Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases News

• Rifampin Promising for Latent TB in Phase 3 Trials Rifampin for 4 months had similar safety profiles and efficacy but better adherence rates than 9 months of isoniazid for both adults and children, two large trials showed.
  Medscape Medical News, August 2018
• Congo Declares Ebola Flare-Up Over After Rapid Response Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday declared an end to an Ebola outbreak believed to have killed 33 people after what experts hailed as a swift response to the flare-up in one of the world's most difficult environments.
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Alert FDA OKs Tafenoquine (Krintafel) to Prevent Malaria Relapse Tafenoquine is the first single-dose medicine to prevent the relapse of Plasmodium vivax malaria and marks a major contribution toward malaria eradication.
  FDA Approvals, July 2018
• Countries Accused of Failing to Meet Pledge to Tackle Antibiotic Misuse
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Iowa, Illinois Investigating Infections Linked to McDonald's Salad The Iowa and Illinois health departments said on Thursday that they were investigating cyclospora infections linked to salads at McDonald Corp's restaurants.
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Evacuated Due to Possible TB Exposure Two buildings at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, were evacuated on Thursday because people may have been exposed to tuberculosis, a hospital spokeswoman said.
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Tens of Thousands of Kenyans Go Hungry After Floods - Aid Agencies
  Reuters Health Information, July 2018
• Life-Saving Miltefosine for Leishmaniasis Unavailable to Those Who Need It Most Miltefosine, the only approved oral treatment for leishmaniasis, is a life-saving therapeutic advancement, but the people who need it most can't get it, researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Doctors Discover Parasitic Worm in Woman’s Face A woman in Moscow spent 2 weeks photographing a strange lump in her face that moved from place to place.
  WebMD Health News, July 2018
• Congo Completes Surveillance of Ebola Contacts, No New Cases Democratic Republic of Congo moved closer to declaring its Ebola outbreak over when the health ministry said it had completed surveillance of the last people who came into contact with patients and had not found any new cases.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Zambia Aims to Eradicate Malaria by 2021 - Health Minister Zambia aims to eradicate malaria, the country's biggest killer, within three years after deaths from the disease halved last year from 2014, the health minister said on Wednesday.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Top GB Athletes Plagued by Tooth Decay, Oral Disease - Study Winning athletes love to bite their medals and smile for the cameras as they hold their trophies aloft, but their teeth may actually be holding them back.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Ebola Outbreak in Congo "Largely Contained", Says WHO Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak has been "largely contained" and no new cases of the disease have been confirmed since the last known sufferer died on June 9, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Zambian Health Minister Declares Cholera Epidemic Over A cholera outbreak in Zambia which killed 114 people and made more than 5,000 others sick over eight months has been contained, Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya said on Friday.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Study Confirms Higher Risk of Dengue in Kids Who Got Sanofi Vaccine An analysis of data on Sanofi's dengue vaccine, which has been given to more than 800,000 school children in the Philippines, confirms it increases the risk of hospitalization and severe dengue in those who had never previously been infected with the mosquito-borne virus.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Congo Reports First Confirmed Ebola Case in Over a Week Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded its first confirmed case of Ebola in over a week, the health ministry said on Thursday, although medics say they have made significant progress in their efforts to contain the disease.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Medical Workers in Congo City Finish Vaccinating Contacts of Ebola Patients Medical workers in Democratic Republic of Congo have given all the immediate contacts of Ebola patients in the city of Mbandaka an experimental vaccine as they try to thwart a disease that has killed around 25 people, the health ministry said.
  Reuters Health Information, June 2018
• Zika Virus Usually Causes Mild Illness in Children Zika virus infection is generally mild in infants, children and adolescents, according to a study of 351 patients in Puerto Rico.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• Millions Could Avoid Deadly Fever if World Limits Warming More than three million cases of dengue fever, the world's fastest-spreading tropical disease, could be avoided annually if global warming is capped at 1.5C, said a study that purports to be the first to show the health benefits of a cooler planet.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• Prenatal TNF Inhibitor Exposure Not Linked to Serious Infections Children of women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who are exposed to tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors (TNFis) in the womb are not at markedly increased risk of serious infections, new findings suggest.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018