News

State health departments in Minnesota and Washington are on the alert after recent outbreaks of Legionnaire’s disease.

Congressional leaders brokered a compromise Wednesday that keeps the government running, provides financial relief to the beleaguered city of Flint, Michigan, and finally funds Zika prevention efforts.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a multi-state outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7.

Babies born to mothers infected with the Zika during pregnancy may have the virus in their systems for more than 2 months after birth.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is designating Sansaria PfSPZ, a malaria vaccine, to the “fast track” a move that will expedite the process for the drug, now in review.

Despite the ongoing funding stalemate in Congress, several research initiatives hoping to yield an effective vaccine against Zika are advancing through the development process.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn infections from the consumption of raw milk and products made from raw milk will increase, especially in states where raw milk is legal.

A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows influenza viruses currently in circulation in the United States are the same as anticipated by vaccine makers, hopefully signaling effectiveness ahead for 2016-2017 Northern Hemisphere influenza vaccines.

After plaguing much of Brazil and the Caribbean since late 2014, the Zika virus “crisis”—such as it is—seems to have migrated eastward—far eastward.

Researchers at Central Michigan University have found that proteins in the saliva of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes bind to Dengue virus and inhibit disease transmission to human cells and mice.

When researchers recently discovered a strain of Escherichia coli resistant to the final resort antibiotics colistin and carbapenem in the United States, it marked an increasing pattern of pan–drug-resistant bacteria appearing worldwide. A new report from France, though, may indicate that identifying and isolating these deadly superbug strains may help us control their spread.

On September 21, 2016, delegates at the 71st meeting of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly gathered to discuss the shared danger of antimicrobial resistance, signaling the global scale of this urgent public health crisis while pledging to collectively tackle the problem of superbugs.

Researchers are gathering more evidence of the exact effects of Zika virus infection on eye health.

Bartonella henselae, the bacterium that causes Cat-Scratch Disease, is carried in the claws and mouth of infected cats and spreads through bites, scratches, or licks to an open wound.

With so much of the world focusing on Zika virus in the Americas and Southeast Asia, it’s easy to forget that there are other mosquito-borne viruses causing serious public health problems globally—namely, Dengue fever and Chikungunya.

The World Health Organization credits contraception with preventing pregnancy-related health risks in women, reducing adolescent pregnancies, and lowering infant mortality rates. What researchers are now discovering is that hormonal contraceptives containing progesterone may also protect women against influenza infections and repair lung damage caused by inflammation.

With more than 90 locally transmitted cases of Zika virus infection confirmed in Florida, and states from the southeast to the Midwest fearing similar outbreaks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made bolstering its network of approved testing laboratories for the virus a priority.

Health officials around the world agree that our one of the best steps to reducing the problem of antimicrobial resistance is scaling back on unnecessary overprescribing of these medications. As doctors in many countries work to implement these efforts, a new report out of the United Kingdom shows some progress in the fight against drug-resistant “superbugs,” along with plenty of work to still be done.

A Zika infection case in Utah has raised more questions about virus transmission.

As so-called “superbug” bacteria continue to develop new ways of resisting antibiotics, scientists are on the search for new and alternative treatments. Promising news from a recent study is now showing that we may be able to battle the most virulent strains of the Clostridium difficile bacteria with a class of drugs already on the market.

Mumps outbreaks have recently been reported within the school systems of three states: Arkansas, Oklahoma, and New York.

The number of illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths caused by Salmonella have been steadily rising each year, and now findings from new report on nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica show that some 20% of blood isolates of the bacteria have antibiotic resistance.

Health officials in Singapore have reported a significant increase in the incidence of Zika virus infection in the country in recent weeks.

As health experts around the world take on the problem of antimicrobial resistance and overuse of antibiotics in humans as a prime cause, world leaders are reminding us of another contributor to this global health issue: our farming system.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found out how hepatitis A causes acute liver injury.

On the same day officials in Florida declared the Wynwood section of Miami, “ground zero” for the Zika virus in the state, no longer “active” for local transmission, officials from a state halfway across the country expressed concerns over a “pending disaster” involving the mosquito-borne infection.

The United Kingdom Food Standards Agency has published a guidance for health care and social service organizations who care for vulnerable populations at greater risk for contracting listeriosis and other food-borne diseases.

A team of scientists from Rutgers University and Columbia University recently discovered a new strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli) believed to be the first in the United States with resistance to two kinds of antibiotics considered to be last resort weapons to prevent dangerous infections.

We hear a lot about influenza types A and B every year when flu season approaches, and occasionally about the less severe type C. Now researchers have identified a newly recognized form of the virus—influenza D.

In Quebec, Atlantic Shellfish Products Inc. is recalling oysters from the marketplace after possible Salmonella contamination.