Disease

Texas, USA: 1st Zika related microcephaly case

Harris County Public Health (HCPH) has confirmed the first Zika related microcephaly case in Harris County and in the State of Texas. HCPH received a positive Zika test result for an infant who has been diagnosed with microcephaly at birth. The mother, who traveled from Latin America, was tested for Zika, but had received inconclusive results.

Olympic Games - Zika Virus

With the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil less than a month away, concerns are mounting that the international event may spread the Zika virus to more countries around the world.

Visitors to the Games are expected to have a low probability of mosquito-borne Zika infections because the Games will occur during the winter season in Rio de Janeiro (August 5-21 and September 7-18, respectively) when the cooler and drier weather typically reduces mosquito populations. CDC conducted a risk analysis to predict those countries at risk for Zika virus importation exclusively attributable to the Games.

Whereas all countries are at risk for travel-associated exportation of Zika virus, CDC estimated Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Yemen as having unique risk attributable to their travel for the Games. These four countries do not have substantial travel to any country with local Zika virus transmission, except for their participation in the Games, and have environmental conditions and population susceptibility to sustain mosquito-borne transmission of Zika virus.

Prevention recommendations for athletes and all other visitors to the Games include that: - Pregnant women should not travel to the Games. - All visitors should take steps to prevent mosquito bites, both during travel and for 3 weeks after returning home. - All visitors should take measures to prevent sexual transmission.

H5N1 avian influenza: Six African countries battle the bird flu

Countries across West and Central Africa are on alert as the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 continues to spread across the region, with Cameroon becoming the latest African country to detect the disease. The strain can infect and cause death in humans and kills poultry at a high rate.

The latest H5N1 outbreaks were recently confirmed on chicken farms in Cameroon putting the poultry production in the country and its neighbours at high risk. This is the first time the disease has been found in Central Africa since 2006.

This brings the number of countries that have battled bird flu in West and Central Africa to six, also including Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger and Nigeria.

Nigeria continues to be most affected with the total number of outbreaks exceeding 750 with nearly 3.5 million birds dead or culled. The newly recorded outbreaks in Cameroon raise significant concerns that the disease may be advancing southward, triggering national and global emergency responses to contain the disease, and health screenings of poultry workers.