Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
GCHS COVID Update by Dr. Lawler
UNMC GCHS Dr. Lawler provides recent data and the 2023-2024 season outlook on the 3 main respiratory viruses: COVID-19, RSV, and Influenza.
Oct 17, 2023
Long COVID, ‘Long Cold’: What to Know About Post-Acute Infection Syndromes
Yale Medicine Researchers are exploring how various pathogens cause chronic symptoms. As researchers learn more about Long COVID and what causes coronavirus symptoms to persist, attention is shifting to other post-acute infection syndromes, including what some are calling “long cold.” It’s long been known that various viruses can cause symptoms—sometimes mild, sometimes debilitating—to persist for […]
Oct 17, 2023
Norway reports bird flu outbreak in backyard poultry
Reuters Norway has reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, among poultry in the northern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Tuesday. The bird flu outbreak was found in a backyard with 19 domestic birds, the Paris-based body said, quoting information from […]
Oct 17, 2023
Can Rapid COVID Tests Reveal More Than a Positive/Negative Result?
MedPageToday Experts agree that rapid antigen test kits can show degrees of infectiousness. At-home rapid COVID-19 tests can reveal more about viral load than a simple positive/negative result, according to experts. “By definition, the basic technology suggests that you somehow have to go from a negative ‘zero’ line to a dark line, and within that […]
Oct 11, 2023
Super-chickens to the rescue: Scientists show how CRISPR gene editing can combat bird flu
USA Today The chicken may be getting an upgrade. In a scientific first, U.K. researchers have used gene editing technology to create poultry that’s partially resistant to bird flu infection, according to a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications. It’s no bionic chicken. But study authors say growing disease-resistant chickens in the lab is an […]
Oct 10, 2023
Maryland Dept of Health The Maryland Department of Health today announced the first travel-related Powassan virus death in Maryland. The Department confirmed the presence of Powassan, which is spread by the bite of an infected tick, on Sept. 22, with subsequent follow-ups reinforcing that result. “We are very saddened to report the first death due […]
Oct 10, 2023
Cambodia records second bird flu death in a week, third this year
Journal Record A 2-year-old girl is the second person in Cambodia to die of bird flu this week, and the third this year, the country’s Health Ministry has announced. Laboratory tests confirmed that the girl, who lived in the southeastern province of Prey Veng, died Monday with H5N1 avian influenza, the ministry said in a […]
Oct 10, 2023
‘Unprecedented outbreak’ of bird flu reaches Puget Sound harbor seals
Seattle News They might be fun to look at, but experts a warning to keep distance from harbor seals in the Puget Sound. This warning comes after a worldwide outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza jumped to local harbor seals. In September, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) fisheries announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary […]
Oct 10, 2023
Humans Can No Longer Ignore the Threat of Fungi
The Atlantic Back at the turn of the 21st century, valley fever was an obscure fungal disease in the United States, with fewer than 3,000 reported cases a year, mostly in California and Arizona. Two decades later, cases of valley fever have exploded, increasing roughly sevenfold by 2019. And valley fever isn’t alone. Fungal diseases […]
Oct 4, 2023
How is leprosy spreading domestically in the US? Some experts point to armadillos.
USA Today There’s a medical mystery brewing in Florida and an unsuspecting, mild-mannered mammal may be at the center of it. Some experts say the nine-banded armadillo may be behind a rise in domestically transmitted cases of leprosy. Another group quick to defend the armored creature says there’s little data to support armadillos – which […]
Oct 3, 2023