Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
PAHO launches interactive dashboard to monitor avian influenza A(H5N1) in the Americas
PAHO The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has launched an interactive dashboard to monitor avian influenza A(H5N1) cases in the Americas. This tool is designed to improve access to data on outbreaks of this disease in birds, mammals, and humans, providing key information for public and animal health authorities. The dashboard features tables and maps showing outbreaks […]
Jan 7, 2025
What We Know About HMPV, the Virus Spreading in China
NYT While cases are climbing in China, the situation is very different from what it was when Covid-19 emerged five years ago, medical experts say. HMPV is common and decades old. Reports of a surge in cases of a respiratory virus in China have evoked dark echoes of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic almost […]
Jan 7, 2025
Sick Season Is in Full Force. Here’s What’s Going Around
Time The holidays came with a side of flu for many Americans, with 40 states reporting high or very high levels of illness last week, according to the latest government health data. “A lot of flu out there,” said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Carrie Reed. Of course, there are a number of bugs […]
Jan 7, 2025
First H5 Bird Flu Death Reported in United States
CDC CDC is saddened by Louisiana’s report that a person previously hospitalized with severe avian influenza A(H5N1) illness (“H5N1 bird flu”) has passed away. While tragic, a death from H5N1 bird flu in the United States is not unexpected because of the known potential for infection with these viruses to cause severe illness and death. […]
Jan 7, 2025
India’s first human metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases confirmed, but officials say “no reason to worry”
CBS News Indian officials have confirmed the vast nation’s first cases of human metapneumovirus, often called HMPV, with seven people said to have contracted the virus as of Tuesday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research. Two of the HMPV infections were reported in the central Indian city of Nagpur on Tuesday, while two cases […]
Jan 7, 2025
First Bird Flu Death in U.S. Reported in Louisiana
NYT The deceased was over 65 and had other medical conditions, state officials said. A Louisiana patient who had been hospitalized with severe bird flu has died, the first such fatality in the United States, state health officials reported on Monday. The patient was older than 65 and had underlying medical conditions, the officials said. […]
Jan 7, 2025
Mpox Is Spreading in Congo’s Capital, Threatening Global Efforts to Contain the Virus
NYT A NYT reporter went to Congo, where the mpox epidemic has reached the teeming capital, infecting children and their mothers, who sell sex to survive. Mireille Efonge got sick a few months ago, with a fever and painful blisters on her groin. She became too weak to move, so neighbors carried her to a […]
Jan 2, 2025
Bird flu has killed 20 big cats including cougars at a U.S. wildlife sanctuary
NPR An animal sanctuary in Shelton, Wash., is under quarantine after a bird flu outbreak killed 20 big cats at the facility over the past month. The Wild Felid Advocacy Center of Washington called the deaths “heartbreaking,” confirming the virus has claimed more than half its animals, including four cougars and a half-Bengal tiger, since late November. […]
Jan 2, 2025
Which Animals Have Caught Bird Flu In The U.S.?
Forbes Over the past year, bird flu has spread far beyond America’s avian creatures. Largely concentrated among farm animals, it’s also hit zoos, domestic pets and even people. The risk to public health remains very low. But experts are watching the disease closely as it spreads and adapts among animals, in case any changes improve […]
Jan 2, 2025
Genetic Sequences of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N1) Viruses Identified in a Person in Louisiana
CDC CDC has sequenced the influenza viruses in specimens collected from the patient in Louisiana who was infected with, and became severely ill from HPAI A(H5N1) virus. The genomic sequences were compared to other HPAI A(H5N1) sequences from dairy cows, wild birds and poultry, as well as previous human cases and were identified as the […]
Jan 2, 2025