Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
New study tallies excess physician deaths during early pandemic
(AMA) When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the world was caught off guard and left unprepared with how to handle this novel infection. As a result, it exacted a toll many would never have imagined possible. COVID-19 has killed nearly 1.1 million people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data tracker. Yet […]
Feb 7, 2023
New study uncovers the 7 most common long COVID symptoms. Not all experts agree
(Today) Despite the plethora of symptoms reported by patients with long COVID, a new study points to just seven that are unique to the illness. However, some long COVID researchers and doctors who’ve treated the disease believe this list is far from comprehensive. The goal of the study was to look for long COVID symptoms […]
Feb 7, 2023
A Secret Weapon in Preventing the Next Pandemic: Fruit Bats
(Scientific American) New research links bat habitat destruction with the spillover of their viruses to humans. More than four dozen Jamaican fruit bats destined for a lab in Bozeman, Montana, are set to become part of an experiment with an ambitious goal: predicting the next global pandemic. Bats worldwide are primary vectors for virus transmission […]
Feb 7, 2023
Alarming Spread of Bird Flu Continues as More Species Infected
(Science Alert) Experts have warned that the recent detection of bird flu in mammals including foxes, otters, minks, seals, and even grizzly bears is concerning but emphasized that the virus would have to significantly mutate to spread between humans.
Feb 6, 2023
Free-Range Egg Supply at Risk as UK Poultry Kept Indoors While Bird-Flu Rages
(Bloomberg) UK chickens and hens will stay indoors until the country’s worst-ever bird flu outbreak abates further. While risk levels are reviewed weekly, housing orders in place since November in England may not lift until spring, when wild birds that carry the virus migrate elsewhere, Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said Tuesday. That means free-range eggs — […]
Jan 31, 2023
Three Montana Grizzly Bears Euthanized Last Fall Tested Positive for Avian Flu
(NYT) The bears are believed to have contracted the virus from diseased birds, amid what a U.S.D.A. spokesman called the “largest foreign animal disease outbreak in U.S. history.” Three young grizzly bears in Montana that were euthanized last fall later tested positive for the highly contagious avian influenza, the state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks service announced […]
Jan 31, 2023
As egg prices soar, the deadliest bird flu outbreak in US history drags on
(ARS Technica) The ongoing bird flu outbreak in the US is now the longest and deadliest on record. More than 57 million birds have been killed by the virus or culled since a year ago, and the deadly disruption has helped propel skyrocketing egg prices and a spike in egg smuggling. Since highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) […]
Jan 31, 2023
Highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection in farmed minks, Spain, October 2022
(Eurosurveillance) This report describes an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) detected in intensively farmed minks in Europe, which occurred in the Galicia region in northwest Spain in October 2022. We present an in-depth description of the epidemiological, clinical and genetic investigations of this outbreak affecting a single farm and discuss public health […]
Jan 31, 2023
‘Incredibly concerning’: Bird flu outbreak at Spanish mink farm triggers pandemic fears
(Science) Spread among captive mink could give the H5N1 strain opportunities to evolve and adapt to mammals. When mink at a big farm in Galicia, a region in northwestern Spain, started to die in October 2022, veterinarians initially thought the culprit might be SARS-CoV-2, which has struck mink farms in several other countries. But lab […]
Jan 31, 2023
Bangladesh: Nipah virus kills at least five this winter, infects more
(BG News) Health Minister Zahid Maleque has said the Nipah virus afflicted eight people around the country this winter, claiming five lives. Most of the cases were from Rajshahi Division and all were currently in treatment, Maleque said on Sunday. “The infected are under care at the Mohakhali Infectious Disease Hospital. Authorities have set up […]
Jan 31, 2023