washington Post Flu has overtaken covid in infections and hospitalizations during the winter respiratory virus season, and their virulence is becoming similar. Heard about a lot of people getting flu this winter but not much about covid? It’s not just you. For the second winter in a row, the United States has faced a punishing […]
Mar 4, 2026
Unseasonal New World screwworm migration spurs proactive measures
Farm Progress A warmer-than-normal winter has enabled New World screwworm to overwinter in Mexico. As it inches closer to Texas, the U.S. is committed to preventing the pest from destroying its herd and wildlife. High cattle prices may be a dream come true for Texas cattleman Stephen Diebel, but the resurgence of the New World […]
Feb 25, 2026
What makes bats important reservoirs of zoonotic viruses like Nipah
Indian Express Nipah virus was first identified in 1998 during an outbreak among pig farmers in Malaysia. Later, pteropus bat populations have been identified as its primary reservoir. How do factors like ecological disruption and wildlife–human interactions contribute to the rise of infectious diseases like Nipah virus outbreaks? Human health is shaped by several existential […]
Feb 25, 2026