Zoonotic Infections News

Three people in Queensland, Australia, were infected with a Lonepinella koalarum-like bacteria after being bitten by koalas, researchers reported in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Experts are concerned about the spread of an invasive tick species in the United States that is capable of transmitting a number of human infections, calling it “a new and emerging disease threat.”

Hepatitis E is prevalent in patients living with HIV in Bangui, the capital city of the Central African Republic, researchers reported.

Ebola, or more properly, Ebola virus disease (EVD) — the disease that horror writers dream about — is caused by members of a family of filoviruses called Ebolaviruses. It brings the most frightening of infectious disease syndromes to mind. The nonfiction book The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, and the 1995 movie Outbreak, patterned after EVD, are equally terrifying. Imagine victims bleeding from their eyes, ears and noses and, at autopsy, the pathologist finds necrotic organs. Just two transmitted cases in the United States in 2015 were enough to panic the population, as well as the health care system.

The CUBE as described in the accompanying article may have applications in highly industrialized countries such as the United States. Of course, first we would need a careful evaluation of just how effective in providing contact isolation and how easily used it has been in the field in countries with EVD. However, the concept of an easily moved isolation unit that could be stored in a central location and then moved even long distances and then installed in a large room in a hospital or even outdoors might be of interest.

An investment aimed at expanding access to postexposure prophylaxis for rabies — and providing it for free — would prevent an additional 489,000 deaths globally between 2020 and 2035 and would be an “extremely cost-effective intervention” to substantially reduce the burden of the disease, the results of a modeling study conducted by the WHO Rabies Modelling Consortium showed.

NEW YORK — Asking pediatric patients about animal exposures both in and outside of the home can be an important part of ensuring the prevention of zoonotic infections, according to a presentation at the Infectious Diseases in Children annual symposium. Understanding what animals are present in the child’s life can allow pediatricians to provide anticipatory guidance and share infection prevention methods.

Rat lungworm is “widespread” among rodents in New Orleans, with an overall prevalence comparable to areas where the parasite is considered endemic, according to study findings published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

A record number of tickborne disease cases were reported in the United States last year, following an upward trend that has not been fully explained, the CDC said.

A three-drug regimen including ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine and albendazole is more effective for the treatment of lymphatic filariasis than the standard two-drug regimen of diethylcarbamazine plus albendazole that is used outside of sub-Saharan Africa, according to findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine.