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Salmonella – Norway

Norway’s Institute of Public Health, or Folkhälsomyndigheten (FHI) discovered a national outbreak caused by the gastrointestinal bacterium Salmonella Agona. So far, infection has been detected in 31 people living in several counties.

Monkeypox – Chile

The Chile Ministry of Health reported the second monkeypox death in the country. The patient was a older male who was unvaccinated and diagnosed on October 20. He had underlying pathologies and a weakened immune system (immunosuppression).

The World Health Organisation has decided to rename ‘monkeypox’ as ‘mpox’ due to a perceived discriminatory connotation in third world societies.

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Covid-19

The countries with the 10 greatest number of Covid-19 cases:

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Argentina – Salmomella

The supervisor of the Epidemiological Surveillance program said since the beginning of the year, 145 confirmed salmonellosis cases have been reported in Salta province. More than 80 percent of the infections were concentrated in the city of Salta.

African Swine Fever – Philippines

In a follow-up on the Africa swine fever (ASF) situation in Leyte, Philippines, local authorities said at least 1,451 hogs were culled in three Leyte towns in the past seven days as the government rushes to curb the spread of African swine fever (ASF) in the province.

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COVID-19

The countries with the 10 greatest number of Covid-19 cases:

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Ebola – DR Congo

The World Health Organization (WHO) African regional office reported two additional Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) cases Saturday in in Équateur Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, bringing the the total to 109 cases (103 confirmed and six probable) including 47 deaths (case fatality ratio 43.1%).

Chikungunya – Chad

UN health officials are reporting a chikungunya outbreak in Chad, in north-central Africa. Between August 14 and 26, 6,163 cases.

Salmonella – Ukraine

Ukraine health officials reported recently that during the first eight months of 2020, the country has seen 16 salmonella outbreaks. In total, 2402 salmonella cases have been reported.

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African Swine Fever – Malaysia

The Malaysia Ministry of Health (MOH) reports being briefed on the issue of imported Canned Luncheon Meat products from China that have been detected with the DNA of African Swine Fever (ASF) virus in Sarawak. Consumers are advised to refrain from buying this product including online purchases, and not to provide the product or residue of this product as food to pigs. This is to reduce the risk of ASF contaminating pigs that eat animal food that has been contaminated with ASF virus.

Salmonella – USA

One person has died and eight others have been hospitalized as a result of a multi-state outbreak of salmonella linked to ground beef, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Salmonella – Sweden

Swedish health officials report investigating a national outbreak of Salmonella infection last week. 25 cases of disease have been linked to an outbreak of Salmonella Newport. The cases are spread in 12 counties.

African Swine Fever – Indonesia

African swine fever has been reported in Indonesia. The report states: A total of 11 districts / cities in North Sumatra Province tested positive for African swine fever (ASF) virus.

Dengue Fever – Singapore

Singapore officials reported 257 additional dengue fever cases during the week ending Nov. 1, a slight increase over the previous week but a significant decrease compared to the peak of the season. This brings the total cases through the first 11 months of 2019 to 13,577.

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Salmonella – Canada

Canadian health officials report investigating an outbreak of Salmonella infections involving six provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. As of April 5, 2019, there have been 63 laboratory-confirmed cases of Salmonella Enteritidis illness investigate.

Leptospirosis – Guyana

Health officials in Guyana have reported a leptospirosis outbreak among Guyana Manganese workers Friday.

According to authorities, two Chinese nationals have been treated and released, while another mining employee, who was also tested positive for leptospirosis, is in “critical but stable condition”. One individual died from complications associated with leptospirosis Wednesday night while undergoing treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

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Yellow Fever – Nigeria

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is reporting a suspected outbreak of yellow fever in Edo State. Following the report of an outbreak of fever of unknown origin in four Local Government Areas in Edo state, the state public health team commenced investigation. On the 21st of November 2018, nine cases tested positive for yellow fever.

Salmonella – South Africa

South African health officials reported recently an increase in Salmonella cases in KwaZulu-Natal Province over the past two months and say Salmonella was also the most likely cause of two recent foodborne disease outbreaks reported from eThekwini Municipality. Two weeks ago, local media reported at least 20 people have been hospitalized in Durban.

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Uganda: Cholera, Measles

The Uganda Ministry of Health is reporting is an active Cholera outbreak in parts of Kampala City. A total of 7 cases have been confirmed. Uganda is currently experiencing heavy rains which are likely to result in floods and contamination of water sources because of poor hygiene and sanitation, and high-water table in certain districts.

The Ministry of Health has announced an outbreak of measles in 26 districts across the country. The most affected districts as Amuru in northern Uganda, and Kamuli, Mbale, and Butebo in the east of the country.

England: Measles

In a follow-up on the measles outbreak in England, health officials have reported 440 laboratory confirmed measles cases in England since the beginning of the year. The increase in measles circulation is mainly associated with travel to and from Europe where there are large ongoing measles outbreaks, health officials note.

London has seen the most lab-confirmed cases with 164, followed by the South East (86), West Midlands (78), South West (42) and West Yorkshire (37). Young people and adults aged 15 and over who missed out on MMR vaccine when they were younger and some under-vaccinated communities have been particularly affected.

USA – Salmonella

A salmonella outbreak that led to a recall of nearly 207 million eggs has now sickened nearly three dozen people in states along the East Coast. Thirty-five people — up by 12 over the past few weeks — have been sickened by Salmonella braenderup, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this week. The outbreak, which has been traced to a single egg producer, has resulted in 11 hospitalizations. No deaths have been reported.

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Measles – Ukraine

In a follow-up on the measles outbreak in Ukraine, the Center for Public Health of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (computer translated) has reported 9091 measles cases – 3270 adults and 5821 children since the beginning of 2018. In addition, seven fatalities due to complications of measles have been reported this year–five children and two adults.

Massive Egg Recall – Salmonella

On Friday (April 13), egg producer Rose Acre Farms announced that it was recalling about 207 million eggs that came from its North Carolina farm. The eggs were distributed to nine states, and were sold under multiple brand names, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). So far, the outbreak has sickened 22 people.

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Leptospirosis kills four in Udupi, India

Four deaths have recently been attributed to leptospirosis in the Coastal Karnataka city of Udupi, causing fear among the population. Health officials are currently trying to ease the tension among the public by creating awareness programs about the bacterial disease.

Leptospirosis is caused by a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called Leptospira interrogans, is often referred to as “rat fever” due to the principal role rats play in spreading the disease.

Australia: Cats found carrying superbug

The first evidence of a superbug in a domestic cat that could infect humans and livestock has been discovered in Australia.

The Salmonella strain is resistant to carbapenems, a drug used as the last line of defence in Australian hospitals. Experts believe this resistance may pose a serious threat to public health. This is the first time that a Salmonella strain with resistance to most antimicrobial drugs has been reported in any Australian domestic animal and it is a significant concern to public health.

Thailand teenagers dig up rabid dog and eat it

In what is clearly one of the most bizarre and potentially tragic stories today, 13 teenagers in Thailand’s Northeast province of Mukdahan dug up a dog that was buried and ate it, not aware all along, the animal was put down by officials because it was rabid.

The dog was killed because it had attacked a number of locals recently. The teens were sent to Mukdahan Hospital for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Eating dog meat is considered taboo in most of Thailand.

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Salmonellosis – United States of America

On 20 April 2016, the National IHR Focal Point of the United States of America notified PAHO/WHO of an ongoing investigation of four multistate outbreaks of human Salmonella infections linked to exposure to small turtles (with shell length <4inches/10 centimetres) or their environments (e.g., water from a turtle habitat) in the United States.

A total of 124 cases with the outbreak strains of Salmonella have been reported from 22 U.S. states. Of these, 33% of patients have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported. Of the total, 51 cases (41%) were aged less than 5 years. The earliest illness associated with the four outbreaks began on 1 January 2015. Initial investigations have identified four turtle farms in Louisiana as potential sources of the turtles linked to these 2015 outbreaks. Pond water testing from the four farms resulted in the identification of additional non-outbreak Salmonella isolates.

A ‘tropical’ parasitic disease emerges in the Canadian Arctic

An outbreak of an intestinal parasite common in low income areas in the tropics, known as Cryptosporidium, has been identified for the first time in the Arctic. The discovery was made in Nunavik, Quebec.

Cryptosporidium is a microscopic parasite that lives in the intestine of mammals, including humans, and is transmitted by the fecal-oral route from ingestion of contaminated food or water or contact with infected individuals. The parasite causes an illness known as Cryptosporidiosis which is characterized by diarrhea, cramps and vomiting.

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Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia

Between 1 and 5 September 2015, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 25 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection. Ten (10) of these reported cases are associated with a MERS-CoV outbreak currently occurring in a hospital in Riyadh city.

Salmonella Outbreak – USA

A cucumber recall linked to a fatal case of salmonella includes products shipped to 22 states, including New Jersey.

The recalled cucumbers, grown in Mexico and distributed by Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce, have sickened 285 people in 27 states, including a woman in California who died from the illness, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Ebola – West Africa

Though several of the West African countries most impacted by the worst Ebola outbreak in history have declared themselves free of the devastating virus, experts say the fight against it overall is far from over.

“This virus and this outbreak in particular has a nasty sting in the tail,” the World Health Organization’s lead on Ebola response Bruce Aylward said, according to Reuters. “It’s not finished, by a long shot.”

Aylward led a new study to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine that still found traces of the virus in semen after six months in half of men considered to be Ebola survivors — three months longer than the virus was previously thought to remain in survivors’ systems.

One country that has seen several new cases of Ebola recently is Sierra Leone.

The WHO declared Liberia Ebola-free for a second time earlier this month after the country hardest hit by the deadly virus saw a brief resurgence of cases not long after the first time it thought the disease was gone for good. It’s now within a 90-day surveillance period.

Global Warming – Potential for Disease Outbreaks

Scientists have discovered a 30,000-year-old Frankenvirus in the frozen Siberian wastelands. They fear the dangerous virus, known as Mollivirus sibericum, could reanimate as global warming melts the ice and snow, releasing the microscopic pathogens into the air to infect humans.

Researcher Jean-Michael Claverie stated that some of the particles they discovered were still considered to be infectious.

Researchers are astounded by the prehistoric viruses they have found over the last 12 years. Each has been much larger and more complex than current viruses. The Mollivirus sibericum has over 500 genes. A virus found in 2003 was found to have more than 2,500 genes. In comparison, the flu virus has only eight genes.

Testing on the Mollivirus sibericum will take place in a safe laboratory, where the virus will not spread outside of the room after it is woken up and testing begins. Researchers are anxious to learn from the Frankenvirus and see what impact it had on prehistoric life and could potentially have on modern day life.

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Salmonella – USA

A multistate Salmonella outbreak has so far sickened 278 people in 18 states, which prompted a public health alert Monday from the US Department of Agriculture and has led the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to recall some staff sidelined by the federal government shutdown.

Illnesses from Salmonella Heidelberg strains have been associated with raw chicken products produced at three Foster Farms facilities in California. So far most of the cases have been reported in California, and the products were mainly distributed to retail stores in California, Oregon, and Washington state. Foster Farms said it hasn’t issued a recall.

Yellow fever in Cameroon

The Ministry of Health of Cameroon carried out a yellow fever mass vaccination campaign with a reported 94% coverage of the targeted population of 663 900 in 13 health districts considered to be at high risk of yellow fever.

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185000 hens have been slaughtered to contain outbreak of a rare strain of salmonella on two commercial egg farms in Ireland. The strain of salmonella poses no threat to humans, but can cause substantial losses in flocks.