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Currently, the CDC is monitoring six people in the United States for possible monkeypox infections after they sat near an infected traveler who had symptoms while on a flight from Nigeria to the United Kingdom in early May. Separately, CDC officials also are investigating a case of monkeypox confirmed in a man in Massachusetts who had recently traveled to Canada. And the New York City Health Department is investigating a possible infection in a patient currently at Bellevue Hospital. "The Health Department's Public Health Lab will conduct preliminary tests, which — if positive — will be sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmatory testing," the department said in a press release on Thursday. Meanwhile, recent monkeypox infections have been iden...

RABIES could sneak back into US despite strict vaccine regulations, CDC warns, after five-month-old rescue puppy that met import requirements from Azerbaijan tests positive for virus Rabies was eradicated in the U.S. in 2003, but has been detected five times in animal imports across the previous 15 years Last year a puppy tested positive for the virus barely three days after arriving with its foster family in Pennsylvania following a flight from Azerbaijan The dog had started biting the air, hypersalivating and had become agitated It was later put down after suffering seizures and a cardiac arrest Blood tests revealed eight out of 34 animals imported in this shipment were not properly vaccinated against rabies CDC officials now say all animal imports from high-risk countrie...

Monkeypox is mostly found in West and Central Africa, but additional cases have been seen in Europe, including the United Kingdom, and other parts of the world in recent years. Those cases are typically linked to international travel or imported animals infected with the pox, the CDC said. On Thursday, Spain confirmed seven cases of monkeypox in Madrid and are investigating another 22; Italy confirmed its first case; and Canadian public health officials announced they are investigating 17 suspected cases of monkeypox in Montreal. Several cases of monkeypox in the UK among people who have no known travel or contact with others with the virus have health officials there and at the CDC concerned, but there is no cause for alarm, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Thursday on CNN's ...

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - A smattering of monkeypox cases in Britain has prompted authorities to offer a smallpox vaccine to some healthcare workers and others who may have been exposed, as a handful more cases were confirmed in parts of Europe. Monkeypox is a usually mild viral illness, characterised by symptoms of fever as well as a distinctive bumpy rash. There are two main strains: the Congo strain, which is more severe – with up to 10% mortality – and the West African strain, which has a fatality rate of about 1%. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register First identified in monkeys, the viral disease typically spreads through close contact and largely occurs in west and central Africa. It has rarely spread elsewhere, so this fresh spate of cases outside the c...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that it is now looking into 180 reports of children with severe and sudden unexplained liver inflammation, known as acute hepatitis. The first reports of acute hepatitis of unknown origin in children popped up in October and November 2021, with five cases in Alabama. The state’s Department of Public Health issued an alert about the cases in February. Then, in April, the CDC asked doctors to keep an eye out for more potential cases nationwide. Worldwide, there are at least 450 suspected cases, with at least 11 deaths, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The 180 total U.S. reports being investigated span 36 states. Most of the U.S. cases under investigation are retrospective, meaning ...

Suzy Weiss has written an excellent story for Bair Weiss’ Substack site about a renowned scientist who until fairly recently was considered one of the top people in the field of cancer research. David Sabatini is someone who it was believed could one day win a Nobel Prize for medicine. Now he’s an unemployed stay-at-home dad. The story of how he went from one to the other is incredible but you probably wouldn’t say it’s surprising. In 2018, David Sabatini was a world-renowned molecular biologist. He was a tenured professor at MIT. He ran a major lab at the Whitehead Institute, overseeing a team of 39 researchers, postdocs and technicians. Their job was to disentangle the mystery of the mTOR signaling pathway, a protein Sabatini had discovered while still in medical school, at Johns Hop...

Electron microscope image of monkeypox viral particles.Image: Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP (AP) Outbreaks of a seldom-seen disease called monkeypox are setting public health experts on edge. Several countries, including the U.S., have reported cases of the viral infection recently. No deaths are reported so far. Though the risk appears to be low to the general public for now, it’s possible something has changed about the virus or its relationship to humans that’s making it more transmissible than before. Countries with reported monkeypox cases As of Thursday afternoon, the UK, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Sweden, and the U.S. have documented cases of monkeypox. The U.S. case involves a Massachusetts resident who recently traveled from Canada, where there have b...

Which bird species are super spreaders of avian influenza? New research from Tufts University offers details. A new study from researchers at Tufts University details which species are super spreaders. When it comes to avian influenza, more commonly called bird flu, all birds are not created equal. “The scientific community has become accustomed to speaking about influenza viruses in birds as a group, but birds are an incredibly diverse taxa of animals with different natural history, physiology, and anatomy,” says Jonathan Runstadler, professor and chair of the Department of Infectious Disease & Global Health at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Runstadler is one of the authors of a new research study, published today (May 19, 2022) in the jo...

Two years ago, Kathy Spencer, a 58-year-old math teacher, motorcycle rider and mother of two, planned to guide middle school students through geometry well into her 70s.  But now Spencer, from Kensington, Conn., is facing the real possibility that long COVID will keep her from ever entering a classroom again. She still needs supplemental oxygen, and has difficulty speaking as a result of the hypoxia, or lack of oxygen reaching her brain. She suffers tremors in her head, arms and legs, which can be triggered by talking, and she experiences debilitating fatigue. “We’re meeting with our financial planner and our accountant to make some really tough decisions about how my husband and I need to change our financial goals and plans,” Spencer said. “It’s been a slow recognition that thi...