Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Measles outbreak inside Chicago Police District
CBS Sunday morning as police briefed the media on a mass shooting that happened overnight, CBS 2 cameras stumbled upon a notice outside the 25th Police District some find concerning. It notified the community about an apparent measles outbreak inside the station, and added that those entering the building are putting themselves at risk. The […]
Jun 6, 2023
Liberia: Gov’t Dispels ‘Ebola Outbreak’ Claims
Liberian Observer The Ministry of Health has broken its silence to deny reports that the deadly Ebola virus, which wreaked havoc on the county years back, has emerged once again. The Ministry, in a release noted that the report of such was not just a lie but a conspiracy theory designed to instill fear in […]
Jun 6, 2023
The SPIN framework to control and prevent the Marburg virus disease outbreak in Equatorial Guinea
NIH Abstract A full grasp of the epidemiological factors promoting transmission is necessary for responding to highly infectious diseases, which involves their control and prevention. With the recent outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) in Equatorial Guinea, we saw the need to re-shed some technical light based on our field experiences and published literature. We […]
Jun 6, 2023
Tanzania Declares End of Deadly Marburg Virus Outbreak
VOA Tanzania on Friday declared the end of a deadly outbreak of the Marburg virus, more than two months after it was first confirmed, the World Health Organization said. Nine cases – eight confirmed and one probable – and six deaths were recorded in the outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever in the northwestern region of […]
Jun 6, 2023
Mysterious COVID strain found in central Ohio
NBC Viral researchers believe someone in central Ohio has been infected with COVID-19 for at least two years, and they want to find that person. While the researchers believe there is no threat to public health, they hope this case holds much-needed answers to treating long COVID. Molecular virologist Dr. Marc Johnson, a microbiology professor […]
Jun 6, 2023
The Medieval Black Death Made You Healthier—If You Survived
Time Game of Thrones doesn’t tell you the half of it. Life during the medieval ages was nasty, brutish and short. That was especially true during what became known as the Black Death. The widespread outbreak of plague struck between 1347 and 1351, killing tens of millions of people, resulting in the loss of 30 to […]
Jun 6, 2023
Martha Nelson on the SARS-CoV-2 virus in deer
Penn State “There don’t appear to be evolutionary adaptations required for human SARS-CoV-2 virus to transmit in deer so far,” said Eberly College of Science alumna Martha Nelson, reflecting on her past two years of work as a staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She discussed how the same variants of the […]
Jun 6, 2023
Covid Is Coming Back in China; Lockdowns Are Not
NYT In December, China abruptly abandoned its draconian “Zero Covid” policies, battered by a surge of infections and rising public anger against lockdowns. Half a year on, Covid cases again are on the rise, but this time the nation appears to be determined to press on with normal life as the government focuses on reigniting […]
Jun 6, 2023
For These Bird Flu Researchers, Work Is a Day at the Very ‘Icky’ Beach
NYT The H5N1 virus poses “a great unknown threat” to birds and humans alike. Understanding and thwarting it begins with excrement collection. It was a glorious day for field work on the shores of the Delaware Bay. The late afternoon sun cast a warm glow over the gently sloping beach. The receding tide revealed a […]
Jun 6, 2023
Vaccination and awareness could help keep mpox in check this summer
NPR A dozen people came down with mpox in Chicago around early May, prompting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to warn doctors of a potential mpox resurgence. To those that were watching mpox closely, the increase in U.S. cases wasn’t a surprise. New cases had been recently reported in Europe, and U.S. health officials had been […]
Jun 6, 2023