Year: 2024
The majority of mpox cases can’t be tracked
Devex Health responders are largely not able to track how the virus is moving from person to person as cases steadily increase across the African continent. As cases of mpox steadily increase across the African continent, some 68% of them don’t have an epidemiological link — meaning they’re popping up among people that health workers aren’t […]
Oct 2, 2024
The Current International Mpox Emergency and the U.S. Role: An Explainer
KFF Major outbreaks of mpox – the infectious disease previously called monkeypox – are ongoing in a number of African countries, in particular the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In addition, several mpox cases linked to the DRC outbreak have now been identified in some non-African countries, including Sweden and Thailand. Due to these […]
Oct 2, 2024
NIAID’s Jeanne Marrazzo speaks on bird flu, mpox, and succeeding Anthony Fauci
STAT Political repair work has mixed with concern about outbreaks of infectious diseases. A year ago last week, Jeanne Marrazzo stepped into a very big pair of shoes. Marrazzo became the first new director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in decades, taking over a job held for 38 years by Anthony […]
Oct 2, 2024
Marburg is an especially scary virus. How scared should we be of Rwanda’s outbreak?
NPR “Do not continue your daily activities” if you have a high fever, a severe headache, diarrhea or vomiting, urged Sabin Nsanzimana in a press conference this weekend. If you are healthy, live life as normal and do “not panic,” he said. But those feeling sick must seek immediate medical attention. Nsanzimana is Rwanda’s health minister — […]
Oct 2, 2024
Toll in Rwanda Marburg outbreak rises to 11
Medical Express Five more people in Rwanda have died of the deadly Ebola-like Marburg disease, bringing the number of fatalities to 11, the health ministry said late Tuesday. With a fatality rate of up to 88 percent, the highly infectious hemorrhagic fever is often accompanied by bleeding and organ failure. Some 29 people have been confirmed to […]
Oct 2, 2024
‘Highly aggressive’ day-biting mosquitoes found in Santa Clara
Santa Clara News A “highly aggressive” mosquito species that feeds “almost exclusively on humans” was detected in Santa Clara, county officials warned on Monday. The county’s Vector Control District found Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in a residential area of the City of Santa Clara. The district identified 58 mosquitoes surrounding Agate Drive and Moraine Drive. Aedes aegypti […]
Oct 2, 2024
3 Things to Know About XEC, the Latest COVID Strain
Yale Medicine Experts think this new, highly transmissible variant could soon take hold in the U.S. A new highly transmissible coronavirus subvariant is starting to spread in the United States. Experts say it could become the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain just in time for winter, when COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations tend to peak. The variant is called XEC. […]
Oct 2, 2024
First human case of emerging tick-borne disease reported in Connecticut
NBC Local News The first locally acquired case of an emerging tick-borne disease has been reported in Connecticut. The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station said this is the first locally acquired human case of Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis in Connecticut and it’s also the first report of the disease in the northeast. Dr. Peter Krause, a Yale […]
Oct 2, 2024
Valley fever is a growing risk in Central California; few visitors ever get a warning
Los Angeles Times Some experts warn that the fungus that causes valley fever is growing increasingly resistant to drugs — a phenomenon they say is due to the spraying of antifungal agents on area crops. In 2001, fewer than 1,500 Californians were diagnosed with valley fever. Last year, that number rose to more than 9,000. […]
Oct 2, 2024
California faces ‘unprecedented’ local spread of dengue fever, possibly driven by climate change
The HIll California last week clocked its fourth case of locally transmitted dengue fever this year — an alarming rise in a sometimes-deadly disease that experts fear could be fueled by climate change. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed the newest incidence of the mosquito-borne illness in a resident of Panorama City, a neighborhood in […]
Oct 2, 2024