Zoonotic Infections News

A genetic sequence analysis performed by experts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, demonstrated that the new Ebola outbreak in Équateur Province is different from the ongoing outbreak in the eastern part of the country.

Another Ebola outbreak has been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, on the other side of the country from an Ebola outbreak that has been ongoing since 2018.

Tularemia is a zoonotic disease caused by Francisella tularensis, an aerobic gram-negative coccobacillus. Francisella are slow growing, fastidious and difficult to cultivate.

On April 10, just 3 days before officials were set to declare the end of the 10th Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC — the second-largest outbreak of the disease in history — a new case was reported. Between April 10 and April 13, reports of three new cases had emerged.

Screening only for cough, shortness of breath, fever or sore throat may have missed 17% of symptomatic health care personnel, or HCP, with COVID-19, according to a JAMA study — suggesting a need to expand symptom-based screening criteria for HCP.

A three-drug regimen of ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine and albendazole given as a single dose sterilizes adult filarial worms for at least 5 years, according to a letter to the editor in The New England Journal of Medicine, though this regimen may fail to clear circulating filarial antigen.

Male gender, old age and the presence of underlying conditions appear to be the most common characteristics associated with fatal COVID-19 outcomes, according to results from a study of 14 patients published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Two randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials at Johns Hopkins Medicine aim to determine whether blood plasma will be effective as prophylaxis against COVID-19, a strategy that would be “enormously valuable” and has been efficacious against other viral diseases.

Seasonality will likely have only a minor role in the epidemiology of COVID-19 compared with public health interventions such as school closures and social distancing, which have been shown to have a major impact, according to a prospective cohort study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Despite a lack of trials demonstrating the efficacy of chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19, promotion and use of the two treatments has led to shortages, self-treatment and fatal overdoses, according to a perspective published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The perspective suggests that African countries “strongly consider” putting prescription monitoring programs in place to ensure that off-label use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine is appropriate and beneficial for the treatment of COVID-19.