Zoonotic & Vector-Borne Diseases

Powassan virus counts in the United States have been on the rise over the last decade, and now a new study sheds light on how ticks rapidly transmit the rare disease.

Rats and other pests pose significant problems for urban areas in the US.

As several Zika virus vaccine candidates undergo clinical trials, a group of investigators is taking an alternate approach to quell transmission by genetically engineering mosquitoes to be resistant to the virus.

The FDA has approved triclabendazole (Egaten) for the treatment of fascioliasis, a neglected tropical disease in patients 6 years of age and older

Single-dose tafenoquine shows promise for the radical cure of P vivax malaria, according to two new studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Health officials announced that individuals who consumed raw milk from Miller’s Biodiversity Farm may have been exposed to a drug-resistant strain of brucellosis.

A new study reports that Zika antibodies persist for longer than initially believed, with antibodies detected in symptomatic patients 18 months after illness onset.

Rutgers University investigators created a pictorial key that anyone with a strong enough microscope can use to correctly identify the Asian longhorned tick from other harmless species.

TAK-003, being developed by Takeda, is a tetravalent vaccine based on a live-attenuated dengue serotype 2 virus, which provides the genetic “backbone” for all 4 virus serotypes.

Investigators followed a pediatric cohort in Nicaragua over the course of 15 years and found that dengue fever immunity offers some protection against symptomatic Zika disease.

Eleven cases of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported in a multistate outbreak with a suspected link to contact with hedgehogs.

A new portable metagenomic technology allowed investigators to perform real-time analysis of viral genomes during a 2018 Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria.

A new test can detect Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte carriers in saliva samples, providing a point-of-need rapid diagnostic test for malaria.

Focus group-based study reveals challenges in travel medicine among US-based visitors to the region.

The FDA has approved the launch of the first in-human clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of a new synthetic DNA-encoded monoclonal antibody (DMAb) therapy to prevent Zika virus infection.

At Day 28, 100% seroconversion rate was achieved in a pooled analysis of all participants who received a single vaccination of VLA1553.

Investigators have identified and characterized Mengla virus, a filovirus that is genetically distinct from Ebola and Marburg viruses.

Despite the increase of live poultry-related Salmonella outbreaks, environmental sampling at hatcheries is not routinely conducted leaving the outbreak source unknown.

Investigators have identified Marburg virus in Sierra Leone bats, marking the first time the hemorrhagic fever has been discovered in West Africa.

Expanding the differential for diarrhea beyond Clostridium difficile.

While most infants exposed to Zika in utero show no severe developmental defects, a new study offers an estimate of the impact of Zika-associated impairment within the first 2 years of life.

A study found that the climate of the eastern area of the United States is similar to the native habitat of the Asian longhorned tick in Asia and Australia, which suggests the tick will become more common in the US.

University of Hawaii medical school investigators have developed a Zika virus vaccine candidate that is proving effective in preclinical trials.

The results of a new Dutch study suggest a rationing protocol does not diminish the effectiveness of the vaccine.

Little is known about the ecology and biology of the dangerous tick that the CDC has labeled an emerging disease threat to both humans and animals.

This often-ignored zoonotic disease may be a rising problem around the world.

Through retrospective analysis, investigators have identified a second case of rat hepatitis E virus in a human, which has close genetic relation to the first case.

The disease is now widespread among rodents in New Orleans, posing an increased public health risk of rat lungworm disease to people in the area.

Two new studies highlight how antibodies from prior infection with Zika or Dengue may increase the severity of illness in the other, impacting the infants of pregnant women who are infected.

A new study examining cytokines in the blood of pregnant women infected with Zika may help investigators create a screening test for early detection of fetal abnormalities from the virus.