Year: 2024
A new outbreak is plaguing the West
Deseret News Richard Geary heard word of the contagion around the turn of spring, when it was still distant. News reports and murmurs among fellow veterinarians revealed livestock herds about 1,000 miles away in Kansas had fallen ill with a confusing new ailment. In the 35 years he’s been treating animals across southeast Idaho, Geary […]
Sep 24, 2024
CDC says a second health care worker tied to Missouri bird flu case had symptoms
NBC A second health worker in contact with the Missouri patient who tested positive for H5N1 also developed respiratory symptoms but wasn’t tested for influenza, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The Missouri bird flu patient, who didn’t have known contact with poultry or dairy cows, was hospitalized in August and tested positive for the H5 virus. […]
Sep 24, 2024
Is bird flu spreading among people? Data gaps leave researchers in the dark
Nature Researchers are anxiously awaiting data from the midwestern state about a mysterious bird flu infection in a person who had no known contact with potential animal carriers of the disease. The data could reveal whether the ongoing US bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle has reached a dreaded turning point: the emergence of a virus capable […]
Sep 24, 2024
Almost 30,000 suspected mpox cases in Africa this year, WHO says
Reuters Nearly 30,000 suspected mpox cases have been reported in Africa so far this year, most of them in Democratic Republic of Congo where tests have run out, the World Health Organization said on Monday. More than 800 people died of suspected mpox across the continent in that time, the U.N. health body said in […]
Sep 24, 2024
Thousands of turkeys killed in Merced County as officials battle avian flu outbreak
Fresno Bee More than 64,000 turkeys at a Merced County poultry operation are being killed after agriculture officials recently discovered they were infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza. The highly contagious and deadly virus has become the scourge of the poultry industry since an outbreak began in 2022. More than 92 million poultry and […]
Sep 24, 2024
New York Resident Dies of Eastern Equine Encephalitis Infection
New York Times The first person to be diagnosed with Eastern equine encephalitis in New York in nearly a decade has died, prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul to declare the rare, mosquito-borne viral illness an imminent public health threat on Monday. Ms. Hochul announced the death, in Ulster County, in a news release outlining the steps that state officials are […]
Sep 24, 2024
FDA approves first nasal spray flu vaccine for use at home
Washington Post The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first at-home flu vaccine, a nasal spray that consumers with a prescription will be able to order online starting next year. Health experts say the convenience of the spray — FluMist — could lead to increased flu vaccination rates. The maker of the vaccine, […]
Sep 24, 2024
Vaccine Misinformation Spreads as Children Head Back to School
KFF This edition highlights vaccine hesitancy and misinformation around MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccines as children return to school and measles cases resurge in parts of the U.S. We also examine emerging narratives around COVID-19 vaccine misinformation following the FDA approval of COVID-19 boosters and false claims linking mpox to the vaccines. Additionally, a review of recent research explores […]
Sep 18, 2024
Research Shows Severe COVID-19 Contributes to Long-Lasting Cognitive Impairment
University of Miami In a study that followed COVID-19 patients for two years or more, researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine showed the disease contributes to long-lasting brain fog and other cognitive issues. These results could be especially concerning for Hispanic, Black and other underrepresented communities, which are already at higher […]
Sep 18, 2024
A history of mpox so far
STAT In August, the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and several other African countries a public health emergency of international concern. This is the second time in two years that mpox, formerly called monkeypox, has been listed as a PHEIC. In 2022, mpox spread through multiple […]
Sep 18, 2024