Disease

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia

Between 11 and 12 March 2016, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 6 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection. Three of these reported cases are asymptomatic and linked to the MERS-CoV outbreak currently occurring in a hospital in Buraidah city.

Zika Virus - USA

More than 100 cases of Zika virus have been confirmed in the United States, a new report finds.

The 116 residents who have now tested positive for the virus include one infant who was born with severe microcephaly, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All 116 cases of Zika were confirmed by lab tests at the CDC.

The report includes all Zika cases reported between Jan. 1, 2015, and Feb. 26, 2016, but more than three-quarters of the patients reported that their illness began in 2016, according to the report released today (March 18). The patients ranged in age from the newborn infant with microcephaly, up to 81 years old.

Yellow Fever - Angola - Update

A yellow fever outbreak in Angola that began late last year has killed 158 people, up from 50 a month ago, as deaths from the disease transmitted by mosquitoes accelerate, a World Health Organisation official said on Friday.

There has also been an increase in malaria, cholera and chronic diarrhoea in Luanda and other cities, partly due to a breakdown in sanitation services and rubbish collection, health officials say.

City authorities have slashed their budget for rubbish collection to cope with a budget crisis, leaving piles of waste building up in poorer suburbs including Viana, where the first case of yellow fever was reported in late December.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease - Possible Case in Askansas, USA

A national laboratory in Chantilly, Va., has confirmed a preliminary diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) following a Feb. 15, 2016, diagnostic lumbar puncture of a patient at Washington Regional Medical Centre, Arkansas.

It is uncertain how the patient contracted the disease. Investigations are ongoing. The variant of the disease is not the condition known as mad cow disease.