Investigators accessed longitudinal human data from ebola virus vaccination for signals of efficacy against the Bundibugyo species now surging in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
|Articles|January 24, 2020
Top Infectious Disease News of the Week—January 19, 2020
Author(s)Contagion® Editorial Staff
Stay up-to-date on the latest infectious disease news by checking out our top 5 articles of the week.
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#5: Breaking Down the 2019 Eastern Equine Encephalitis Outbreak in the US
Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus made a comeback in the United States in 2019. The mosquito-borne illness landed on
EEE has been existence for centuries and 12 US-based epidemics were recorded between 1831 and 1959. Between 2003-18, an average of 8 EEE cases were reported annually in humans, but annual case counts rose dramatically in 2019.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) refers to the virus as the cause of “one of the most severe arboviral diseases in North America.” The latest issue of the CDC’s
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#4: WHO Identifies Urgent Challenges to Address This Decade
The World Health Organization (WHO) is ushering in the new decade by releasing a list of
The list comprises 13 challenges, many of which are interwoven and require attention from more than just the health sector. These hurdles range from addressing health worker shortages to expanding global access to medicines. As Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, WHO director-general, pointed out, none of these challenges are simple fixes, but with proper resource investment, there are solutions that can be reached.
“Countries invest heavily in protecting their people from terrorist attacks, but not against the attack of a virus, which could be far more deadly, and far more damaging economically and socially. A pandemic could bring economies and nations to their knees. Which is why health security cannot be a matter for ministries of health alone,” Tedros wrote.
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#3: Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak PHEIC Decision Delayed
The World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations Emergency Committee and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, will reconvene tomorrow, January 23rd, to determine if the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
The panel of 16 experts met at the United Nations’ Geneva Headquarters on January 22nd to discuss the outbreak. In a press conference, committee members indicated that the panel was split on whether or not to declare and PHEIC and will reconvene tomorrow to discuss the situation further.
Didier Houssin, MD, chairperson of the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee, stated that the split among the 16 committee members was "50/50, even."
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#2: CDC Confirms First US Case of Wuhan Coronavirus
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has officially confirmed the first case of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or Wuhan coronavirus in the United States.
First Case in the United States
CDC and Washington state officials said in a telebriefing that the patient is a male US resident who arrived at Seattle-Tacoma airport on January 15, 2020. The patient did not have a fever at the time of arrival, and the flight was not a direct flight from Wuhan.
Additionally, the patient did not go to implicated animal markets in Wuhan, nor did he report close contact with an ill individual.
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#1: CDC Reports 13 Million Flu Cases Thus Far in 2019-20 Season
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released data from the second week of the 2020 influenza season. The
At this point in the season, CDC estimates indicate that there have been 13 million influenza illnesses, 120,000 hospitalizations, and 6600 flu-related deaths.
The CDC notes that the number of respiratory specimens that tested positive for the flu at clinical laboratories decreased over the past week from 23.6% to 22.9%. Visits to clinicians for influenza-like illness also decreased from 5.7% last week to 4.7% this week; however, activity for all US regions remain above baseline. In fact, 34 jurisdictions are experiencing high influenza-like illness activity.
The percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza also increased from 6.0% to 6.9%, but remains below the epidemic threshold
According to the report, the overall rate of influenza-associated hospitalization increased to 1.9 per 100,000. The highest rate of hospitalization has been observed among adults aged ≥65 (47.6 per 100,000 population), followed by children aged 0-4 years (34.4 per 100,000 population) and adults aged 50-64 years (23.2 per 100,000 population).
Although influenza B/Victoria viruses have been the
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In the first episode of our news series looking at the food safety network, Lynette Johnston, PhD, offers insights into how the federal government surveillance infrastructure operates, and how epidemiologists serve as food detectives in determining bacterial pathogens and potential foodborne outbreaks.
In mid-May, as the world was still grappling with an unexpected hantavirus outbreak aboard a tourism vessel, news broke of an Ebola outbreak in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo spanning at least 3 health zones, including Bunia, Rwampara, and Mongbwalu.
In this week's top infectious disease stories, a Pennsylvania teen became the state's fourth measles death in weeks, the CDC reported a 17% summer surge in rabies exposure calls, new research revisited whether cefepime raises mortality risk, a multihospital review examined ceftriaxone's safety after state alerts, and examining Legionella pneumonia diagnostics.
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A "Clinician Outreach" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in April anticipated an increase in rabies exposures, and the striking surge in case reports this summer prompted a recent health advisory alert from the federal agency.
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A retrospective multihospital study found that severe adverse events occurred at similarly low rates with ceftriaxone and other IV cephalosporins suggesting there is no evidence to support avoiding ceftriaxone despite recent health department safety alerts.
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