In December, the WHO declared the end of Ebola transmission in Guinea. As of February 19, all U.S. enhanced screening and monitoring requirements for travelers returning from Guinea have been removed. This follows a CDC assessment that the risk of Ebola in travelers from Guinea is low. Travelers leaving from Guinea will still be screened [...]
On December 29, 2015, the WHO declared the end of Ebola virus transmission in Guinea, following up the declared end of the outbreak in Liberia in September and in Sierra Leone in November. This is the first time since the outbreak began two years ago the original chain of transmission has been halted. While sporadic [...]
The WHO declared the end of the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone on Nov. 7 when 42 days (two incubation periods) passed since the last Ebola patient was released from a Sierra Leone Ebola Treatment Unit. This led to modifications of entry screening and monitoring for travelers coming to the United States from Sierra Leone. [...]
If you’re like me, your introduction to Ebola virus came in the 1990s with the bestseller nonfiction thriller The Hot Zone and loosely-based film Outbreak. The descriptions of a deadly hemorrhagic fever that quickly spread through the population were terrifying, as were the life-threatening dangers posed to the intervening infectious disease personnel. The Guinea Ministry [...]
Tuberculosis and mankind share a dramatic and intertwined history. TB has caused millions of deaths every year for centuries, been found in Egyptian mummies, has placed patients into sanatoriums, and has even has a folklore link relating it with vampires, The drama continues into this decade: in 2012, there were 8.8 million new cases of [...]
Every year the World Health Organization holds a meeting with worldwide experts to make recommendations for the next season’s Northern Hemisphere flu vaccine. It seems strange to plan for next season when we’re still in the midst of the current flu season, but the vaccine-making process still takes about 6 months. Influenza season generally ramps [...]
Last year a young child came down with onchocerciasis in northern Arizona. Onchocerciasis, is caused by a filarial worm similar to dog heartworm and the roundworm that causes elephantiasis. This child had a dog-related species (Onchocerca lupi) of the roundworm in her neck next to her spinal cord and was the first documented case in the [...]
I thought I’d do a series on some interesting tropical diseases over the next few weeks. Let’s start with a disease called filariasis- which can cause something called elephantiasis. You’ve probably heard of a disease in dogs called heartworm. It’s caused by tiny thread-like worms called microfilariae. Like many diseases, there’s a similar disease that [...]
Last year, a new SARS-like virus called Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) broke out in Saudi Arabia. Since then, 94 cases of the very lethal disease have been reported by the World Health Organization (50% of the cases have been fatal). All the cases have been on the Arabian Peninsula. The virus causes severe [...]
Last month the World Health Organization (WHO) began to receive reports of human cases with SARS-like infections caused by a new coronavirus. According to WHO, 30 cases of this new illness have been found and 60% of the infections have been fatal. So far, the cases have been limited to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab [...]
