Category: Featured Headlines
Canadian teen with avian flu is off oxygen, no longer infectious, health officials tell medical journal
CBC Source of 13-year-old girl’s exposure hasn’t been determined, letter to New England Journal of Medicine says. A letter sent to the editor of The New England Journal of Medicine signed by Canadian health officials says the British Columbia teenager who tested positive for avian flu has been taken off supplemental oxygen and is no longer […]
Jan 7, 2025
What We Know About HMPV, the Virus Spreading in China
NYT While cases are climbing in China, the situation is very different from what it was when Covid-19 emerged five years ago, medical experts say. HMPV is common and decades old. Reports of a surge in cases of a respiratory virus in China have evoked dark echoes of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic almost […]
Jan 7, 2025
Sick Season Is in Full Force. Here’s What’s Going Around
Time The holidays came with a side of flu for many Americans, with 40 states reporting high or very high levels of illness last week, according to the latest government health data. “A lot of flu out there,” said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Carrie Reed. Of course, there are a number of bugs […]
Jan 7, 2025
First H5 Bird Flu Death Reported in United States
CDC CDC is saddened by Louisiana’s report that a person previously hospitalized with severe avian influenza A(H5N1) illness (“H5N1 bird flu”) has passed away. While tragic, a death from H5N1 bird flu in the United States is not unexpected because of the known potential for infection with these viruses to cause severe illness and death. […]
Jan 7, 2025
India’s first human metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases confirmed, but officials say “no reason to worry”
CBS News Indian officials have confirmed the vast nation’s first cases of human metapneumovirus, often called HMPV, with seven people said to have contracted the virus as of Tuesday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research. Two of the HMPV infections were reported in the central Indian city of Nagpur on Tuesday, while two cases […]
Jan 7, 2025
First Bird Flu Death in U.S. Reported in Louisiana
NYT The deceased was over 65 and had other medical conditions, state officials said. A Louisiana patient who had been hospitalized with severe bird flu has died, the first such fatality in the United States, state health officials reported on Monday. The patient was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions, the officials said. […]
Jan 7, 2025
Investigation of Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Virus in Dairy Cattle
FDA The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with state partners, continue to investigate an outbreak of Avian Influenza A (H5N1) impacting poultry, dairy cows, and people in multiple states. The responsibility of the FDA is to protect the public health […]
Jan 2, 2025
FDA testing aged raw cow’s milk cheese for bird flu
The Hill The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will begin collecting samples of raw cow’s milk cheese from across the U.S. to test for the presence of bird flu, spurred on by the ongoing outbreaks of H5N1 in multiple states. In the announcement published Monday, the FDA said the goal of testing will be two-fold: detecting […]
Jan 2, 2025
Bird Flu Samples From Very Ill Patient Had ‘Concerning’ Mutations
NYT Tiny genetic alterations could help the bird flu virus enter cells in the upper respiratory tract, the C.D.C. said. But there is no sign that mutations are widespread in nature. After someone in southwest Louisiana was hospitalized with a severe case of bird flu, the first such illness reported in the United States, health […]
Jan 2, 2025
A fungus sickened more than 150 Michigan workers. The CDC still isn’t sure why it happened
Lansing Journal A common soil fungus sickened more than 150 Michigan paper mill workers, and killed one, in what health officials called the largest such outbreak in U.S. history, but the exact cause remains elusive, they said this week. The Centers for Disease Control said a 2022-23 outbreak of blastomycosis at Escanaba’s Billerud Paper infected […]
Jan 2, 2025