Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
After a summer respite, bird flu is back
NBC Bird flu is spreading again as water fowl migrate. In poultry, cases are spiking earlier than expected, so some state officials are bracing for a challenging autumn. It was a quiet summer for bird flu: Egg prices fell a bit, fewer sick poultry flocks were culled on farms, and officials took a breath. “It […]
Oct 15, 2025
With milk testing and new tools, UW scientists are helping prevent bird flu outbreaks in Wisconsin and beyond
Univ of Wisconsin On a recent Thursday morning, Becky was hard at work at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (WVDL). A few test tubes at a time, hundreds of milk samples were carefully poured, measured and prepared for testing. Becky doesn’t wear a typical lab coat or safety glasses. Why? Because Becky […]
Oct 15, 2025
France reports bird flu outbreak on northern farm
Reuters France has confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, on a farm in the north of the country, authorities said, as Europe faces a seasonal upturn in the deadly disease. The virus was detected at a pheasant and partridge breeding farm in the village of Pihen-Les-Guines, near the port town of Calais, […]
Oct 15, 2025
More HPAI reported in Minnesota, Utah, British Columbia
Watt Poultry New cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in commercial poultry have been reported in the United States and Canada. Those include three flocks in Minnesota, two in Utah and one in British Columbia. Avian influenza in Minnesota The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported that the presence […]
Oct 15, 2025
We Can Stop Deadly Hospital Outbreaks — So Why Aren’t We?
MedPage Today Aaron Young was a patient in a California hospital undergoing a routine procedure investigating the source of his pancreatitis. He needed an exam using a duodenoscope — something more than 500,000 Americansopens in a new tab or window undergo each year. But what should have been safe turned serious. The duodenoscope used on Young was […]
Oct 15, 2025
Respiratory virus season has arrived. What to know about getting this year’s vaccines
CNN It’s that time of year when the leaves are turning golden, there’s a chill in the air and the threat of respiratory viruses like Covid-19, influenza or RSV looms across the country. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expects the 2025-26 fall and winter respiratory disease season to have a similar number […]
Oct 15, 2025
More than 150 unvaccinated students quarantined in South Carolina measles outbreak
Scripps News The students were identified as having been exposed to measles and lacking vaccination against the highly contagious disease. More than 150 unvaccinated students in South Carolina are under mandatory 21-day quarantine due to a measles outbreak affecting two schools in Spartanburg County. State health officials confirmed measles cases at both schools — Global […]
Oct 15, 2025
New York confirms 1st locally acquired case of chikungunya virus in 6 years in US
ABC News The New York State Department of Health has confirmed a case of locally acquired chikungunya on Long Island, marking the first case of the virus reported to be locally acquired in New York and the first locally acquired case to be reported in the United States since 2019. Laboratory testing at the department’s […]
Oct 15, 2025
Leptospirosis ripping through California sea lions in record numbers
SF Chronicle An “all-time record” number of sick sea lions has washed up on California beaches since a deadly bacterial disease broke out this summer, according to the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center — with the outbreak especially concentrated in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. Since July 1, the center has responded to at least 375 cases of leptospirosis, […]
Oct 8, 2025
Australia: Health issues urgent warning measles outbreak alert after 47 cases detected
The Australian A measles outbreak is spreading in WA, with 47 cases now detected so far this year. WA health authorities issued a fresh warning about the potentially fatal disease on Wednesday, saying eight cases had been detected in an outbreak in the Pilbara region. Measles is highly infectious and can spread via airborne droplets, […]
Oct 8, 2025