Diseases & Outbreaks News and Discussions

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A deadly E. coli outbreak hit 15 states, but the FDA chose not to publicize it

Source: NBC News

An E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce ripped across 15 states in November, sickening dozens of people, including a 9-year-old boy in Indiana who nearly died of kidney failure and a 57-year-old Missouri woman who fell ill after attending a funeral lunch. One person died.

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The Food and Drug Administration indicated in February that it had closed the investigation without publicly detailing what had happened — or which companies were responsible for growing and processing the contaminated lettuce.

According to an internal report obtained by NBC News, the FDA did not name the companies because no contaminated lettuce was left by the time investigators uncovered where the pathogen was coming from.

“There were no public communications related to this outbreak,” the FDA said in its report, which noted that there had been a death but provided no details about it.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ec ... rcna200236

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[caltrek]

World Nations Agree to Historic First Global Pandemic Treaty – Without The US
by Dr. Katie Spalding
April 17, 2025

Introduction:

(IFL Science) It’s been more than five years since COVID-19 changed the world forever. Now, after multiple rounds of negotiations, extensions, and controversies, we finally have a solid plan for the next time a global pandemic hits – or at least, most of us do.

“The nations of the world made history in Geneva today,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said in a statement* Wednesday, after treaty talks concluded for the final time.

“In reaching consensus on the Pandemic Agreement, not only did they put in place a generational accord to make the world safer, they have also demonstrated that multilateralism is alive and well,” he said, “and that in our divided world, nations can still work together to find common ground, and a shared response to shared threats.”

The agreement was negotiated and accepted by all 194 of the WHO member states – with one notable exception. And yes – it is, unfortunately, precisely who you think: the US, who had until that point been a major voice in the negotiations, dropped out in January after Donald Trump announced the nation’s imminent withdrawal from the WHO.

Nevertheless, the treaty is being heralded as a landmark victory for worldwide health and wellbeing. Despite the many extensions and pitfalls along the way, “three years is a stellar speed for drafting international agreements,” Ellen ‘t Hoen, a Dutch lawyer and public health advocate, told Science this week.

Read more of the IFL Science article here: https://www.iflscience.com/world-natio ... s-78858

caltrek’s comment: Of course, we all know there is no significant difference between Democrats and Republicans on the issues. [/sarcasm]

*Here is a link to the statement issued by WHO: https://www.who.int/news/item/16-04-202 ... agreement

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Virus that causes polio-like illness found in Bay Area as influenza cases spike

Source: SFGATE

One of them, EV-D68, is also circulating in the Bay Area, WastewaterScan data suggests. Though it usually has little impact on adults, if unchecked, it can lead to severe, life-long impacts on children and teenagers.

First identified in California in 1962, enterovirus-D68 once appeared in small, isolated clusters but has since become more common on a worldwide scale, appearing in the late summer and fall, according to a 2023 University of Minnesota article. Rates of the illness were particularly high in the U.S. in 2014, resulting in 1,153 infections in 49 states, a 2016 article published in the Journal of Medical Virology article shows. At the time, it was the largest number of infections ever recorded.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus typically causes mild symptoms that mimic the common cold. Like many respiratory diseases, it’s found in sputum, mucus and contaminated surfaces and can be spread through coughing and sneezing. Though adults are more likely to be asymptomatic, young children — especially those with asthma — could develop a rare polio-like complication called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM, which can lead to temporary or permanent paralysis. Symptoms include difficulty swallowing, slurred speech and arm or leg weakness, among several other physical signs. No vaccine is available for it.

Overall, these respiratory illnesses have “come in to fill a vacuum,” Gandhi explains, meaning that more people acquired immunity to COVID-19 but haven’t been exposed to other viruses like influenza as much over the years, making them more susceptible to infection. Levels of human metapneumovirus, another respiratory illness, are also high in North Bay regions like Marin, Santa Rosa and Napa, wastewater data suggests.

Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ ... 288803.php

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Studies zoom in on clues to why Lyme disease persists and which antibiotic to prescribe

https://www.statnews.com/2025/04/23/lym ... tibiotics/

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Study Warns Bacterium that Causes Typhoid Fever is Rapidly Becoming Resistant to Antibiotics
by Carly Cassella
April 21, 2025

Introduction:

(Science Alert) Typhoid fever might be rare in developed countries, but this ancient threat, thought to have been around for millennia, 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 it's 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.

Conclusion:

Antibiotic resistance is one of the world's leading causes of death, claiming the lives of more people than HIV/ AIDS or malaria. Where available, vaccines are some of the best tools we have to prevent future catastrophe.

We don't have time to waste.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-k ... dy-warns

For a technical presentation of study results as published in the The Lancet: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lan ... fulltext

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Scientists Find Measles Likely To Become Endemic in the US Over Next 20 Years
https://www.wired.com/story/scientists- ... a-rubella/

No paywall link
https://archive.li/FNSVb

WITH VACCINATION RATES among US kindergarteners steadily declining in recent years and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowing to reexamine the childhood vaccination schedule, measles and other previously eliminated infectious diseases could become more common. A new analysis published today by epidemiologists at Stanford University attempts to quantify those impacts.

Using a computer model, the authors found that with current state-level vaccination rates, measles could reestablish itself and become consistently present in the United States in the next two decades. Their model predicted this outcome in 83 percent of simulations. If current vaccination rates stay the same, the model estimated that the US could see more than 850,000 cases, 170,000 hospitalizations, and 2,500 deaths over the next 25 years. The results appear in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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I am starting to think that we're heading back to the 19th century in every way imaginable. This is a bad time to be defunding research into fighting diseases and people are going to start dying in mass again because of it. idiots like Trump will go down as a mass murderer for this reason.

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CDC reports 216 child deaths this flu season, the most in 15 years

Source: CBS News/AP

Updated on: May 2, 2025 / 12:31 PM EDT

More U.S. children have died this flu season than at any time since the swine flu pandemic 15 years ago, according to a federal report released Friday. The 216 pediatric deaths reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eclipse the 207 reported last year. It's the most since the 2009-2010 H1N1 global flu pandemic.

The CDC estimated overall at least 47 million illnesses, 610,000 hospitalizations and 26,000 deaths from flu so far this season. Since flu season is still ongoing, data is still preliminary and may change, the agency noted. "This number that we have now is almost certainly an undercount, and one that - when the season is declared over, and they compile all the data — it's almost certain to go up," Dr. Sean O'Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics told The Associated Press.

O'Leary, a University of Colorado pediatric infectious diseases specialist, added a large contributor to this season's severity is that fewer children get flu shots. The CDC recommends everyone ages 6 months and older get a yearly flu vaccine, but flu vaccination rate for U.S. children has fallen from about 64% five years ago to 49% this season.

"Unfortunately, coming out of the COVID pandemic, we have seen a rise in vaccine skepticism, people less willing to get vaccinated, and as we've seen with the pediatric flu vaccines, that has led to increased hospitalizations as well as, unfortunately, some deaths," Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, previously told "CBS Mornings."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/child-flu- ... dc-report/

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Toronto Public Health warns of possible measles exposure at major tourist attraction

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/video/to ... r-AA1E4vVJ

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CDC reports 216 child deaths this flu season, the most in 15 years

https://apnews.com/article/flu-deaths-c ... 5d95d82110