Category: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Madagascar: Dozens more mpox cases reported
Outbreak News Today The Madagascar Ministry of Health reported an additional 55 laboratory confirmed mpox cases since late February, bringing the the outbreak total to 387 lab confirmed cases and no deaths since the outbreak began in December 2025. Cases have been reported in 27 of Madagascar’s 114 health districts. Clade 1b was isolated from […]
Mar 11, 2026
Warning to stay away from elephant seals after bird flu detected at Año Nuevo State Park
Fox Health officials are warning beachgoers to stay away from marine life after confirming the state’s first cases of bird flu in elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park in San Mateo County. Infected seal pups are displaying symptoms including tremors and seizures, according to wildlife experts. The virus is considered highly contagious among animals. […]
Mar 11, 2026
College of Ag Sciences, Penn State Extension, at forefront of avian flu response
Penn State Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) once again is threatening Pennsylvania’s poultry industry, but researchers, diagnosticians and extension educators in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences are at the forefront of efforts to slow the virus, support producers and provide science-based guidance. The United States Department of Agriculture reported that 27 flocks in Pennsylvania have tested […]
Mar 11, 2026
Recent pandemic viruses, including SAR-CoV-2, spread directly to people without adaptation, researchers say
CIDRAP Contrary to prevailing belief, an evolutionary analysis finds no evidence that most viruses with epidemic or pandemic potential that jumped from animals to people were shaped by selection in a lab or prolonged evolution in an intermediate host—challenging claims that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was engineered in a lab. A University of California (UC) […]
Mar 11, 2026
Severe COVID-19 and flu can facilitate lung cancer months or years later
Medical Express Severe COVID-19 and influenza infections prime the lungs for cancer and can accelerate the disease’s development, but vaccination heads off those harmful effects, new research from UVA Health’s Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research and UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center indicates. UVA School of Medicine researcher Jie Sun, Ph.D., and colleagues found that […]
Mar 11, 2026
The Mystery of Losing Your Taste From Long COVID May Finally Have an Answer
Discover Learn how researchers may have finally uncovered why some people experience long-lasting taste loss after COVID-19. A common symptom that many experienced during a COVID-19 infection was a loss of taste. While most affected individuals regained their sense of taste within a few weeks, some experienced a persistent loss over several months. If a […]
Mar 11, 2026
8 children have now died from flu in Mass. this season
Boston.com The child died between the week of Feb. 21 and Feb. 28, the state’s Department of Public Health reported. An eighth Massachusetts child has died from the flu this flu season, state data shows. As of Feb. 28, eight Massachusetts children have died from the influenza, as well as 298 adults, the state’s influenza data […]
Mar 11, 2026
Scientists Get a Glimpse of How New Pandemics Are Made
NYT Researchers have devised a new tool for discerning between naturally occurring viral outbreaks and those resulting from lab accidents. The Covid pandemic was an extraordinary moment in history. Starting at the end of 2019, a virus new to science swept across the planet, killed more than 25 million people and caused trillions of dollars in economic damage. But […]
Mar 11, 2026
How one WA county is racing to curb the spread of measles
Seattle Times Getting word that out-of-state travelers may have brought in an extremely contagious virus. Scrambling to notify the public. Tracking exposures. Testing residents. Watching three cases become six, then 10, then 12. The Snohomish County Health Department had again found itself hustling to save lives and prevent hospitalizations, this time in a race against […]
Mar 11, 2026
Marburg virus invades human cells far more efficiently than Ebola, study reveals
Medical Express In a new study published in Nature, University of Minnesota researchers have found that the Marburg virus, one of the world’s deadliest pathogens with an average 73% fatality rate, is unusually efficient at getting inside human cells. They also showed that the virus’s entry protein contains structural features that explain this efficiency and point to a […]
Mar 11, 2026