Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2019/10/news-scan-oct-07-2019
News Scan for Oct 07, 2019
More Ebola in DRC; New US measles cases; Saudi MERS infections; Acute flaccid myelitis and viruses; Dengue in Florida
Filed Under:
Acute Flaccid Myelitis; Ebola; VHF; Measles; MERS-CoV; Enterovirus, Non-Polio; Dengue
[h=3]Four more Ebola cases reported in DRC, bringing total to 3,205[/h] With 4 more cases recorded over the weekend and through today, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) now stands at 3,205 cases, including 2,142 deaths. Officials are still investigating 411 suspected cases.
In recent weeks, reports of new cases have slowed significantly, and transmission has shifted to rural villages in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
According to daily reports from the DRC's Ebola technical committee (CMRE), the three new cases first reported late last week were from Beni, Mambasa, and Mandima. Over the weekend, the CMRE confirmed three additional cases from Oicha, Lolwa, and Mandima.
Oct 5 CMRE report
Oct 6 CMRE report
WHO Ebola dashboard
[h=3][/h] [h=3]CDC reports 7 new measles cases, 1,250 for the year[/h] Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 7 new US measles cases, bringing the total for 2019 to 1,250 infections in 31 states.
The new cases reflect a slight uptick, as the CDC recorded zero and two new cases in its previous two weekly updates. Cases have slowed dramatically in recent months, however. After posting more than 300 cases in both March and April, officials confirmed 180 in May, 77 in June, 51 in July, 29 in August, and just 5 last month.
The 1,250 total cases represent the most in a year since 1992, and the most since the disease was declared eliminated from the country in 2000. The huge increase this year threatened elimination status in the United States but so far has not reversed it.
The CDC reported one ongoing outbreak—defined as three or more related cases—in New York state, the same as last week. State health officials late last week said New York is no longer combatting any of the large outbreaks that had begun in 2018. US outbreaks this year have been linked to measles outbreaks in foreign countries, the CDC said.
Oct 7 CDC update
Oct 4 CIDRAP News story "CDC: Close-knit, vaccine-reluctant communities stoked measles"
[h=3]Saudi Arabia records 2 new MERS infections, 1 death[/h] Over the weekend Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported two new MERS-CoV cases, the second and third in October, and one of the new cases proved fatal.
The first MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) case involves a 70-year-old man with unknown camel exposure in Wadi ad-Dawasir. The man died, and the MOH lists his illness as "primary," meaning it's unlikely he contracted the virus from another person.
The second case is in a 52-year-old man from Torba, who did have camel exposure. Camel exposure is a common risk factor for MERS.
As of Sep 19, the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean regional office said that, since 2012 there have been 2,468 MERS cases, at least 850 of them fatal. The vast majority of infections have been in Saudi Arabia, which reported four MERS cases in September.
Oct 5 MOH report
Oct 6 MOH report
[h=3]Review of 3 years of AFM data show viral cause most likely[/h] US surveillance data for 3 consecutive years point to a viral cause of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in children but no clear causative virus, though enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is most likely, according to a study today in Pediatrics involving 193 children with AFM.
CDC researchers analyzed data on 193 confirmed pediatric AFM cases from 2015 to 2017. Of those, 143 (74%) occurred in 2016, conforming with the every-other-year pattern that the CDC has noted. And about two-thirds of the 2016 cases occurred in August through October, which was also typical in 2014 and 2018.
The team found that, of 90 patients with upper respiratory specimens tested at the CDC, 32 (36%) were positive for enterovirus or rhonovirus, and 2 were positive for parechovirus. Among 77 patients with stool specimens tested at the CDC, 15 (19%) were positive for enterovirus or rhinorvirus, and 1 was positive for parechovirus. Conversely, only 1 patient had viruses detected in cerebrospinal fluid and 2 in blood.
Of 32 enteroviruses and rhinoviruses from respiratory samples typed, 22 (69%) were identified as EV-D68.
The authors write, "We conclude that symptoms of a viral syndrome within the week before limb weakness, detection of viral pathogens from sterile and nonsterile sites from almost half of patients, and seasonality of AFM incidence, particularly during the 2016 peak year, strongly suggest a viral etiology, including EVs."
In a commentary in the same issue, University of Colorado experts write, "Although detection of a pathogen in the CSF would provide definitive proof of causation, in this study and others, no pathogen has been consistently identified in CSF from AFM cases, even with the use of highly sensitive unbiased research technologies for pathogen detection and discovery. Development of intrathecal enterovirus antibody tests for CSF may further facilitate diagnosis of enterovirus-associated AFM."
Oct 7 Pediatrics study
Oct 7 Pediatrics commentary
[h=3]Three new dengue cases confirmed in Miami-Dade County[/h] Officials confirmed three more dengue cases in Miami-Dade County, Florida, late last week. These cases raise the total locally transmitted dengue cases in Florida in 2019 to nine. Eight of the cases have been in Miami-Dade, and neighboring Broward County has reported one.
According to the Miami Herald, health officials believe two of three new cases are related. In addition to the nine locally transmitted cases, Florida has tallied 235 cases of travel-related dengue fever in the state so far in 2019.
Since Sep 27, the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County has been under a mosquito-borne illness alert, and has urged residents to practice "drain and cover," which includes draining standing water near homes and wearing long-sleeved clothing and insect repellent, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) said.
Dengue is spread via Aedes mosquitoes, the same insect that can transmit Zika and chikungunya viruses.
Oct 4 Miami-Herald article
Sep 27 Florida DOH alert
News Scan for Oct 07, 2019
More Ebola in DRC; New US measles cases; Saudi MERS infections; Acute flaccid myelitis and viruses; Dengue in Florida
Filed Under:
Acute Flaccid Myelitis; Ebola; VHF; Measles; MERS-CoV; Enterovirus, Non-Polio; Dengue
[h=3]Four more Ebola cases reported in DRC, bringing total to 3,205[/h] With 4 more cases recorded over the weekend and through today, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) now stands at 3,205 cases, including 2,142 deaths. Officials are still investigating 411 suspected cases.
In recent weeks, reports of new cases have slowed significantly, and transmission has shifted to rural villages in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
According to daily reports from the DRC's Ebola technical committee (CMRE), the three new cases first reported late last week were from Beni, Mambasa, and Mandima. Over the weekend, the CMRE confirmed three additional cases from Oicha, Lolwa, and Mandima.
Oct 5 CMRE report
Oct 6 CMRE report
WHO Ebola dashboard
[h=3][/h] [h=3]CDC reports 7 new measles cases, 1,250 for the year[/h] Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 7 new US measles cases, bringing the total for 2019 to 1,250 infections in 31 states.
The new cases reflect a slight uptick, as the CDC recorded zero and two new cases in its previous two weekly updates. Cases have slowed dramatically in recent months, however. After posting more than 300 cases in both March and April, officials confirmed 180 in May, 77 in June, 51 in July, 29 in August, and just 5 last month.
The 1,250 total cases represent the most in a year since 1992, and the most since the disease was declared eliminated from the country in 2000. The huge increase this year threatened elimination status in the United States but so far has not reversed it.
The CDC reported one ongoing outbreak—defined as three or more related cases—in New York state, the same as last week. State health officials late last week said New York is no longer combatting any of the large outbreaks that had begun in 2018. US outbreaks this year have been linked to measles outbreaks in foreign countries, the CDC said.
Oct 7 CDC update
Oct 4 CIDRAP News story "CDC: Close-knit, vaccine-reluctant communities stoked measles"
[h=3]Saudi Arabia records 2 new MERS infections, 1 death[/h] Over the weekend Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported two new MERS-CoV cases, the second and third in October, and one of the new cases proved fatal.
The first MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) case involves a 70-year-old man with unknown camel exposure in Wadi ad-Dawasir. The man died, and the MOH lists his illness as "primary," meaning it's unlikely he contracted the virus from another person.
The second case is in a 52-year-old man from Torba, who did have camel exposure. Camel exposure is a common risk factor for MERS.
As of Sep 19, the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean regional office said that, since 2012 there have been 2,468 MERS cases, at least 850 of them fatal. The vast majority of infections have been in Saudi Arabia, which reported four MERS cases in September.
Oct 5 MOH report
Oct 6 MOH report
[h=3]Review of 3 years of AFM data show viral cause most likely[/h] US surveillance data for 3 consecutive years point to a viral cause of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) in children but no clear causative virus, though enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) is most likely, according to a study today in Pediatrics involving 193 children with AFM.
CDC researchers analyzed data on 193 confirmed pediatric AFM cases from 2015 to 2017. Of those, 143 (74%) occurred in 2016, conforming with the every-other-year pattern that the CDC has noted. And about two-thirds of the 2016 cases occurred in August through October, which was also typical in 2014 and 2018.
The team found that, of 90 patients with upper respiratory specimens tested at the CDC, 32 (36%) were positive for enterovirus or rhonovirus, and 2 were positive for parechovirus. Among 77 patients with stool specimens tested at the CDC, 15 (19%) were positive for enterovirus or rhinorvirus, and 1 was positive for parechovirus. Conversely, only 1 patient had viruses detected in cerebrospinal fluid and 2 in blood.
Of 32 enteroviruses and rhinoviruses from respiratory samples typed, 22 (69%) were identified as EV-D68.
The authors write, "We conclude that symptoms of a viral syndrome within the week before limb weakness, detection of viral pathogens from sterile and nonsterile sites from almost half of patients, and seasonality of AFM incidence, particularly during the 2016 peak year, strongly suggest a viral etiology, including EVs."
In a commentary in the same issue, University of Colorado experts write, "Although detection of a pathogen in the CSF would provide definitive proof of causation, in this study and others, no pathogen has been consistently identified in CSF from AFM cases, even with the use of highly sensitive unbiased research technologies for pathogen detection and discovery. Development of intrathecal enterovirus antibody tests for CSF may further facilitate diagnosis of enterovirus-associated AFM."
Oct 7 Pediatrics study
Oct 7 Pediatrics commentary
[h=3]Three new dengue cases confirmed in Miami-Dade County[/h] Officials confirmed three more dengue cases in Miami-Dade County, Florida, late last week. These cases raise the total locally transmitted dengue cases in Florida in 2019 to nine. Eight of the cases have been in Miami-Dade, and neighboring Broward County has reported one.
According to the Miami Herald, health officials believe two of three new cases are related. In addition to the nine locally transmitted cases, Florida has tallied 235 cases of travel-related dengue fever in the state so far in 2019.
Since Sep 27, the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County has been under a mosquito-borne illness alert, and has urged residents to practice "drain and cover," which includes draining standing water near homes and wearing long-sleeved clothing and insect repellent, the Florida Department of Health (DOH) said.
Dengue is spread via Aedes mosquitoes, the same insect that can transmit Zika and chikungunya viruses.
Oct 4 Miami-Herald article
Sep 27 Florida DOH alert