Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Flu continues to spread across the U.S., infecting millions, CDC reports
(NBC News) The floodgates have opened on the flu, with millions of people across the U.S. reporting the illness and nearly 3,000 deaths from influenza since the beginning of October, according to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With the start of the holiday season and large family gatherings, cases are […]
Nov 29, 2022
Avian flu outbreak wipes out 50.54 mln U.S. birds, a record
(Reuters) Avian flu has wiped out 50.54 million birds in the United States this year, making it the country’s deadliest outbreak in history, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed on Thursday. The deaths of chickens, turkeys and other birds represent the worst U.S. animal-health disaster to date, topping the previous record of 50.5 million birds that died […]
Nov 29, 2022
Polio is back in Indonesia, sparking vaccination campaign
(AP) Children in school uniforms and toddlers with their parents lined up Monday for polio vaccinations in the Sigli town square on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, after four children were found infected with the highly contagious disease that was declared eliminated in the country less than a decade ago. The […]
Nov 29, 2022
Covid becomes plague of elderly, reviving debate over ‘acceptable loss’
(Washington Post) In October, Felton’s team logged six deaths due to the virus, many of them among vaccinated people. Their ages: 80s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 90s.They included Betty Witzel, 88, described by her family as a tomboy who carried snakes in her pocket as a child and grew up to be a teacher, mother of […]
Nov 29, 2022
WHO Issues New Name for Monkeypox
(MedPageToday) Monkeypox has been renamed mpox in order reduce stigmatization and racism associated with the name, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced. While the process of changing the name of a virus would normally take a couple of years, the process was accelerated in this case. Mpox will enter ICD-10 online within days as a synonym […]
Nov 29, 2022
MRI Highlights Brain Blips Long After COVID Symptoms Have Subsided
(MedPageToday) A specialized type of MRI showed lingering brain abnormalities in patients up to 6 months after they recovered from COVID-19. Data from susceptibility-weighted MRI in 46 COVID-recovered patients and 30 healthy controls showed that the former had significantly higher susceptibility values in regions of the frontal lobe and brain stem, according to Vidur Mahajan, […]
Nov 29, 2022
Promising Research Working Toward RSV Prevention
(Univ Colorado) As the number of hospitalizations related to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) continues to climb steeply throughout Colorado, with a reported 1,139 hospitalizations since Oct. 1, clinician and researcher Eric Simões, MD, is leading two studies that he hopes will help curtail future RSV surges. Simões, a clinical professor of pediatric infectious diseases in the University of Colorado School of […]
Nov 28, 2022
Fauci: RSV cases at “critical” point, hopeful rates decline soon
(Axios) Spiking cases of (RSV) among children are currently at a critical juncture in the U.S. but will hopefully begin declining from their peak soon, outgoing NIAID director Anthony Fauci told CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. (Transcript here)
Nov 28, 2022
San Francisco Bay Area children’s hospitals enacting contingency plans to deal with RSV surge
(SF Gate) As a surge in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases sweeps across the Bay Area, the region’s children’s hospitals are enacting contingency plans to deal with an increase in patients. UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Mission Bay has erected a tent with seven additional beds, and the hospital’s Oakland location is using an annex with […]
Nov 28, 2022