Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
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
CDC official overseeing COVID hospitalization data resigns in protest
CBS News A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who led the agency’s network to study hospitalization trends from infectious diseases like COVID-19 has resigned in protest following Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s orders to change the agency’s vaccine recommendations and the committee that makes them. Dr. Fiona Havers’ last day at the […]
Jun 17, 2025
India: With 11 deaths, current wave toll in country past 100-mark
Times of India The country’s death toll due to Covid-19 has crossed the 100-mark, reaching 108 after as many as 11 deaths were reported on Monday – the highest in a day in the current wave. Kerala reported seven deaths, while a death each occurred in Delhi, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.The seven victims from […]
Jun 17, 2025
North Korea’s Pandemic ‘Miracle’ Was a Deadly Lie, Report Says
NYT Officials drastically understated outbreaks and deaths, depriving citizens of help, two U.S. research groups report, citing interviews with people inside North Korea. North Korea has long claimed that it defeated the Covid-19 pandemic without vaccines, losing only 74 lives in what it called “a miracle unprecedented in the world’s public health history.” But a report released […]
Jun 17, 2025
Climate change leads to spread of infection-causing fungi, scientists say
ABC News Climate change may be putting millions more people at risk from an infection-causing fungi, which is likely spreading due to warming global temperatures, scientists say. There will likely be an increased risk of infection due to harmful fungi in the coming years due to climate change, according to researchers from the University of Manchester. The […]
Jun 17, 2025
A cattle disease and the tick carrying it are confirmed in Iowa for the first time
OPR The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship said the state’s first case of Theileria orientalis Ikeda was confirmed in a cattle herd in Van Buren County in the southeast corner of the state. The protozoan parasite infects the red and white blood cells of cattle, causing anemia and sometimes death. It’s carried by the Asian longhorned tick, […]
Jun 17, 2025