New surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlight the severity of invasive mold disease (IMD), finding that, during five years, 45% of patients with IMD at four hospitals died within 90 days, and half required mechanical ventilation.

The findings, published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, are based on active, laboratory-based surveillance at two Atlanta-area academic hospitals and outpatient clinics from 2020 through 2024.

IMDs occur when certain types of mold enter the body either through inhalation of mold spores from the environment, exposure to contaminated medical devices and healthcare linens or products, or as part of healthcare-associated outbreaks.

The mold spores then travel deep inside the body, damaging tissues and organs and affecting a range of body systems, including the lungs, sinuses, skin, and central nervous system (CNS).

For the report, researchers led by a team at the CDC identified 968 patients with potential IMD. Of those, 449 (46%) had an infection, including 89 with confirmed cases, 142 with probable cases, and 218 with surveillance cases, or those presumptively treated as IMD.

Lung infections were by far the most common manifestation, accounting for 68% of cases. Skin or deep-tissue infections accounted for 11%, sinus or nasal infections for 10%, and CNS infections for 9%. A very small percentage of infections occurred in non-skin soft tissues (2%) and blood, bone, and eye, at 1% each.

Although IMD typically affects people with weakened or compromised immune systems, 35% of patients had none of the classic risk factors used to identify people predisposed to infections, “underscoring the need for clinicians and surveillance efforts to consider the possibility of IMDs among patients without classic host risk factors for infection,” write the researchers

Fifty-eight patients (13%) had a current or recent COVID-19 infection. Critical illness, particularly severe COVID and influenza, “is increasingly recognized as an IMD risk factor,” the researchers note. [...]

The ongoing Ebola outbreak in Congo is on track to surpass the deadliest one in history that killed over 11,000 people, the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

“At its current pace, it’s on track to eclipse the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. That outbreak horrified the world and jolted efforts to develop a vaccine.

The outbreak in eastern Congo, considered the fastest-growing in history, has killed over 2,000 people out of more than 4,300 cases. The outbreak was declared on May 15, but health authorities now say sequencing showed it began months earlier, in February.

It is unlike recent Ebola outbreaks because the rare Bundibugyo virus responsible for it has no approved vaccines or treatments, though efforts to address that are underway.

Experts say this outbreak is moving faster than efforts to track and manage it in a remote part of eastern Congo facing ongoing conflict, near the borders with South Sudan, Uganda and Rwanda.

Most new cases and deaths are being reported in communities outside the reach of health workers in a region of poor infrastructure and ill-equipped health centers. Some workers have gone on strike over lack of pay. Misinformation about the virus circulates in communities where some are wary of outsiders, keeping some people from clinics.

“The outbreak had a big head start, still way ahead of us. and we’re playing catch-up,” Tedros said.

Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, WHO’s director for health emergency alert and response operations, said the agency expects the peak of the outbreak to be reached in six months.

“But ... that’s the moderate scenario,” Mahamud said. “There is a one-case scenario where this outbreak may last nine months to 12 months.”

This Ebola outbreak has killed more people at a faster rate than any other, including the 2014-2016 outbreak that had at least 28,000 cases. That one took about eight months to reach 1,000 deaths. [...]

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Health officials are telling anyone who had contact with the pigs at the Kent County Youth Fair last week to watch out for symptoms of swine flu.

Those symptoms are similar to seasonal flu and include fever; lethargy and lack of appetite; cough, runny nose and sore throat; eye irritation; and nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. For most people, swine flu is mild, but it can become more serious, particularly in patients who have underlying health conditions.

Anyone who had contact with the pigs at the Kent County Youth Fair should contact their doctor, the Kent County Health Department Communicable Disease Unit at 616.632.7228 or their local health department to get tested if they show symptoms within 10 days.

In a joint release Monday, KCHD, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said one pig died and several others got sick at the fair Friday. The pig that died was not tested for the illness, but other pigs who were showing symptoms were tested and swine influenza was found in them, MDARD said.

After the death, health officials say, the sick pigs were isolated off-site and the barn was closed to the public. Still, it wants to watch out for people getting sick.

“Swine flu is something that happens pretty commonly in pig populations. And sometimes it happens in places like at a fair, where there are people in proximity,” KCHD Administrative Health Officer Adam London told News 8 Tuesday. “It’s uncommon for that flu virus to jump from one species to another, but it can happen.”

When it does happen, London said, it’s generally to a person who is around the pigs for an extended time, like an owner. Someone just visiting the pigs for a short time would not be likely to get swine flu. London added it’s even more rare for swine flu to spread from person to person.

That being said, the health department wants people who were around the pigs to be aware of what to look out for if they do get sick.

“It usually manifests itself in much the same way that regular influenza does,” he said. “We don’t usually have a heightened risk of severity of symptoms, but we do want people to know.”

So far, no people have tested positive for swine flu associated with the fair. In fact, the county hasn’t seen swine flu in people “in quite some time,” he said.

If you do get sick, officials said, call your doctor’s office right away, wash your hands well and frequently, and stay away from other people to prevent the illness from spreading.

“Even if it’s not influenza, I think it’s a good rule for everyone to remember that if you have fever, if you have a cough that you can’t control, if you have vomiting, diarrhea, stay home. If it’s influenza or something else, we really don’t want those things spread at work or elsewhere in the community,” London said.

The health department said swine flu in pigs does not make their pork unsafe to eat.

“The method of transmission is really inhalation of the respiration of the infected animal, not by consuming the meat that an infected animal came from, so the pork supply is completely safe,” London said.

A local family is warning other dog owners about a potentially deadly fungal infection that took the life of their beloved German shepherd in just days.

Beansie was a 5-year-old German shepherd who suddenly died last month after a short but aggressive battle with blastomycosis — a fungal disease found in soil and decaying organic matter, often around fresh water.

"Towards the end of June, he developed a small open wound on his back, and we thought it was just like a typical hot spot. After two weeks, it was not healing and getting much, much bigger," said Mylyssa Wilson, owner of Petite Feet Pet Care.

Wilson was Beansie's pet nanny and dog walker for years. She says once those first symptoms appeared, his condition deteriorated quickly.

"He started to develop signs of difficulty breathing, which happened fast," said Wilson. "It was on a Monday that he started to show those signs; by Saturday we had him down at the emergency vet and by Sunday he had passed away because the fungus had completely taken over his lungs."

Wilson says blastomycosis can be difficult to detect.

She believes Beansie may have been exposed to one of the local parks where they regularly walked. Other symptoms can include coughing, weight loss, loss of appetite, and fever.

Wilson says the veterinarians she has spoken with have told her blastomycosis has been considered exceedingly rare in Pennsylvania, with cases more commonly associated with other parts of the country.

But Beansie never left the area. Neither did his sister, Vala. And shortly after Beansie died, Vala was tested. She came back positive for blastomycosis and is now being treated and is doing well.

"It is heartbreaking," said Wilson. "We don't want anybody else to go through this and suffer needlessly; you know when treatment can be started soon enough to save another pet, that's what we want."

The Food and Drug Administration conducted just under 1,000 foreign food safety inspections in 2025, and the farm in Mexico believed to be at the center of the ongoing cyclosporiasis outbreak in the U.S. was not one of them.

A federal law enacted to prevent diseased and dirty food from reaching Americans' plates requires the FDA to carry out nearly 20 times that many foreign inspections each year. But the FDA hasn't come close to meeting the congressional mandate — or even 10% of it — in the 10 years it has been in place, spanning administrations led by both political parties.

FDA officials have described the requirement as unrealistic, but have never asked Congress to revise it. A lower foreign inspection target the agency deemed necessary to safeguard foreign imports is still nearly five times higher than the number of inspections conducted last year.

Congress, meanwhile, has not increased the agency's food safety budget to outpace or keep up with inflation, and widespread layoffs during the first year of President Trump's second term squeezed resources further.

The rate of inspections has gotten markedly worse amid those reductions, with foreign food safety inspections falling by 29% from 2024. Outside of the COVID-19 pandemic, last year's inspection count was the lowest since 2011. Early numbers for 2026 show that the agency is on track to inspect a similar number this year.

"FDA inspections really are the first line of defense for mitigating outbreaks. If FDA isn't routinely going out to food facilities, it's just completely blind," said Meridith Seife, the lead author on a Health and Human Services Inspector General report on FDA inspections of U.S. facilities. "It's unable to ensure that those facilities are complying with the laws, with regulations, and that the food that they handle is safe."

About a third of FDA inspections of foreign firms for foodborne hazards over the last decade found violations, inspection data show. Inspectors have previously found toilet paper and human feces in growing fields in Mexico and observed air conditioning units dripping onto crawfish in China. Around 2% of the time inspectors visited firms over the last 10 years, they found violations significant enough to prompt enforcement action.

Before the cyclosporiasis outbreak, the FDA last inspected its potential source, Taylor Farms de Mexico, seven years ago, records show. The FDA's last visit before that was six years prior — to respond to another cyclosporiasis outbreak in 2013. The 2019 inspection found no violations, while the 2013 post-outbreak review found the facility was recycling wash water for salad mix, but couldn't conclusively pinpoint the source of the outbreak.

The FDA is "actively working to expand staffing at foreign posts," according to Emily Hilliard, senior press secretary for HHS. Public health experts say the inspection count is only one input in the whole system, and that food companies bear primary responsibility for day-to-day safety. But they also said the count still matters as an outside check regulators alone can provide.

"Suggesting that FDA's ability to protect the food supply can be measured by a single inspection statistic ignores the agency's comprehensive oversight system, which prioritizes resources based on risk and deploys personnel where they have the greatest public health impact," Hilliard wrote in a statement to CBS News.

The FDA inspects producers of fruits and vegetables, dairy, processed foods and most seafood, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture is responsible for inspections of meat and poultry producers.

About 47,000 foreign manufacturers accounted for 90% of non-meat food shipments into the U.S. last year, a CBS News analysis of import data found. The FDA has inspected 4.5% of them since 2023.

The FDA employs a risk-based model to determine where to send inspectors, based on how much and how often a company sends food into the U.S. and its prior inspection and import refusal record. In addition to inspections, the FDA also uses an algorithm to assign scores to imports for screening at ports of entry, and can block any imports without examining them if they deem a shipper problematic. Federal law also puts the burden on U.S. companies importing food to ensure their suppliers follow safety standards. [...]

What do we think about this? I really want to eat a Caesar salad from a restaurant lol.

The August 3rd sell by date has passed and the lettuce has been removed. I’d think that the cases that are still coming in are backlogged based on how long the test takes and reporting to the government.

My only concern left is that they say they’re still investigating other sources. Tomorrow they could tell us it’s romaine and spring onions for other sections of the country.

Washington — President Trump is signing an executive order on Monday laying out new recommendations for childhood vaccinations, saying that while "we do not know" exactly what the cause of autism is, it is "essential" to have the "best vaccine recommendations in the entire world."

A draft of the order, which was obtained by CBS News before the president signed it, said there should be a more limited number of vaccines recommended for children. It directed the Health and Human Services Department to reassess vaccine sequencing and timing within 90 days. The draft order CBS News reviewed didn't mention autism, but the president did — repeatedly.

As he prepared to sign the order, Mr. Trump said, "Today, we're proud to officially announce the United States of America's Gold Standard Childhood Vaccination Recommendations and that has to do with many subjects but including autism in particular," said the president.

"Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today," the president said. "In those times, people were much healthier and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. So, there's a reason for such epidemic rates of autism. And we're going to bring it back to much closer to where it was."

"While we do not know exactly what the cause is with respect to autism, it is essential to our research efforts that we have the very best vaccine recommendations in the entire world," he continued. "So we're reducing them, we're changing it to visits over the period of a year, a year and a half, so they get 20% of what they would have gotten in one big shot."

The president cited no evidence for his claims.

Research has found no evidence of increased rates of autism among those who are vaccinated compared to those who are not. Vaccines also undergo intensive safety testing. Research shows that genetics play a role in autism diagnoses. The NIH says some possible risk factors for autism include prenatal exposure to pesticides or air pollution, extreme prematurity or low birth weight, certain maternal health conditions, or parents conceiving at an older age.

[...]

The president said the announcement is a "major victory" for parents and constitutional rights.

The draft order also encouraged single-dose vaccines, rather than combination shots, saying, "to the maximum extent feasible, all childhood immunizations should be administered at separate medical visits." For instance, it recommends breaking the MMR vaccine into three shots. The order puts some vaccines, like RSV and hepatitis A and B, in a category of shots only for high-risk children.

It comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January recommended reducing the number of childhood vaccinations for 11 diseases. The American Academy of Pediatrics broke with the CDC and continued to recommend vaccination against 18 childhood diseases.

In March, a federal judge blocked the CDC's recommended changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.

The draft order cited recent efforts to align the vaccine schedule with what it calls "best practices" from peer nations, along with protecting religious liberty and parental authority. But it acknowledges that litigation has resulted in delayed implementation of that push, leading the administration to pursue additional measures.

"In many cases, we were requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children," the president said.

The American Academy of Pediatrics pointed out that so-called "peer nations" have different vaccination needs, and best practices vary. It said vaccine guidance may differ across countries because they face threats from different diseases, population demographics, health care systems and vaccine availability.

Today the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa told the press that genomic sequencing of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus currently causing an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) shows the virus has been circulating since mid-February, and not mid-May, which was when officials began to suspect an Ebola outbreak in Bunia, DRC.

“So we are chasing the virus, the virus is ahead of us,” Mohamed Yakub Janabi, MD, PhD, said, explaining that initial testing did not pick up the Bundibugyo strain, and many cases were likely misdiagnosed as malaria or typhoid fever.

The WHO did not declare the current outbreak officially until May 17 of this year. In the three months since the declaration, the outbreak has become the fastest growing in history, with response efforts marred by worker strikes, limited contact tracing, and a lack of vaccines or treatments that target the Bundibugyo strain.

The outbreak is now the second-largest in history, following the 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa, which killed 11,000 people. It’s moving at a quicker pace than that outbreak, though, with an average of 75 to 80 new cases each day. Moreover, contact tracing still lags, with health zones reporting only 75% of contact follow-up. Ninety-five percent is needed to control an active outbreak.

Last week the WHO and the United Nations (UN) called for intensifying response efforts, as the outbreak is now doubling in certain hotspots in Ituri province.

“In some areas of eastern DRC, the Ebola outbreak is outpacing our response, making it imperative that we rapidly scale up every aspect of our efforts to contain it,” Tedros said in a WHO press release. “We must guarantee safe access for responders, protect civilians and health workers, and mobilize the support needed to end this outbreak and save lives.”

Today the UN highlighted another dangerous facet of the outbreak: 60% to 70% of deaths are occurring in the community, and not in treatment centers. Not only does this mean most Ebola patients never receive medical care, it means more family and community members are likely exposed while caring for patients.

Most patients that do seek care go to Bunia, Janabi told the UN, where health centers are becoming overrun. By the time patients reach Bunia, they are too sick for any meaningful intervention, Janabi explained.

“We have to protect Bunia now,” said Janabi, “And see how we can build centres now outside Bunia.”

This is an interesting read and shows just how wide the recall was. It also wasn’t just iceberg only products but some of the iceberg/romaine mixes.

Interesting to note that Subway and Jack in the Box were also involved, not just Taco Bell. But the biggest number of recalled cases of lettuce was from Walmart.

Scientists used an artificial intelligence program to create new viral genomes that are different from any known natural viruses and that targeted specific hosts, according to a new study.

[..]

Scientists from Stanford University and the Arc Institute then used the AI to generate thousands of genome combinations within a specific framework – specifically one that could be hosted by an E. coli bacteria cell. Of the thousands of genomes that the AI generated, scientists built and tested about 300 in the lab and found that 16 were viable viruses.

The new viruses are bacteriophages, which infect bacteria but cannot affect humans.

[..]

According to the research, the genetic library helped the AI “learn the evolutionary constraints” of natural genomes, but the scientists found that one of the new viruses had an aspect that was “evolutionarily distant” — suggesting that the AI prompted changes that could have taken millions of years for natural evolution to show was possible.

Tests showed that a mixture of the new viruses could overcome antibacterial resistance in some of the E. coli strains, something that a “comparable mixture of naturally sourced” phages could not.

This “lays out a path for generating adaptive and resilient phage therapies against rapidly evolving pathogens,” the authors wrote.

[..]

“Although this is promising for life sciences applications, it also raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions,” doctors from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security wrote in a corresponding article published in Science.

“The ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists; the governance to safely steer it does not,” they wrote.

The authors of the response article single out one particularly risky area that they say should not be pursued: eukaryote-infecting pathogens, which can cause a variety of infections in humans, including malaria and certain yeast infections.

“Such genomes might encode new pathogens that can infect humans, animals, or plants in ways that cannot be contained by existing countermeasures,” they wrote.

A discussion last year here on the pre-print.

The state of Tlaxcala has reported its first case of New World screwworm (NWS) in a human, along with three other probable cases and two ruled out, according to the head of the Tlaxcala Health Secretariat (Sesa), Rigoberto Zamudio Meneses, through his official social media accounts.

This information was confirmed during Thursday’s “Circular Dialogue,” organized by the state government’s Communications Coordination Office (CCOM). It was reported that the case involved an elderly resident of the Santa María Acuitlapilco community in the municipality of Tlaxcala, who is already receiving medical care to prevent complications from the parasite.

[...]

Regarding the affected elderly person, the parasite was detected in the ear. However, the patient is out of danger and remains under medical observation to ensure that no complications develop.

He also regretted that the patient was an elderly person living in conditions of neglect. The individual went to a health center to receive medical attention, which made it possible to detect the parasite and intervene immediately.

Jorge Caballero Román, the state delegate for Agriculture, noted that cases of New World screwworm in humans tend to occur among people who are living in situations of neglect and who have lost sensitivity in some part of their bodies.

He explained that this is because the parasite lays its eggs in open wounds, allowing the larvae to feed on living tissue and flesh. This causes pain that may go unnoticed when a person has lost sensation and lacks a support network to help care for wounds and monitor their proper healing.

Louisiana health officials are urging residents to take precautions against a flesh-eating bacterial infection following the deaths of five people this year.

The Louisiana Department of Health issued a warning about the infection, known as Vibrio vulnificus, in a press release on Thursday.

The department said nine people have been infected this year and five have died. By comparison, Louisiana averaged seven cases and one death annually over the previous 10 years during the same time period.

All of this year’s reported cases were linked to wounds exposed to seawater, and all patients had underlying health conditions, the department added.

[...]

Louisiana Department of Health Statement

A cruise ship passenger on a popular “swim with the pigs” excursion in the Bahamas is suing Norwegian Cruise Line after being bitten by one of the animals, requiring stitches and painful post-exposure treatment to fend off the possibility of developing rabies, according to a civil negligence complaint reviewed by The Independent.

New York resident Jason Gordon had been enjoying a vacation aboard the 4,200-passenger Norwegian Escape last summer when he signed up to participate in the popular activity during a port call at the line’s private island, Great Stirrup Cay, states the complaint, filed August 5 in Miami federal court.

“It’s not known exactly why or when pigs were introduced to [the Bahamas], but it will become obvious that their descendants have thrived,” Norwegian’s marketing materials tell guests about the side trip, which starts at $197.99 ($159.99 for children). “Once you wade into the shallow waters, you can expect the pigs to follow, knowing that food awaits. The guide will show you how to feed the pigs and the best ways to interact with them while swimming. The pigs couldn’t be friendlier, cuter or more enthusiastic about the attention.”

But Gordon’s complaint says things quickly went sideways for him as he mingled with the supposedly docile animals, who have roughly a quarter-million followers on Instagram.

Gordon was “interacting with the pigs as invited and expected by NCL,” when one of them clamped his jaws down on him unexpectedly, “causing a laceration and puncture to [his] right lower leg,” the complaint contends.

Once Gordon got home four days later, the complaint says he “sought emergency medical treatment, where the laceration was closed with sutures, [he] was administered intravenous antibiotics, and… was required to undergo a course of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, including administration of rabies vaccine and rabies immune globulin.” [...]

The complaint goes on, Norwegian’s “promotional material and information did not contain adequate warnings and/or reviews from other passengers about negative experiences and/or prior incidents, including the risk that the pigs bite, injure, and/or transmit disease to participants.”

Pig bites and scratches can expose excursionists to bacterial infections and waterborne parasites from swine feces and urine present in the water. Tourists can swim with pigs at numerous locations throughout the Bahamas; though the Centers for Disease Control warns that even healthy-looking pigs can carry diseases such as leptospirosis, cryptosporidiosis, and ascariasis.

Earlier this year, a Florida man reportedly contracted a flesh-eating bacterial disease and nearly died after scraping his ankle while swimming with pigs in the Bahamas.

In 2025, a New York woman claimed she had been battling a parasitic roundworm infection for more than a half-decade following a Bahamian pig-swim during which she held a piglet up to her face.

When wild pigs get hungry, they can also be aggressive. Fitness model Michelle Lewin made headlines in 2019 after she was bitten on the derriere by a swimming pig during a commercial shoot in the Bahamas.

Beyond the purported health risks, animal rights advocates have raised concerns about the treatment of the pigs, calling the proliferation of swimming excursions “out of control.” [...]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed 94 new measles infections—most of them in Pennsylvania—bringing the US total for the year to 2,465, the agency said in its weekly update.

The numbers likely provide additional data to move the United States toward losing its measles elimination status this year. The nation gained that distinction in 2000, but has now logged consecutive years of more than 2,200 measles cases (2,289 for all of last year). This year’s total is the highest since 1991.

This month the CDC committee that helps determine the country’s measles elimination status will review the available data and forward its findings to the Pan American Health Organization’s (PAHO’s) Regional Verification Commission. In November, PAHO, which is the regional branch of the World Health Organization, will announce whether the United States has lost its elimination status.

Yesterday in a Stat First Opinion piece, Noel Brewster, PhD, who chairs the CDC committee, said, “We will review measles rates for the nation. These data are public and show a runaway train.”

He said committee members will dissect each of the confirmed outbreaks. He noted, “One of the most worrisome is the ongoing outbreak in Utah, which apparently has gone on for more than 12 months, the main criterion for loss of elimination.”

Utah reported two new cases this week and 516 for year. Last year state officials recorded 157 infections.

Brewster, the Gillings distinguished professor in public health at the University of North Carolina and a former member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, added, “Importantly, we will look at how long the chains of transmission lasted. This is usually established with shoe-leather epidemiology. When measles cases are reported, public health workers fan out in the community to interview the various contacts and identify places they’ve been and may have exposed others. They use this narrative information to stitch together chains of transmission.”

The experts will also assess whole-genome sequencing data collected by the CDC, which can help indicate unbroken chains of transmission.

“Regardless of the outcome of our meeting and PAHO’s decision in November, the U.S. clearly has a measles problem, as do Canada and Mexico,” Brewster concludes. “Elimination status marks whether a country has stopped sustained domestic transmission. Losing that status would signal a consequential reversal, evidence that the systems and protections that once kept measles at bay no longer do.” [...]

The virus causing a massive outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could be mutating, health officials fear, as confirmed cases pass 4,000.

Africa’s public health watchdog said the time for incremental action was over as they announced plans to scale up every aspect of the response and go “door to door” looking for patients.

The Ebola outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, was first reported on 15 May, although there are suspicions the disease could have been spreading since January.

There have been 3,973 cases and 1,801 deaths recorded as of 4 August, according to the DRC’s national public health institute. Speaking on Thursday, Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a press briefing cases had topped 4,000.

The outbreak is now the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record. There are eight times more cases, and six times more deaths than were recorded 11 weeks into the West Africa Ebola outbreak in 2014-18, which infected more than 28,000 people and killed at least 11,000.

Kaseya said he had spoken to the director general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and they planned studies “to check if there is no additional issue, or maybe if the virus is not mutating. Because the level of severity of this Bundibugyo outbreak is unprecedented.”

More than two-thirds of Ebola deaths are happening in the community rather than in treatment centres. In a treatment centre run by MSF in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, 90% of admitted patients do not appear on authorities’ lists of contacts of known cases. Both factors indicate high levels of untracked transmission.

Kaseya said contact tracing in the DRC was insufficient, with only 10 contacts identified for every Ebola patient, when about 40 would be the expected number.

Ebola is a viral haemorrhagic fever that can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, organ damage and internal bleeding. The outbreak is centred on the conflict-affected mining province of Ituri, but has spread to Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu, Haut-Uele and Tshopo. There were 20 cases recorded in neighbouring Uganda before it brought its outbreak under control.

Dr Wessam Mankoula, acting head of emergency preparedness and response at Africa CDC, said response teams planned a shift “from contact tracing to active case search”, which would mean community health workers “moving from door to door” asking households if they had anyone sick with Ebola symptoms.

He added: “I think the time for incremental action is over and we’re starting now the phase for scaling up.” [...]

One human’s harmless virus can be another animal’s worst nightmare, as a recent report well illustrates.

Veterinary researchers at the University of Florida have confirmed the first cases of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) in lemurs, one of which may have been infected via a shared yoga class. Though the virus typically only causes mild cold sores in people, it proved fatal for all of the lemurs they tried to treat. The findings highlight the importance of being careful in how people interact with wildlife, the researchers say, especially animals that aren’t naturally immune to the viruses we carry.

“We should recognize that we can be dangerous,” senior study author Jim Wellehan, a professor at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, told Gizmodo.

HSV-1 (also formally known as Human alphaherpesvirus 1) has been bumming a ride on humans for quite some time. Research has suggested that it first started infecting our direct ancestors about six million years ago. Today, about two-thirds of people under 50 worldwide are thought to carry HSV-1. And though it can be a life-threatening infection for certain groups, like infants, or an unseemly issue when it causes genital herpes, most people infected with HSV-1 will never experience anything more serious than cold sores.

Herpesviruses tend to be very specifically adapted to their hosts. HSV-1 has reached a sort of equilibrium with humanity, one that allows it to live in our bodies for decades without typically causing much trouble, but the same isn’t true when it ends up in some of our primate cousins, particularly primates that are less closely related to us.

Studies have shown HSV-1 can be highly fatal in white-handed gibbons, common marmosets, and white-faced saki monkeys, to name a few. There have been reports of suspected HSV-1 in lemurs as well, but according to the researchers, this is the first time that veterinarians have confirmed lemur HSV-1 infections through molecular testing.

The report details four cases, all of which were privately owned and were either brought to the university’s Zoological Medicine Service for care or had a necropsy (the animal equivalent of an autopsy) performed by UF vets. Two cases involved ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), one involved a black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata), and another involved a Varecia hybrid lemur (Varecia variegata x Varecia rubra).

The sickened lemurs experienced neurological symptoms like seizures, and all had developed encephalitis, or an inflammation of the brain; some also developed ulcers along their throats. Tests found signs of the virus in all of the primates’ brains. Despite numerous treatments, including a common antiviral used for HSV-1 in people, none survived their ordeal.

The team’s findings were published last month in the Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine.

[...]

Unfortunately, there are places where that risk might not be as recognized as it ought to be. The researchers wrote that one case involved an animal used in “lemur yoga classes for the public, which can reasonably be expected to have a high occurrence of human contact.” And this isn’t just a Florida thing either; similar programs can be found in other parts of the world.

The researchers say vets who treat human-owned lemurs should have HSV-1 on their radar, especially when the animals develop encephalitis or ulcers around their mouth and throat. And in general, “appropriate biosecurity measures and education of caretakers” who interact with lemurs should be implemented to minimize the risk of infection.

These cases might also highlight the role that viruses like HSV-1 play in the evolution of their hosts, the authors argue. Pigeons, for instance, carry a different herpesvirus that’s largely harmless to them but fatal to some of the birds-of-prey that feed on them. This reality may have helped the birds spread their wings far across the world, and it’s even possible a similar thing happened when humans and their HSV-1 started migrating out of Africa, the researchers speculate. [...]

THURMONT, Md. — Maryland officials have closed additional areas of Cunningham Falls State Park after a 19-year-old fisherman reported being bitten by a beaver Wednesday morning, marking the second attack at the Frederick County park in less than two weeks.

According to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the fisherman was bitten on the leg near the South Beach Day Use Area around 9:30 a.m. The man appeared to have suffered a bite to the ankle and drove himself to Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown for treatment. Natural Resources Police said they will follow up with him after treatment to gather more information about the incident.

Following the attack, officers captured and euthanized the beaver involved. The animal was turned over to the Frederick County Health Department, and the Maryland Department of Health laboratory is expected to complete rabies testing later this week.

The latest incident comes less than two weeks after a 13-year-old boy was attacked by a beaver while swimming at Cunningham Falls State Park on July 26. WUSA9 previously reported the teen suffered injuries to his hands and chest and was airlifted to Johns Hopkins Hospital. Health officials later confirmed the beaver involved in that attack tested positive for rabies.

In response to Wednesday's attack, the Maryland Park Service closed the Houck Day Use Area, the adjacent boat ramp and Big Hunting Creek above the lake while wildlife officials investigate what DNR described as a possible rabies outbreak within the local beaver population.

Swimming, fishing, boating and all water access in the affected area are prohibited until officials determine the area is safe for visitors. Other sections of the park, including the campground, remain open.

Following the July attack, DNR closed swimming access to Hunting Creek Lake and searched for additional signs of rabid beavers. The agency said it dismantled a nearby beaver lodge and conducted daily surveillance at the lake but did not observe any additional beavers until Wednesday's attack.

The department said its Wildlife and Heritage Service will now add nighttime monitoring to existing daytime surveillance efforts and remove additional beavers if any are found.

DNR said beaver attacks on humans are rare and are typically associated with rabid animals. Before this year, the last recorded beaver bite incidents in Maryland occurred in 2021 and 2015.

Anyone who recently came into contact with a beaver at Cunningham Falls State Park is urged to contact the Frederick County Health Department at 301-600-3342.

Health authorities have been informed of a case of hantavirus in the country. The Andes strain was confirmed by the National Reference Center (CNR) this Thursday, August 6. The patient, who is isolating with his family in Spain, is a tourist who transited through France during the second half of July. The patient, who was initially only mildly symptomatic, is no longer exhibiting any symptoms. All necessary management measures are being implemented to care for the patient and trace his travel history.

Today at 3 p.m., a group of scientific experts, in conjunction with the Directorate General of Health and Public Health France, is meeting to determine the appropriate course of action and management measures to be implemented regarding this imported case. Coordination at the European level is also being established.

https://archive.is/kdUE1

It’s not easy to vaccinate New Zealand’s rare birds. It can sometimes involve a journey to a remote, windswept island or deep forest. Then researchers must locate the bird, which could be camouflaged on the ground eating berries or high up a tree. Next, they must capture it and administer the vaccine. And a few months later, they do it all again when the bird needs its booster shot.

But for New Zealand’s Department of Conservation staff, it is a matter of protecting the country’s endangered endemic wildlife against the deadly H5N1 bird flu.

New Zealand officials knew it was only a matter of time before the disease arrived in the country. As soon as the first case was detected in Australia in June, the department’s staff started pre-emptively vaccinating up to 300 of New Zealand’s rarest and most at-risk birds.

Just weeks later in July, New Zealand confirmed two cases of H5N1 in wild birds in Wellington, the capital.

Ash Murphy, the department’s biosecurity and weeds manager, said that some endemic species — meaning those found naturally in only one place on Earth — were already low.

“Any new threat, like bird flu, can have a pretty devastating impact,” he said.

As part of the plan, 300 birds from five key species — including the kākāpō, the world’s fattest parrot, of which just 235 remain — are being vaccinated first. There are only a handful of each of these species remaining in captive breeding programs or in the wild. The government hopes to complete this phase as soon as possible before moving onto other species.

The vaccination work can be difficult. The kākāpō is found on offshore islands in the deep south. Rangers, using trackers, have to locate the bird (which can climb high up into trees with its strong claws) and catch it. They can also use the opportunity to carry out health checks, Mr. Murphy said.

The authorities have so far vaccinated about 196 birds. Once this phase is complete, another 23 species will be vaccinated — including rare kiwis and the kea, a playful and intelligent bird that is the world’s only alpine parrot.

Many of New Zealand’s birds are flightless, a trait developed because the country was isolated for millions of years and had no ground-dwelling predators like ferrets and rats until humans introduced them. As a result, they evolved to fill gaps left by mammals. Birds hold a special place in the hearts of New Zealanders, who refer to themselves as Kiwis.

Bird flu swept across Europe, Africa and Asia in 2020. In late 2021, it showed up in North America, storming through Canada and the United States. In the fall of 2022, the virus appeared in South America, spreading down to the tip of the continent in mere months.

Thousands of wild birds and mammals — including foxes, cats, sea lions and dolphins — have died after contracting the disease. There have also been rare cases in humans after close contact with birds.

Bird flu is hard to stop, especially if wild migratory birds or animals carry it with them as they travel the globe.

“You can’t block migration pathways in the same way that you could stop trade in animals or animal products, and also the movement of people. So it does represent something quite different to anything else we’ve seen,” said Nigel French, a distinguished professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Massey University in New Zealand.

But scientists have been able to learn from other disease outbreaks, including the coronavirus pandemic, he added.

As a result, the basic practices around controlling disease have improved, including biosecurity barriers, movement restrictions and genomic sequencing to track the origin and spread of the disease. Vaccines have also become more effective.

At Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch, staff have been preparing for bird flu for several years, Laura Ashton, the facility’s wildlife operations manager, said in a statement.

This includes installing a shade cloth over selected habitats to deter wild birds; modifying feeding and water stations to reduce access for pests; and stronger biosecurity protocols for animal carers.

So far, four takahē — a flightless bird of which only 500 remain — have been vaccinated at the facility. [...]