Year: 2024
A virus that could lead to paralysis in kids is on the rise. How worried should parents be?
CNN Rates of enterovirus D68 infections are on the rise across the United States, according to the nonprofit WastewaterSCAN network. This common virus can lead to a rare but serious polio-like complication known as acute flaccid myelitis. Symptoms of acute flaccid myelitis include limb weakness and paralysis. Children are among those most affected by this condition. What is enterovirus D68, and how is it spread? What are its […]
Sep 25, 2024
Florida’s New Covid Booster Guidance Is Straight-Up Misinformation
KFF In what has become a pattern of spreading vaccine misinformation, the Florida health department is telling older Floridians and others at highest risk from covid-19 to avoid most booster shots, saying they are potentially dangerous. Clinicians and scientists denounced the message as politically fueled scaremongering that also weakens efforts to protect against diseases like […]
Sep 25, 2024
Whooping cough spikes, especially among unvaccinated teens
NBC News Pertussis outbreaks are at the highest level in a decade and doctors say many cases are going undetected — allowing people to spread the bacterial infection unknowingly for weeks. The U.S. is experiencing more than four times as many whooping cough cases compared with last year — a spike that some experts attribute to post-pandemic […]
Sep 25, 2024
Minnesota: Measles outbreak sickens 51
Minnesota News At least 51 people have been sickened by measles in Minnesota since May, with nearly one quarter of them ending up hospitalized, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Health. Nearly all the cases are in Hennepin County, and MPR News reports that most are among unvaccinated children in the Somali community. Overall childhood […]
Sep 25, 2024
Mpox cases in L.A. County on the rise, Public Health warns
KTLA News The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is warning about a rise in mpox cases in the Los Angeles area and urging those at the highest risk of transmission to get vaccinated against the potentially serious disease. On Monday, Public Health announced that 52 cases of the disease had been reported in […]
Sep 25, 2024
Bird flu control strategies ‘not working’: Gaps in data highlight potential for silent spread
Medical Express A review of sustained mammal-to-mammal bird flu transmission in diverse species, led by The Pirbright Institute, shows global control strategies are not working. Writing in Nature, researchers analyzed whether outbreaks in European fur farms, South American marine mammals and United States dairy cattle raise questions about whether humans are next. Led by zoonotic influenza […]
Sep 25, 2024
Deadly Fungal Infections Causing a ‘Silent Pandemic’, Scientists Warn
Science Alert Fungal infections are also adapting beyond the means of our medicine, causing a “silent pandemic” that needs to be addressed urgently, according to some researchers. “The threat of fungal pathogens and antifungal resistance, even though it is a growing global issue, is being left out of the debate,” explains molecular biologist Norman van Rhijn from […]
Sep 25, 2024
India confirms first case of deadlier mpox strain
CNN India has confirmed its first case of a deadlier strain of mpox, which has raised alarm among health officials around the world over the rapid pace of its spread. The clade Ib strain of the virus was confirmed by health authorities in the southern state of Kerala after being detected last week in a 38-year-old […]
Sep 25, 2024
Remdesivir-Dexamethasone Tied to Fewer Deaths in Severe COVID
MedPage Treatment with the antiviral remdesivir (Veklury) plus dexamethasone was linked to fewer deaths among patients hospitalized for COVID-19 compared with dexamethasone monotherapy, a retrospective study suggested. Using propensity score matching, the drug duo was associated with an overall 26% reduction in mortality at 14 days (adjusted HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.69-0.78, P<0.0001) and an overall […]
Sep 24, 2024
Avian flu outbreak devastates Michigan dairy
Farm Progress With a closed herd and all his heifers artificially inseminated — no outside bulls needed — Nathan Brearley was confident his 500-cow dairy farm in Portland, Mich., would be spared from the avian flu strain that’s affecting dairies. He was wrong. Nearly six months later after an infection on his farm, milk production […]
Sep 24, 2024