Zoonotic Infections News

In May 1993, a “new” disease appeared in a physically fit young Navajo man living in the Four Corners area where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah join. Suffering from shortness of breath, he was rushed to a hospital in New Mexico and soon died. This pulmonary insufficiency was later termed hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, or HPS. At that time, a review of medical records indicated that the man’s fiancee had similar symptoms and died the week before. These two deaths led the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator to review medical records of patients in the area who had died of acute respiratory failure. Five cases involving young, previously healthy individuals were found. Follow-up investigations found additional cases in the Four Corners area. Investigators conducted field studies to identify hosts of the virus, including sampling rodents living in and around homes of individuals who had died. Evidence of hantavirus infection was found mainly in the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus). The virus was isolated by the CDC’s Viral Special Pathogens Branch and designated Sin Nombre virus, or SNV.

The outbreak of bird flu that began in the United States in 2022 among wild birds and poultry has since spread to dairy cattle, at least one pig, a growing number of people — and even cats.

Two indoor domestic cats in Michigan died after being infected with bird flu that they may have contracted from their owners who work as dairy workers, according to a CDC report.

Over a period of 3 weeks, just after the end-of-the-year holidays, three healthy siblings presented with swollen lymph nodes.

The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next HHS secretary.

The CDC on Thursday published its famed Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for the first time since the Trump administration ordered the nation’s various health agencies to freeze public communications.

Niger became the first African country to eliminate the parasitic infection onchocerciasis — also known as river blindness — and the fifth worldwide, according to WHO.

Senators voted on party lines Tuesday to advance the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next U.S. health secretary.

The CDC’s removal of online resources related to HIV, STIs and other health topics following a Trump administration order to scrub references related to “gender ideology” has alarmed experts, who say it threatens public health.