Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Is it Covid, flu or RSV? A few hallmarks can help distinguish among the illnesses
(NBC News) Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are together driving a national wave of respiratory illnesses. Around 76% of U.S. hospital inpatient beds are full, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Pediatric beds are at a similar level, though six states have 90% or more of their pediatric beds full, […]
Nov 28, 2022
Uganda to close schools early for Christmas
(BBC) It might seem like Christmas is coming early for students in Uganda as millions of them head home early for the school holidays on Friday. Yet the decision to close schools nationwide two weeks before the end of term has been taken to curb the spread of Ebola, as the country continues to battle […]
Nov 28, 2022
Uganda’s president extends Ebola epicentre’s quarantine for 21 days
(Reuters) Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has extended a quarantine placed on two districts that are the epicentre of the country’s Ebola outbreak by 21 days, adding that his government’s response to the disease was succeeding. Movement into and out of Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda will be restricted up to Dec. 17, the […]
Nov 28, 2022
COVID-19 disrupts gut microbiome
(NIH) The trillions of microbes living in the gut—bacteria, fungi, and viruses—are known collectively as the gut microbiome. Research has shown that changes in gut microbes may contribute to a variety of diseases and conditions. COVID-19 patients often have imbalances in their gut microbes that allow antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections to take over. These patients also […]
Nov 22, 2022
The Monkeypox Cases That Might Have Been Missed
(NYT) Despite monkeypox fading from public attention, scientists are still learning how it spreads — including without sexual contact or any symptoms. In the monkeypox outbreak that unspooled this summer in the United States and dozens of other countries, men who have sex with men were the most at risk. But thousands of women were […]
Nov 22, 2022
What Covid taught scientists and the public about the flu
(NBC News) For nearly three years, the medical and scientific world scrutinized Covid. That research helped experts gain a new understanding of a much older virus: the flu. On March 3, 2020, the head of the World Health Organization began a daily press briefing exhorting countries around the world to do more to stop the spread […]
Nov 22, 2022
Uganda Ebola Virus Disease Situation Report No 56
(Relief Web) Today marks 65 days of response to the EVD outbreak, first case was confirmed on 19-Sep-2022. (Download full report here)
Nov 22, 2022
Competition between respiratory viruses may hold off a ‘tripledemic’ this winter
(Science) Researchers say there is a growing body of evidence these viruses interfere with each other’s spread. Triple threat. Tripledemic. A viral perfect storm. These frightening phrases have dominated recent headlines as some health officials, clinicians, and scientists forecast that SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) could surge at the same time in Northern […]
Nov 22, 2022
Gang Warfare Cripples Haiti’s Fight Against Cholera
(New York Times) The disease is spreading in the Caribbean nation in part because armed groups control poor neighborhoods with ruthless violence and prevent doctors from providing basic care. To reach the hospital, the mothers traveled the front lines of a gang war, bringing sick babies during lulls in gun battles and passing corpses along […]
Nov 21, 2022
Vaccine Breakthrough Could Finally Bring COVID to Its Knees
(DailyBeast) With new COVID variants and subvariants evolving faster and faster, each chipping away at the effectiveness of the leading vaccines, the hunt is on for a new kind of vaccine—one that works equally well on current and future forms of the novel coronavirus. Now researchers at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland think they’ve found a […]
Nov 21, 2022