Diseases & Outbreaks News and Discussions

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

[caltrek]

MERS-Like Coronaviruses May Be Just “A Small Step Away” From Jumping Into Humans
by Laura Simmons
June 13, 2025

Introduction:

(IFL Science) Agroup of bat coronaviruses closely related to the virus behind Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) could be only a small mutation away from spilling over into the human population. Should that happen, we may find ourselves facing the next coronavirus pandemic.

Until recently, there hadn’t been all that much attention paid to the merbecoviruses, a subgenus of coronaviruses that includes MERS-CoV. In their latest study, a team led by Washington State University virologist Michael Letko, with colleagues from Caltech and the University of North Carolina, wanted to take a deeper look at this neglected group.

“These viruses are so closely related to MERS, so we have to be concerned if they ever infect humans,” said Letko in a statement. “While there’s no evidence they’ve crossed into people yet, the potential is there – and that makes them worth watching.”

Additional extract:

Analyzing wild strains of the virus, the team discovered mutations in the spike protein that could allow the viruses to bind to ACE2 receptors on the surface of cells in other species, including humans. This is the same receptor exploited by SARS-CoV-2.
Using the Nobel Prize-winning AI tool AlphaFold, the scientists modeled how this molecular interaction may happen, and how antibodies might block it. This kind of work used to take months before the advent of AI.

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/mers-like-c ... s-79603

[weatheriscool]

Measles cases detected this year in 34 states

As super-contagious measles continues to spread and nears a six-year U.S. record, cases in its original epicenter of West Texas may be subsiding as hesitant residents become more concerned and willing to vaccinate, while North Dakota is a new focus with the highest rate of any state.

The reality of measles may be overcoming vaccine misinformation in some areas, despite the purge of experts from decision-making roles in the Trump administration under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The nation’s top vaccine expert resigned under pressure in March.

And on June 11, Kennedy appointed eight new members of an immunization advisory panel — some of whom are vaccine critics — after sacking all 17 members of the group two days earlier. Kennedy called his actions “a major step towards restoring public trust in vaccines.”

The University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, however, called the committee’s mass replacement “one of the darkest days in modern public health history.” The Infectious Diseases Society of America called the move “reckless, shortsighted and severely harmful,” saying Kennedy’s criticism of the original 17 committee members is “completely unfounded.”

https://washingtonstatestandard.com/202 ... ashington/

[firestar464]

[caltrek]

Flesh-Eating Fly Invasion Could Cause Devastation Across America
by Hannah Rose Vineer
June 19, 2025

Introduction:

(Science Alert) A flesh-eating parasitic fly is invading North and Central America. The consequences could be severe for the cattle industry, but this parasite is not picky – it will infest a wide range of hosts, including humans and their pets.

The "New World screwworm" (Cochliomyia hominivorax) was previously eradicated from these regions. Why is it returning and what can be done about it?

Flies fulfil important ecological functions, like pollination and the decomposition of non-living organic matter. Some, however, have evolved to feed on the living.

The female New World screwworm fly is attracted to the odour of any wound to lay her eggs. The larvae (maggots) then feed aggressively on living tissue causing immeasurable suffering to their unlucky host, including death if left untreated.

Cattle farmers in Texas estimated in the 1960s that they were treating around 1 million cases per year.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/flesh-eat ... s-america

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[firestar464]

this is an alternative vaccine advisory board formed in opposition to RFK Jr.

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/vaccine-integrity-project

Not sure what Asa Hutchinson is doing there tho

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Measles cases surge to record high since disease declared eliminated in US

Updated Jul 5, 2025, 10:49 AM ET
PUBLISHED Jul 5, 2025, 10:22 AM ET
Deidre McPhillips

Falling childhood vaccine coverage and a large, smoldering outbreak that was kindled in an undervaccinated pocket of West Texas have driven the United States to a troubling new milestone: There have been more measles cases in the US this year than any other since the disease was declared eliminated a quarter-century ago.

There have been at least 1,277 confirmed cases of measles reported in the US in 2025, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Outbreak Response Innovation. Just halfway through the year, the case tally has already surpassed the last record from 2019, when there were a total of 1,274 cases.

Experts say this year’s cases are likely to be severely undercounted because many are going unreported. Three people have died from measles this year – two children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico, all of whom were unvaccinated – matching the total number of US measles deaths from the previous two and a half decades.

Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, meaning there has not been continuous transmission for more than a year at a time. Reaching this status was “a historic public health achievement,” according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, possible in large part because of vaccine development. The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine that is most commonly used first became widely available in the US in the 1970s ...

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/05/health/m ... limination

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

Medical organizations sue RFK Jr., HHS over vaccine policies

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5 ... -policies/

[caltrek]

Study Warns Ancient Killer Is Rapidly Becoming Resistant to Antibiotics
By Carly Cassella
July 15, 2025

Introduction:

(Science Alert) In spite of having plagued humans for millennia, typhoid fever is rarely considered in developed countries today. But this ancient threat is still very much a danger in our modern world.

According to research published in 2022, the bacterium that causes typhoid fever is evolving extensive drug resistance, and is rapidly replacing strains that aren't resistant.

Currently, antibiotics are the only way to effectively treat typhoid, which is caused by the bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S Typhi). Yet over the past three decades, the bacterium's resistance to oral antibiotics has been growing and spreading.

In their study, researchers sequenced the genomes of 3,489 S Typhi strains contracted from 2014 to 2019 in Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India, and found a rise in extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Typhi.

XDR Typhi is not only impervious to frontline antibiotics, like ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, but it is also growing resistant to newer antibiotics, like fluoroquinolones and third-generation cephalosporins.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-k ... s-study

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

World Health Organization Warns Outbreak of Chikungunya Virus Poses Global Risk
July 23, 2025

Introduction:

(AFP via Science Alert) The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday a major chikungunya virus epidemic risks sweeping around the globe, calling for urgent action to prevent it.

The WHO said it was picking up exactly the same early warning signs as in a major outbreak two decades ago and wanted to prevent a repeat.

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne viral disease that causes fever and severe joint pain, which is often debilitating. In some cases it can be deadly.

"Chikungunya is not a disease that is widely known, but it has been detected and transmitted in 119 countries globally, putting 5.6 billion people at risk," said the WHO's Diana Rojas Alvarez.

She recalled how from 2004 to 2005, a major chikungunya epidemic swept across the Indian Ocean, hitting small island territories before spreading globally and affecting almost half a million people.

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/outbreak- ... arns-who

Edit: Also, on that topic from IFL Scienc: https://www.iflscience.com/chikungunya ... now-80248

[weatheriscool]

[Lilymoon]

Man dies from bird flu strain never before seen in humans, WHO says

A 59-year-old resident of Mexico has been confirmed as the first human victim to die from bird flu, the World Health Organization reported Wednesday.

The death comes after Mexican health officials previously confirmed a case of the H5N2 bird flu strain in the patient, who had been hospitalized in Mexico City. The case is the first among humans involving this strain of the illness, which is different from the bird flu cases being linked to cattle in the United States.

The person, who has not been publicly identified, had multiple underlying medical conditions. The victim’s relatives said that the person had been bedridden for other reasons before acute symptoms linked to the bird flu set in, health officials reported.

Just one week before the patient’s death April 24, the patient was experiencing shortness of breath, diarrhea, nausea, and general malaise.

https://www.wfla.com/news/national/man- ... -who-says/

[caltrek]

Aircraft Toilets Could Flush Out Spread of Global Superbugs
August 17, 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Wastewater from aircraft toilets could provide a critical warning system for the global spread of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) superbugs, a silent pandemic that threatens to kill more people than cancer by 2050.

A new study led by scientists from Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, in partnership with Xiamen University, the University of South Australia and Michigan Technological University, analysed lavatory wastewater from 44 international flights arriving in Australia from nine countries.

The team detected nine high-priority pathogens and superbugs, including some that are acquired in hospitals and resistant to multiple drugs. The researchers used advanced molecular techniques to analyse the superbugs’ genetic signatures and antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) profiles.

Five of the nine superbugs were found in all 44 flight samples, while a gene conferring resistance to last-resort antibiotics was detected on 17 flights. Notably, this gene was absent in Australia’s urban wastewater during the same period, suggesting its likely introduction through international travel.

The findings, published in Microbiology Spectrum, confirms that aircraft wastewater is a viable tool for global AMR surveillance, according to senior author Dr Warish Ahmed, a principal research scientist from CSIRO.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1094988

For a somewhat technical presentation of research results as published in Microbiology Spectrum : https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/s ... .00569-25