infectious diseases

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'Hundreds' of People in NY May Be Infected With Polio

So says state's health commissioner after virus turns up in wastewater in a 2nd county

(Newser) - News last month of an unvaccinated man in New York's Rockland County contracting polio and suffering paralysis was soon followed by reports of the virus being found in wastewater there. Now, nearby Orange County has also turned up polio in its sewage, in samples taken from two different locations...

Monkeypox News Is Only Getting Worse
Monkeypox News
Is Only Getting Worse
Jul 18, 2022 10:59 AM CDT

Monkeypox News Is Only Getting Worse

Former FDA chief criticizes response, as 'NYT' reports on painful cases among patients

(Newser) - Comments from two well-known officials suggest that the monkeypox outbreak in the US is way undercounted and about to get worse.
  • Gottlieb: "I think the window for getting control of this and containing it probably has closed, and if it hasn't closed, it's certainly starting to close,
...

CDC Says Pandemic Caused Rise in Superbug Infections

Overprescribed antibiotics and overburdened health-care system to blame

(Newser) - Superbugs got an unfortunate boost during the pandemic. Per Reuters, the bad news comes in a recent CDC report, which says antimicrobial-resistant bacteria killed 15% more people in 2020 compared to 2019. It's a reversal of what was a good trend, as deaths from superbugs had fallen since 2012....

Most Contagious Variants Yet Now Dominating US
These 2 New Variants
Are Extra-Contagious
THE RUNDOWN
Jul 5, 2022 10:20 AM CDT

These 2 New Variants Are Extra-Contagious

BA.4 and BA.5 are great at evading protections, including from past omicron infections

(Newser) - Two new extra-contagious variants of omicron with transmissibility similar to measles are together dominating COVID-19 cases in the US, leading to talk of new indoor mask mandates. Here's what you need to know:
  • Background: BA.4 was first detected in South Africa in January, while BA.5 was first
...

Chipmunks With the Plague Lead to Closures in Resort City

Sections in southern part of Calif. resort area to remain shuttered through end of week after rodents test positive

(Newser) - Last year was the year of the murder hornets and flying ants . This year, it's plague chipmunks. The AP reports that certain sections on the south shores of California's Lake Tahoe have been temporarily closed after some of the striped rodents tested positive for the infectious disease. Due...

New Coronavirus Found in Humans Has Surprising Source

Scientists say this version has jumped from dogs to people—a first

(Newser) - Most of researchers' attention over the past year has, understandably, focused on COVID, and on SARS-CoV-2, the particular coronavirus that causes it. But when the pandemic initially took hold, one doctor started wondering about what other coronaviruses were out there—and now scientists say that, for the first time, they'...

Renowned Infectious Disease Expert Is Felled by COVID

Dr. Rajendra Kapila, 81, had traveled to India to care for family before his death

(Newser) - COVID-19 has claimed an infectious disease expert who put his brilliant mind to work on the coronavirus itself. Dr. Rajendra Kapila, a professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a founding member of the New Jersey Infectious Disease Society, tested positive for COVID-19 in India on April 8 before...

In This Nation, a 'Fearsome Intruder' Is Surging

Australia slammed with a spike of flesh-eating Buruli ulcers

(Newser) - Australia has been hit with a spike of what the New York Times calls a "fearsome intruder," though it's not a new one. Stretching back as far as the 1940s, cases of Buruli ulcer —an infectious disease caused by the flesh-devouring Mycobacterium ulcerans bacterium, typically found...

COVID Jumped From Bats to Animal to Humans: WHO

Joint report with China finds that virus likely didn't originate in a lab

(Newser) - A joint China-World Health Organization study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is "extremely unlikely," according to a draft obtained by the AP . The findings offer...

A Deadly Rabbit Disease Is Spreading
A Deadly Rabbit
Disease Is Spreading
Dec 14, 2020 10:25 AM CST

A Deadly Rabbit Disease Is Spreading

It's mostly in the western US, but isolated case turns up among domesticated rabbits in NYC

(Newser) - The year 2020 has been a rough one not just for humans but for rabbits, with the appearance of a deadly and highly contagious disease in North America. Now it appears that the spread of rabbit hemorrhagic disease is getting worse here. Last week, wildlife officials in Utah announced that...

Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to Trio Who Discovered Hep C

Honor for Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, Charles M. Rice is 'long overdue'

(Newser) - We've spent most of 2020 in a tangle with one virus , but now, advances regarding another are receiving their due accolades as Nobel Prize week kicks off. The prize for physiology or medicine was awarded to scientists Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice for their "...

China's New Worry: the Bubonic Plague

Herdsman contracts it, likely from a marmot

(Newser) - China has another infectious disease worry on its hands, but this one is old school. As in, it's the bubonic plague, reports the BBC . It seems a herder in Inner Mongolia came down with the disease, and he's now undergoing treatment in a hospital, per the New York ...

61 Singers Went to Choir Practice. 87% Caught the Virus

Report out of Wash. state documents alarming 'superspreader event' that sickened 52

(Newser) - It's a good thing only half of the Skagit Valley Chorale's 122 members showed up at their March 10 practice—because one of the singers had the coronavirus and managed to spread it to 87% of those in attendance. A new report on this "superspreader event" by...

Rand Paul Explains Why He's Free to Go Maskless

Senator says he doesn't need to wear a mask because he can't infect anyone

(Newser) - Here's another entry on the list of lawmakers who are choosing not to wear masks: Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday told reporters that since he has recovered from COVID-19 after testing positive in March , he doesn't need to wear a mask—and he went so far as to...

For Runners, 6 Feet of Distance May Not Be Enough
That 6-Foot Rule May Not
Work for Runners
new study
Apr 16, 2020 4:05 PM CDT

That 6-Foot Rule May Not Work for Runners

Studies suggest respiratory droplets travel much farther

(Newser) - The 6 feet of separation touted by the CDC might not be enough to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, particularly among runners. A new study described in the New York Times suggests air carries respiratory droplets up to 30 feet behind runners and up to 15 feet behind fast...

A Virus First: The Dead Are Still Contagious

Scientists in Thailand say coronavirus appears to have spread to medical examiner from a corpse

(Newser) - Out of Thailand, a coronavirus first: a case in which the virus appears to have spread from a corpse to a medical examiner. "According to our best knowledge, this is the first report on COVID-19 infection and death among medical personnel in a Forensic Medicine unit," researchers write...

Sweden's Virus Approach: Nature's Way or Looming Disaster?

Nordic country has taken a lax approach to social distancing, other restrictions

(Newser) - As COVID-19 cases rise and countries continue their efforts to keep numbers down, a Monday article in the National Review is circulating with a headline that's piqued interest: "Has Sweden Found the Right Solution to the Coronavirus?" The country has done "almost no mandated social distancing,"...

Panel's Warning: Summer Won't Be a COVID Killer

'Pandemic likely will not diminish' in warmer weather, experts tell White House

(Newser) - Researchers are warning the Trump administration not to bank on warm weather to slow the spread of the coronavirus. In a letter sent to the White House, a panel from the National Academy of Sciences says data on the spread of the virus in cold versus warm weather is inconclusive,...

CDC to Army Lab: 'Cease and Desist' Studying Deadly Germs

Maryland's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases temporarily shuttered over safety concerns

(Newser) - A "cease and desist" order from the Centers for Disease Control has been issued, a military biodefense lab has been shuttered, and "research is currently on hold" there, possibly for months. The issue: safety worries that cropped up over processes used to contain dozens of dangerous toxins and...

Anti-Vax Repercussions: More Measles, CDC Says

US has 314 cases documented so far this year, not far behind the 372 cases in all of 2018

(Newser) - Last year, there were 372 cases of measles reported in the US, the second-highest number in more than 20 years—which is why this year's numbers just through the first three months have health officials concerned. The CDC notes that between Jan. 1 and March 21, 314 measles cases...

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