China reported two more H7N9 avian influenza cases, including the season's second case detected in Beijing, according to official sources and state media.
Today the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the yellow fever outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is over, based on an announcement from the DRC. The declaration follows Angola's Dec 23 announcement that the outbreak had ended in that country. The DRC reported its last case on Jul 12, 2016.
A worrisome spike of more than 300 yellow fever cases in the past week has boosted Brazil's outbreak to 1,060 cases and 166 deaths, the country's health ministry said in an update yesterday.
A fivefold increase in less than a month—to more than 700 cases—is unusual for sylvatic (jungle) yellow fever, one expert points out.
Yesterday Brazil's health ministry reported 129 new suspected cases of yellow fever this week, with two more states, Goias and Matto Grosso do Sul, reporting infections. The country now has 550 suspected or confirmed cases of the mosquito-borne disease.
The number of suspected yellow fever cases in Brazil is climbing quickly, with 421 suspected infections and two more states reporting cases, the health ministry said yesterday in a statement. The case total reflects an increase of 215 cases from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) update on Jan 18.
In the latest avian flu developments, two European countries confirmed more highly pathogenic H5N8 in wild birds, as India and Niger reported poultry outbreaks from the H5N1 subtype, according to reports to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Also, Chile's agriculture ministry yesterday reported a second low-pathogenic H7 outbreak in turkeys.
In recent days the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MOH) announced three more MERS-CoV cases, two in the city of Al Hofuf and one in Najran.
In other developments, research teams describe viral levels in semen and thrombocytopenia as a complication.
Hospitals in Los Angeles County will soon be required to report when patients are infected with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), according to the Los Angeles Times.
