Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Sex workers find themselves at the center of Congo’s mpox outbreak
AP It’s been four months since Sifa Kunguja recovered from mpox, but as a sex worker, she said, she’s still struggling to regain clients, with fear and stigma driving away people who’ve heard she had the virus. “It’s risky work,” Kunguja, 40, said from her small home in eastern Congo. “But if I don’t work, I […]
Oct 2, 2024
The Filoviruses
CEPI Dr Jean-Jacques Muyembe was a newly-qualified microbiologist working as a field epidemiologist when he got a call in 1976 to help investigate an outbreak. A pernicious disease had taken hold in the village of Yambuku in central Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. People were dying in large numbers of the infection – one that […]
Oct 2, 2024
MVD: UNICEF Rwanda Flash Update
Relief Web Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) outbreak was declared on 27 September 2024. UNICEF sourced from UNICEF Tanzania 19,200 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE), including boots, coveralls, face shields and gloves have arrived in-country. Additional procurement is being made including additional PPE as well as Water,Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) supplies to help the Ministry […]
Oct 1, 2024
Marburg virus outbreak in Rwanda draws concern over possibility of international spread
STAT A large outbreak of Marburg virus in Rwanda is drawing international concern about the possibility of spread beyond the country’s borders. The number of cases detected so far, 27, already makes the outbreak one of the biggest involving Marburg on record. Nine of those individuals have died. There are currently no licensed vaccines to combat the disease. Most […]
Oct 1, 2024
Rwanda limits funeral sizes due to Marburg virus outbreak
BBC Rwandan authorities have restricted funeral sizes for victims of Marburg virus in an effort to curb an outbreak of the highly contagious disease. Eight people have died during Rwanda’s first outbreak of the virus, which was confirmed on Friday by the nation’s health ministry. Marburg, with a fatality rate of up to 88%, is […]
Oct 1, 2024
Outbreak of Whooping Cough Hitting Vaccinated Kids and Parents
Bloomberg When Patricia Teklu’s daughter started coughing uncontrollably, her pediatrician said it was a routine asthma flare up. But that didn’t explain the eight nosebleeds she endured in just one day. “She was coughing so much that she literally could not breathe,” said Teklu, a 36-year-old software sales executive from Boston. The spasms were so […]
Oct 1, 2024
Possible Cluster of Human Bird-Flu Infections Expands in Missouri
NYT Seven people in contact with a patient hospitalized with bird flu also developed symptoms, the C.D.C. reported. Some are undergoing further tests. A possible cluster of bird-flu infections in Missouri has grown to include eight people, in what may be the first examples of person-to-person transmission in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control […]
Oct 1, 2024
CDC Statement on Marburg Cases in Rwanda
CDC CDC is aware of 26 individuals with Marburg virus disease, as confirmed by the Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Health. According to the Ministry, eight of those individuals have died. CDC is in communication with health officials in the Republic of Rwanda and across the region. To date, no cases of Marburg virus disease related […]
Oct 1, 2024
Rwanda is dealing with its first outbreak of deadly Marburg virus disease
CNN For the first time in Rwanda’s history, its health ministry is dealing with an outbreak of Marburg virus disease, a rare but deadly hemorrhagic disease similar to Ebola – but unlike Ebola, there is no treatment or vaccines for Marburg, and it has a fatality rate of 88%. So far, 26 people have gotten sick, 18 are […]
Oct 1, 2024
BARDA awards $29 million to Basilea Pharmaceutica for first-in-class anti-fungal treatments
BARDA BARDA awarded an initial $29 million under an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) to Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd. Allschwil, to develop two anti-fungal therapeutics, Fosmanogepix and BAL2062, both with the potential to treat drug-resistant invasive fungal infections. Additional funding could be awarded by BARDA if contract options are exercised. Under the terms of the OTA […]
Sep 25, 2024