Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Colorado: An emergency room physician describes why the 2025-26 flu season is hitting hard
The Conversation Colorado is in the midst of a record-breaking flu season. In the week ending Dec. 27, 2025, 831 people were hospitalized with influenza – the most since the state started tracking flu cases two decades ago. Hospitalizations eased the following week to 737 but still remain higher than prior years. Colorado is among the top five states with the […]
Jan 14, 2026
Poultry farms need an avian flu emergency preparedness plan
Watt Poultry Commercial poultry operations should have an avian influenza emergency preparedness plan as a tool to protect the health and safety of workers, veterinarians and anyone else who comes into contact with poultry. Matthew Spencer, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association vice president of HR and safety programs, highlighted basic requirements of such an emergency preparedness plan during the […]
Jan 14, 2026
The expanding H5N1 avian influenza panzootic causes high mortality of skuas in Antarctica
Nature High pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 subtype (H5N1 HPAIV), clade 2.3.4.4b, is expanding its host and geographical range, and invaded Antarctica in 2023. Although mortality in Antarctic wildlife from H5N1 HPAIV has been suspected, mainly based on virological analysis of swabs collected from dead animals, it has not been unequivocally diagnosed. Here we show […]
Jan 14, 2026
The Flu Really Is That Bad
The Atlantic The virus is storming the country, a reminder of how terrible its toll can be. The flu situation in the United States right now is, in a word, bad. Infections have skyrocketed in recent weeks, filling hospitals nearly to capacity; viral levels are “high” or “very high” in most of the country. In […]
Jan 14, 2026
The Best Flu Drug Americans Aren’t Taking
The Atlantic This flu season has been rough. Antivirals can help. Antiviral drugs for influenza, the best known of which is Tamiflu, are—let’s be honest—not exactly miracle cures. They marginally shorten the course of illness, especially if taken within the first 48 hours. But amid possibly the worst flu season in 25 years, driven by […]
Jan 14, 2026
South Carolina confirms 124 new measles cases as outbreak on the Arizona-Utah line grows
AP Health officials in South Carolina confirmed 124 new measles cases since Friday, as the outbreak in the northwestern part of the state balloons following the holidays. There is a second, separate measles outbreak along the Arizona-Utah border, where 418 people have been infected since August. Last year was the nation’s worst year for measles spread since […]
Jan 14, 2026
COVID Continues to Take a Toll, Especially Among Older Adults, Study Suggests
MedPageToday However, estimated COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths did decrease from 2022 to 2024. Despite the end to the public health emergency declaration in May 2023, COVID-19 continued to have a large impact on the U.S. population and healthcare system, a cross-sectional study suggested. From October 2022 to September 2023, there were an estimated 43.6 million […]
Jan 7, 2026
COVID-19 still claims more than 100,000 US lives each year
Medical Express Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers report national estimates of 43.6 million COVID-19-associated illnesses and 101,300 deaths in the US during October 2022 to September 2023, plus 33.0 million illnesses and 100,800 deaths during October 2023 to September 2024. People 65 years and older accounted for the majority of hospitalizations and deaths.COVID-19 […]
Jan 7, 2026
The role of wild birds in the global highly pathogenic avian influenza H5 panzootic, 2020–2023
Nature The emergence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5 clade 2.3.4.4b has triggered an unprecedented global panzootic in recent years. As the frequency and scale of HPAI H5 outbreaks continue to rise, understanding how wild birds contribute to shape the global virus spread across regions—affecting poultry, domestic and wild mammals—is increasingly critical. In this […]
Jan 7, 2026
‘It’s completely out of control’: Scientists warn bird flu could spark a human pandemic in 2026
Science Focus Bird flu has been rampaging through wildlife and farm animals worldwide. Will it make the long-feared jump to people? When a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu strain of avian influenza (H5N1) began sweeping across wild birds and poultry in 2020, it already looked concerning. Five years on, the picture has grown darker […]
Jan 7, 2026