Testing has confirmed that a fourth undergraduate student has been infected in a meningococcal disease outbreak involving the less common serogroup B at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), according to a Dec 2 statement from the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department (SBCPHD). All four students were sickened within 3 weeks in November.
Princeton University will offer a vaccine that includes the outbreak strain starting Dec 9.
The agency's alert follows meningitis outbreaks at two colleges involving a strain not found in the vaccine.
Texas health officials last week confirmed 18 dengue cases in the southern part of the state, 7 of which are believed to be locally acquired and not contracted during travel to a dengue-endemic area, Scientific American reported yesterday.
A 31-year-old Indonesian woman from near Jakarta has died of H5N1 avian flu, the country's health ministry said today, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Her case is Indonesia's third this year, all fatal.
A federal advisory group today approved a measure to include a new meningococcal vaccine option for youngsters ages 2 months and older at risk for meningitis infection.
The incidence of meningitis in areas covered by a 2011 vaccination campaign was 94% lower a year later compared with nonvaccinated regions of Chad in sub-Saharan Africa, a new study found.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported nine more US Cyclospora infections, raising its case count to 548, but the total does not include 21 of the most recent cases that the TexasDepartment of State Health Services (TDSHS) has listed on its Web site. Those additions would bring the tally to 569.
Influenza activity increased in several areas of the Southern Hemisphere and was dominated by the 2009 pandemic H1N1 strain over the 2-week period from Jul 7 through Jul 20, according to World Health Organization (WHO) updates.
Illinois health officials yesterday reported the state's first variant H3N2 (H3N2v) influenza case of the summer, in a child who had contact with swine at a county fair.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) said in a statement that the infection was mild and was confirmed in a Boone County child who helped an exhibitor at the DuPage County Fair, which was held in late July.
