Recent News

By Category: Public Health

Yellow Fever Outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo

(GlobalBiodefense) An emergency mass vaccination campaign against yellow fever is being launched next week in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following laboratory confirmation of six cases in the country to date. The campaign aims to cover at least 503,426 people in three affected health zones. The six laboratory-confirmed cases included four patients in Lubao Read More »

June 17, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, and Public Health
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Update to Interim Guidance for Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for the Prevention of HIV Infection: PrEP for Injecting Drug Users

(CDC) On June 12, 2013, the Thailand Ministry of Health and CDC published results from a randomized controlled trial of a daily oral dose of 300 mg of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) that showed efficacy in reducing the acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among injecting drug users (IDUs) (1). Based on these findings, Read More »

June 14, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)

(WHO) The Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia has announced an additional three laboratory-confirmed cases, including one death with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). The first patient is a 63-year-old woman with underlying medical conditions from the Eastern region, the second patient is a 75-year-old man with underlying medical conditions from Al-Ahsa governorate and Read More »

June 14, 2013
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South Asia, Agents & Toxins, International, and Public Health
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3 Severe E. coli Illnesses in MA Town

(FoodSafteyNews) Since May 20, three women have been admitted to Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Mass., suffering from severe E. coli infections in an apparent outbreak now under investigation by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. A spokeswoman for the state health department confirmed the investigation to Food Safety News after our reporters received a forwarded Read More »

June 14, 2013
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Agriculture, and Public Health
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A Single Amino Acid Change Switches Avian Influenza H5N1 and H7N9 Viruses to Human Receptors

(WatchingTheWatchers) Two back-to-back papers were published last week that provide a detailed analysis of what it would take for avian influenza H5N1 and H7N9 viruses to switch to human receptors. Influenza virus initiates infection by attaching to the cell surface, a process mediated by binding of the viral hemagglutinin protein (HA) to sialic acid. This Read More »