India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and mainland China also experienced new outbreaks of H5 N1 influenza in December. During the same period, four new human cases - in Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia - were reported to the World Health Organization. A 16-year-old girl in Egypt and a 2-year-old girl in Indonesia have died.
HMPV infection incidence ranged from 2.2% to 10.5% in outpatient cohorts. Infections were asymptomatic in at least 38.8% of each of these cases. Symptoms when apparent were typical of upper respiratory tract infection.
The Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo has declared an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever. As of 26 December, WHO is aware of 34 suspected cases including 9 deaths associated with the ongoing event.
In the UK 164 people have died of variant CJD, which originally came from cows infected with BSE, and all cases to date shared the same version of the prion gene (MM). A new case has a different varian tof the gene (MV). Estimates are that up to 350 people could be affected in this new wave.
Researchers have measured concentrations of bacteria in the cabin air of 12 commercial passenger aircraft and found that flying may be safer than we think.
A mood of deep pessimism has spread among the international community of AIDS scientists after the failure of a trial of a promising vaccine at the end of last year.
A woman whose husband died after receiving a liver transplant infected with a rodent virus is suing PetSmart claiming the chain should have warned customers that hamsters can carry lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus.
Ciguatera poisoning is caused by the consumption of tropical reef fish that have assimilated ciguatoxins through the marine food chain from toxic microscopic algae.
The Ministry of Health, Brazil has reported a total of 48 cases of yellow fever including 13 deaths. This outbreak of yellow fever follows an epizootic outbreak in monkeys that started in April 2007 and has since spread to 80 municipalities.
Scientists announce that they had been able to pass on human rhinovirus to a special strain of genetically modified mice – the first time a non-primate has caught a cold.
There is seemingly consistent and compelling evidence that there is no association between breastfeeding and breast cancer. We challenge the assumption follows that milk borne viruses cannot be associated with human breast cancer.
This study shows that Campylobacter bacteriophage can easily be isolated from free-range chickens and form part of the normal microbiological biota of environmentally exposed birds.