Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2019/04/news-scan-apr-24-2019
News Scan for Apr 24, 2019
Hospital MERS outbreak; Repeat flu infections
Filed Under:
MERS-CoV; Influenza, General
[h=3]WHO offers new details on hospital-related Saudi MERS outbreak[/h] The World Health Organization (WHO) released new details today about a MERS-CoV outbreak in Wadi ad-Dawasir, Saudi Arabia. Since January, officials have identified 61 cases in the city, of which 14 were in health workers, and 37 were thought to involve healthcare exposure.
Eight patients died from their MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infections, resulting in a case-fatality rate of 13.1% for this outbreak. The median age of patients was 46, and 65% of them were men.
"Investigations into the source of infection of the 61 cases found that 37 were health-care acquired infections, 14 were primary cases presumed to be infected from contact with dromedary camels and the remaining (10) infections occurred among close contacts outside of health care settings," the WHO said. "As previously reported, two human to human transmission amplification events took place at a hospital during this outbreak."
The amplification events took place in an emergency department and a cardiac unit, the WHO said.
The last identified case from Wadi ad-Dawasir was reported on Mar 12, and as of Mar 31, officials have followed up with 380 case contacts for 14 days.
Apr 24 WHO statement
[h=3]Study finds repeat flu infections most common in younger children[/h] A study of Austrian children and adolescents over four flu seasons found that repeat infections in consecutive seasons occurred frequently, mostly involving children between ages 3 and 8 years old.
The retrospective analysis is based on results of 2,308 positive flu cases identified by a lab in Innsbruck from the 2014-15 season to the 2017-18 season. Researchers reported their findings yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
They found that in 2015-16, nearly 12% of patients diagnosed with flu had also been sick with the virus during the previous season, and in 2016-17, more than 14% had been sick with flu at least once during the previous two seasons, and in 2017-18, more than 18% had one or more infections during the earlier three seasons. Most of the repeated illnesses occurred in kids ages 3 to 8 years old.
Of the group, 29 patients had three or four infections during the four flu seasons, and 38 children had two flu episodes within the same season. Circulating strains changed yearly over the study period, and the study wasn't set up to differentiate between different influenza A subtypes. However, their observations about repeated influenza B infections yielded some key findings.
Several children had influenza B infections in 2014-15 (when the Yamagata lineage circulated) and 2015-2016 (when the Victoria lineage circulated), hinting that there is no or only limited cross-protection between the two types of viruses. The investigators also found five kids who had influenza B infections when the Yamagata lineage was almost exclusively circulating in Austria, which the authors said could suggest there is no long-lasting protection after infection with a specific B strain.
Consecutive and subsequent infections in kids occur mainly during the first decade, peaking at a time when long-lasting immune memory is most likely to be developed, they wrote, adding that the findings raise questions about how often people can get sick with flu after experiencing illness in the first decade. They said further studies are needed to analyze the influenza A subtypes to assess efficacy and duration of immune protection after earlier infection with the same strain.
Apr 23 Open Forum Infect Dis abstract
News Scan for Apr 24, 2019
Hospital MERS outbreak; Repeat flu infections
Filed Under:
MERS-CoV; Influenza, General
[h=3]WHO offers new details on hospital-related Saudi MERS outbreak[/h] The World Health Organization (WHO) released new details today about a MERS-CoV outbreak in Wadi ad-Dawasir, Saudi Arabia. Since January, officials have identified 61 cases in the city, of which 14 were in health workers, and 37 were thought to involve healthcare exposure.
Eight patients died from their MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infections, resulting in a case-fatality rate of 13.1% for this outbreak. The median age of patients was 46, and 65% of them were men.
"Investigations into the source of infection of the 61 cases found that 37 were health-care acquired infections, 14 were primary cases presumed to be infected from contact with dromedary camels and the remaining (10) infections occurred among close contacts outside of health care settings," the WHO said. "As previously reported, two human to human transmission amplification events took place at a hospital during this outbreak."
The amplification events took place in an emergency department and a cardiac unit, the WHO said.
The last identified case from Wadi ad-Dawasir was reported on Mar 12, and as of Mar 31, officials have followed up with 380 case contacts for 14 days.
Apr 24 WHO statement
[h=3]Study finds repeat flu infections most common in younger children[/h] A study of Austrian children and adolescents over four flu seasons found that repeat infections in consecutive seasons occurred frequently, mostly involving children between ages 3 and 8 years old.
The retrospective analysis is based on results of 2,308 positive flu cases identified by a lab in Innsbruck from the 2014-15 season to the 2017-18 season. Researchers reported their findings yesterday in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.
They found that in 2015-16, nearly 12% of patients diagnosed with flu had also been sick with the virus during the previous season, and in 2016-17, more than 14% had been sick with flu at least once during the previous two seasons, and in 2017-18, more than 18% had one or more infections during the earlier three seasons. Most of the repeated illnesses occurred in kids ages 3 to 8 years old.
Of the group, 29 patients had three or four infections during the four flu seasons, and 38 children had two flu episodes within the same season. Circulating strains changed yearly over the study period, and the study wasn't set up to differentiate between different influenza A subtypes. However, their observations about repeated influenza B infections yielded some key findings.
Several children had influenza B infections in 2014-15 (when the Yamagata lineage circulated) and 2015-2016 (when the Victoria lineage circulated), hinting that there is no or only limited cross-protection between the two types of viruses. The investigators also found five kids who had influenza B infections when the Yamagata lineage was almost exclusively circulating in Austria, which the authors said could suggest there is no long-lasting protection after infection with a specific B strain.
Consecutive and subsequent infections in kids occur mainly during the first decade, peaking at a time when long-lasting immune memory is most likely to be developed, they wrote, adding that the findings raise questions about how often people can get sick with flu after experiencing illness in the first decade. They said further studies are needed to analyze the influenza A subtypes to assess efficacy and duration of immune protection after earlier infection with the same strain.
Apr 23 Open Forum Infect Dis abstract