Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
COVID-related smell loss may last years
Science News Maybe you can’t detect the scent of grass anymore. Or maybe coffee’s aroma now triggers disgust. After getting COVID-19, your sense of smell may seem persistently off. You’re not alone. Even years after an infection, most people who say they have smell loss do indeed have a dulled sense of smell when formally tested, […]
Oct 22, 2025
Measles 2025: Looking Back and Moving Forward
Contagion It should not have happened, and yet it did. We know better, but we continue to make the same mistakes. Measles (rubeola), the most contagious virus infecting humans (FIGURE 1), remains endemic in many parts of the world. Thanks to highly effective measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines, the virus was declared eliminated in […]
Oct 22, 2025
New measles cases reported in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, amid outbreak
WYFF The South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) is adding four new confirmed cases of measles in Spartanburg County since Friday, bringing the total number of cases in South Carolina this year to 23 and the number of cases in the current outbreak to 20. Two of the cases were among close contacts to known cases […]
Oct 22, 2025
Western Australia Measles Alert
WA Dept of Health There have been 51 cases of measles identified in WA in 2025 year to date, of which 11 have been identified in the current Pilbara community outbreak. Measles typically develops around 10 days after being exposed to the virus, but this can vary from 7 to 18 days. Measles is highly infectious and can spread via airborne droplets to […]
Oct 22, 2025
Slovakia reports H5N1 bird flu outbreak, WOAH says
Reuters Slovakia has reported an outbreak of bird flu on a poultry farm in the northern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Wednesday, as Europe faces a seasonal upturn in the deadly disease. The H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, killed 27 birds […]
Oct 22, 2025
Unvaccinated traveler sparks Sea-Tac measles alert
Axios Seattle A measles case tied to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is the latest sign of the virus’s national resurgence. Why it matters: Health officials warn that measles — once declared eliminated in the U.S. — is making a comeback, fueled by declining vaccination rates. Driving the news: A visitor from Arizona, unvaccinated and traveling from an outbreak area, passed through […]
Oct 22, 2025
Germany: Pet Rat Breeding Facility Linked to Rare Viral Outbreak
Wild Science A 44-year-old woman in central Germany nearly died from a virus most people have never heard of, transmitted by creatures increasingly found in living rooms across the country: pet rats. The culprit was Seoul virus, a member of the hantavirus family that lurks in rat urine, feces, and saliva. After visiting a private […]
Oct 22, 2025
Germany: Never experienced anything like this”: Avian flu devastating crane populations, experts say
Global News Video Scientists in Germany are warning about the devastating impact the avian flu is having on migrating crane populations across Europe. Norbert Schneeweiss, a biologist who heads the Rinluch Species Competence Centre at the Brandenburg Environmental Agency, said Wednesday that “well over” 1,000 dead cranes have been found “in a short period of […]
Oct 22, 2025
Congo’s last Ebola patient discharged, raising hopes outbreak is over
PBS The World Health Organization announced that the last Ebola patient in Congo’s latest outbreak was discharged over the weekend and no new cases have been reported since Sept. 25. Sunday’s announcement started a 42-day countdown to declare the outbreak over if no further cases are confirmed. The outbreak, first declared in Congo’s remote Bulape […]
Oct 22, 2025
Bird flu cases increase across Europe, Japan
Producer.com The spread of bird flu has raised concerns among governments and the poultry industry after it killed or led to the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry in recent years, disrupting supply, fuelling higher food prices and raising the risk of a new pandemic. New outbreaks were reported in several European countries and […]
Oct 22, 2025