Recent News

By Category: Public Health

Potential biomarkers of death identified in Ebola hemorrhagic fever

(Infectious Disease News) Recent data published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases identified certain chemokines and cytokines that were associated with death, hemorrhage and viremia related to Ebola hemorrhagic fever. Researchers from the Viral Special Pathogens Branch of the CDC evaluated serum samples from patients affected by Sudan virus-associated Ebola hemorrhagic fever during an outbreak Read More »

February 27, 2014
| Filed under Agents & Toxins, Public Health, and Research
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Taming microbes to combat antibiotic resistance

(EurekAlert) With antibiotic resistant infections on the rise and a scarce pipeline of novel drugs to combat them, researchers at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) are pursuing entirely new approaches to meet the challenge of drug-resistant infections by taming microbes rather than killing them. Michael Yeaman, PhD, an Read More »

February 25, 2014
| Filed under Agents & Toxins, Biotechnology, Public Health, and Research
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Saudi Arabian Camels Carry MERS Coronavirus

(Global Biodefense) An estimated three-quarters of camels recently surveyed in Saudi Arabia have evidence of infection with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), the virus responsible for human cases of MERS. Results of the new study establish for the first time that direct camel-to-human transmission is possible and provide a pathway to control the Read More »

February 25, 2014
| Filed under Middle East, Agents & Toxins, Agriculture, Biosafety, International, and Public Health
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South Korea in rare offer of aid to North for foot-and-mouth outbreak

(Reuters) South Korea has offered North Korea help with an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in pigs, which would be the first government-level humanitarian help since 2010 and comes as ties between the rivals have been warming. North Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture said in state news agency report on Saturday at least 3,200 pigs had been Read More »

February 24, 2014
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, International, and Public Health
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Dengue fever cases in Fiji continues to rise, 4,600 cases reported

(The Global Dispatch) The dengue fever outbreak on the island of Fiji continues to grow with the latest numbers from the Ministry of Health reporting 4,600 cases, according to a Fiji Times report Saturday. In addition, they report that there may be another 3000 to 4000 suspected cases that are not reported and the World Read More »