Zoonotic Infections News

A new report authored by 12 antibiotic resistance experts outlines policy recommendations that aim to address the contribution of antibiotic use in livestock in the United States to the global threat of drug resistance.

Storm victims in Texas are at an increased risk for infection in the wake of catastrophic flooding caused by Harvey, which may bring them into contact with pathogens capable of causing disease, including some that may be unusual to physicians.

Health officials are investigating an outbreak of Salmonella infections caused by pet turtles.

The remains of a 17th century mummy from the Joseon Dynasty of Korea show the first case of a liver abscess caused by ectopic paragonimiasis, an infection induced by parasitic worms — a finding that may advance knowledge of parasitic infections today, researchers said.

A deadly anthrax outbreak in Zambia was caused by contact with meat from hippopotamuses that had died of the bacterial illness, according to researchers in a study that highlighted the issue of chronic food insecurity as a cause of zoonotic infections.

The NIH has awarded scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine three grants totaling more than $12 million for research on Ebola virus, Marburg virus and hantavirus, according to a press release.

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.

Human influenza viruses developed new variants in pigs before infecting humans again at several Midwest agricultural fairs, according to researchers.

Health officials said fleas from two Arizona counties have tested positive for plague and are asking residents to take precautions to reduce their exposure to the disease.

The last few years have seen a growing force of infectious disease challenges that together pose an unprecedented range of threats to health here in the United States and in countries around the world where Americans travel and conduct business. While outbreaks of Ebola, Zika, SARS and MERS have spread from their places of origin with devastating impacts, rising rates of resistance to antimicrobial drugs threaten the gains of modern medicine at home and globally. New and re-emerging diseases with pandemic potential continue to surface, and diseases that include tuberculosis, once considered all but conquered, have evolved faster than the medicines to control them, to pose new dangers.