Saudi MOH Reports 1 Primary MERS Case In Taif

#10,962Although Zika's spread and Brazil's microcephaly outbreak are dominating the media's attention there remain many other important emerging infectious disease stories worth following.   MERS-CoV, while not making a lot of headlines, is one of them. Today the Saudi MOH reports another primary case they are attributing to camel contact, this time a 78 year old...

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Brazilian MOH Microcephaly Summary Report - Week 4

Credit - Brazil MOH#10,962The Brazilian MOH has published their latest weekly surveillance report on suspected and confirmed microcephalic births, adding more than 600 suspected cases over the past week.  This represents the largest one-week increase in suspected cases we've seen to date.   The net-under-investigation number only increases by 212 over last week...

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Dallas, Texas: DCHHS Confirms Locally Acquired Sexually Transmitted Zika Infection

#10,961Although the evidence for sexual transmission of the Zika virus has been limited (see  EID Journal dispatches on Probable Non–Vector-borne Transmission of Zika Virus, Colorado, USA & Potential Sexual Transmission of Zika Virus), we've started to see warnings over the possibilities from health agencies (see UK PHE Warns On Potential Sexual Transmission...

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WHO MERS-CoV Update - Saudi Arabia

Credit FAO#10,960In January, after a very quiet couple of months on the MERS front, we saw a spate of MERS cases reported out of Saudi Arabia all involving camel contact (see here and here), several involving Camels That Tested Positive For MERS-CoV In A Jeddah Market. Today the World Health Organization has posted an update on five of these recent cases, including two asymptomatic...

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Thailand Reports `1st' Domestic Case Of Zika

UPDATED (see bottom)#10,959Thailand is one of several Southeast Asian nations where Zika has been suspected to be circulating, but due to the background noise from Dengue and Chikungunya, and a lack of Zika-specific testing, it has never been proven.At least, not until today. First a report from AFP, then I'll be back with more. Thailand confirms first domestic case of...

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Updating Russia's Flu Outbreak

http://www.influenza.spb.ru#10,958North America's flu season has been slow in getting started, but yesterday's unexpected CDC HAN Advisory on Severe Influenza reminds us there is plenty of flu season left , and that seasonal flu is always unpredictable.As mentioned last week, unlike North America (see An Update On The Russian Influenza Epi Report), Eastern Europe and Russia...

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CDC Adds 4 Destinations To Zika Travel Alert

Credit CDC Map & Data#10,956The list of countries where the Zika virus is currently reported to be transmitting increases every couple of days, and seems likely to do so for some time.  Overnight the CDC added 4 more destinations to their Zika Travel Alert: American SamoaCosta RicaCuracaoNicaragua This brings to 26 the number of countries and territories in the Americas...

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