Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
The wind may be partly to blame for bird flu spread between farms, a new study suggests
CNN In February 2024, government veterinarians in the Czech Republic investigating a bird flu outbreak found themselves in the middle of a puzzling case. The highly pathogenic H5N1 virus was devastating a flock of chickens on a highly secure farm, home of a breeding program that produced hybrid birds with specially colored feathers and eggs. […]
Feb 19, 2025
Uganda New Ebola Outbreak ‘Contained’: Minister
AL 24 News The recent outbreak of Ebola in Uganda has been deemed “contained,” according to the Minister of Health. This statement follows the announcement that eight patients who contracted the often deadly hemorrhagic fever have fully recovered. “Currently, the spread of Ebola is under control thanks to the robust measures implemented by the government […]
Feb 19, 2025
Canada reports outbreak of H5N5 bird flu on backyard farm
Retuers Canada has reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N5 avian influenza on a non-commercial backyard layer poultry farm in the eastern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health said on Tuesday. The spread of avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has ravaged flocks around the world, disrupting supply and fuelling higher […]
Feb 19, 2025
The Latest on Bird Flu in Humans, Chickens, and More
Scientific American Human Cases Within the past 10 days, three different states in the U.S. have reported new known and likely bird flu infections in humans: The first two are a confirmed case in a dairy worker in Nevada and a probable one in a farm worker in Ohio who had handled dead poultry. The third […]
Feb 19, 2025
Measles outbreak grows bigger in rural Texas, and officials expect more cases
NBC Out of the 58 new cases over the past three weeks, 13 people have been hospitalized. At least 58 new cases of measles have been reported across northwest Texas in recent weeks, state health officials said Tuesday, in a “highly contagious” outbreak that might be linked to lack of vaccination. A bulk of these new cases in […]
Feb 19, 2025
U.S. weighs destroying $500 million in stockpiled covid tests
Washington Post The government is reviewing proposals to shut down the program that ships free covid tests to American households and is considering destroying 160 million tests. The Trump administration has been evaluating the costs of destroying or disposing of tens of millions of coronavirus tests that would otherwise be provided free to Americans, according […]
Feb 18, 2025
USDA accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is now trying to rehire them
NBC The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that, over the weekend, it accidentally fired “several” agency employees who are working on the federal government’s response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak. “Although several positions supporting [bird flu efforts] were notified of their terminations over the weekend, we are working to swiftly rectify the situation and […]
Feb 18, 2025
Flu deaths may have surpassed COVID deaths nationwide for first time since start of pandemic, early CDC data suggests
CBS News For the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, more people in the U.S. died of influenza than from COVID-19 in the week ending on Jan. 25, according to weekly figures published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the week ending on Jan. 25, nearly 1.7% of all deaths […]
Feb 18, 2025
As egg prices soar, Trump administration plans new strategy to fight bird flu
MSN With egg prices soaring, the Trump administration is planning a new strategy for fighting bird flu that stresses vaccinations and tighter biosecurity instead of killing off millions of chickens when the disease strikes a flock. The federal government will seek “better ways, with biosecurity and medication and so on” rather than the current standard practice of […]
Feb 18, 2025
Texas Measles Cases Are Up, and Now an Outbreak in New Mexico: What You Need to Know
MedPageToday State health officials say this is Texas’ largest outbreak in nearly 30 years. The measles outbreak in rural West Texas has grown to 58 cases as of Tuesday, and eight people in neighboring eastern New Mexico also have been diagnosed with measles. Public health officials in New Mexico have said they suspect some of the state’s […]
Feb 18, 2025