Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
A new COVID variant is spreading in the US: What are the symptoms?
USA Today A new COVID-19 variant that was unheard of just months ago is now projected to be the second-most common strain in the United States. Variant NB.1.8.1 was first detected in China in January but accounted for about 0% of cases in the United States until May. By early June, it was estimated to account for […]
Jun 25, 2025
‘I Feel Like I’ve Been Lied To’: When a Measles Outbreak Hits Home
NYT From a lone clinic in Texas to an entire school district in North Dakota, the virus is upending daily life and revealing a deeper crisis of belief. He was a chiropractor by training, but in a remote part of West Texas with limited medical care, Kiley Timmons had become a first stop for whatever […]
Jun 25, 2025
Illinois confirms first 2025 human case of West Nile virus
Chicago Sun Times The case this year is the earliest detection in nearly a decade. The virus carried by mosquitoes poses the greatest risk to people over 65 and the immunocompromised. A downstate resident has tested positive for West Nile virus, marking the first detection of the mosquito-transmitted disease in humans in Illinois this year […]
Jun 25, 2025
Veterinarian dies from tick-borne disease after treating infected cats in west Japan
Mainichi A veterinarian in Mie Prefecture who treated cats infected with an ixodid tick-borne disease has died from the same illness, the local veterinarians’ association told the Mainichi Shimbun on June 13. The veterinarian is believed to have contracted “severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS)” from one of the cats, prompting the Japan Veterinary Medical […]
Jun 18, 2025
Health officials warn of measles case from traveler at Dulles Airport
Washington Post Health officials in the D.C. region have issued warnings about a person infected with measles who landed at Dulles International Airport and traveled throughout the area during the past week. The D.C. health department listed in a statement posted to its website Saturday the various places the person visited. The international traveler landed at Dulles […]
Jun 18, 2025
Nationwide Avian Flu Response Gains Momentum, Yet Urgent Action Remains Essential
Contagion Since H5N1, more commonly known as avian or bird flu, first appeared in commercial poultry and backyard flocks in the US in February 2022, the threat of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus has wreaked havoc among the poultry and livestock industry for producers, veterinarians and government agencies.1 As of May 2025, the […]
Jun 18, 2025
On the brink: H5N1 and the risk to human health
The Lancet The avian influenza virus is a pathogen that has been well known to the scientific community ever since its first detection in 1996. Avian influenza is caused by a single-stranded RNA influenza A virus, and the current outbreak in North America is caused by the subtype H5N1, with waterfowl serving as its natural reservoir. […]
Jun 18, 2025
Another Bird Flu case confirmed in Cambodia
KHMER Times The Ministry of Health on the night of June 13, 2025, confirmed a new case of bird flu in a 65-year-old Cambodian woman. The woman resides in Kraing Ampil village, Taing Yap commune, Prey Kabbas district, Takeo province. The Ministry of Health said that the woman confirmed positive for the H5N1 avian influenza […]
Jun 18, 2025
At least 3% of measles cases this year were in people who were fully vaccinated, CDC says
CBS At least 3% of measles cases confirmed so far this year have been in people who received two doses of the measles vaccine, meaning they were fully vaccinated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. About three dozen of the nearly 1,200 measles infections in 2025 have been in people with two vaccine doses, the […]
Jun 18, 2025
The Tick Situation Is Getting Worse. Here’s How to Protect Yourself.
NYT As temperatures rise, ticks of several kinds are flourishing in ways that threaten people’s health. Lately, Shannon LaDeau and her colleagues have had unwelcome visitors at their office in New York’s Hudson Valley: ticks, crawling up the building and trying to get through doors. “Which is kind of alarming,” said Dr. LaDeau, a disease […]
Jun 18, 2025