Zoonotic Infections News

Officials from WHO and the Malian government have announced the country is free of Ebola virus, according to a press release.

When WHO announced the first appearance of a new, fatal emerging disease in Central Africa, the report included the following information: “electron microscopy studies on specimens from Sudan and Zaire have revealed a virus morphologically similar to Marburg virus.” Marburg virus disease (MVD) was already known as a highly pathogenic zoonotic disease. It was initially discovered in 1967 in the German city of Marburg, where cases of hemorrhagic fever with a fatality rate of more than 25% occurred among laboratory workers who had contact with the blood, organs or cell-cultures from a batch of African green monkeys (grivets, Chlorocebus aethiops) imported from northwestern Uganda. Cases also were seen in medical personnel who treated the patients and in one family member indicating human-to-human transmission. A similar event involved laboratory personnel in Frankfurt and Belgrade, where tissues of Ugandan grivets were handled.

The number of newly reported cases of Ebola virus disease were the lowest recorded in almost 5 months among West African countries hit hardest by the outbreak, according to a report.

The incidence of 14 notifiable infectious diseases was higher among American Indian and Alaska Native populations compared with the white population, according to the most recent 5 years of data.

Significant social clustering could to be a factor in the transmission of Ebola virus disease in West Africa, according to recent findings.

Haiti has made significant progress in rebuilding the national public health system, 5 years after the 2010 earthquake that left millions of Haitians in urgent need of medical care, according to the CDC.

A tetravalent dengue vaccine was effective against severe virologically confirmed dengue and significantly reduced the risk for hospitalization from the disease in five Latin American countries, according to recent study findings.

A tetravalent dengue vaccine was effective against severe virologically confirmed dengue and significantly reduced the risk for hospitalization from the disease in five Latin American countries, according to recent study findings.

Only 126 cases of Guinea worm were reported worldwide last year, representing a 15% reduction from the 148 cases reported in 2013, according to the Carter Center.

A new smartphone app that will detect a user’s risk for exposure to Ebola virus is under development, according to a press release.