ETIDIOH - NEW

  Abstract The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 lineage in late 2023 marked a major shift in viral evolution . By January 2024, it had displaced XBB variants to become the dominant strain worldwide. JN.1 and its descendants are antigenically distinct from earlier Omicron subvariants , with approximately 30 additional spike mutations compared to XBB-derived viruses. The combination of these features alongside growing evidence of considerable immune evasion prompted the FDA to recommend that vaccine formulations be updated to target JN.1 rather than XBB.1.5. The continued dominance of JN.1-derived variants necessitates the characterization of viral infection in established animal models to inform vaccine efficacy and elucidate host–pathogen interactions driving disease outcomes. In this study, transgenic mice expressing human ACE2 were infected with SARS-CoV-2 subvariants JN.1, KP.2, and EG.5.1 to compare the pathogenicity of JN.1-lineage and XBB-lineage SARS-CoV-2 viruses. Infection...

  Highlights     • All clades of monkeypox virus (MPXV) continue to circulate in several countries.  - When mpox outbreaks are not rapidly contained and human-to-human transmission is not interrupted, they continue to pose a risk of sustained community transmission .  - Since the last edition of this report , one country, Senegal , has reported mpox for the first time . Efforts to identify the clade are underway.  • Furthermore, Türkiye has reported cases of mpox due to clade Ib MPXV for the first time and the Democratic Republic of Congo has reported its first cases of mpox due to clade IIb MPXV.   • In July 2025, 47 countries in five (out of six) WHO regions reported a total of 3924 confirmed cases , including 30 deaths (case fatality ratio [CFR] 0.8% ).  - The South-East Asian and Western Pacific regions reported an increase in cases in July 2025, while the African Region, European Region and the Region of the Americas reported a decrease....

  {Summary} -- During surveillance week from 21 to 27 August , 79 new confirmed human cases of West Nile Virus infection have been reported.  -- Since the beginning of the epidemic season, the total number of confirmed cases have risen to  430 (they were  351 in the last bulletin); of these: -  193 were West Nile Neuroinvasive Disease cases: 8 in Piedmont, 12 Lombardy, 14 Veneto, 1 Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 1 Liguria, 13 Emilia-Romagna, 62 Latium, 2 Molise, 64 Campania, 2 Basilicata, 5 Calabria, 1 Sicily, 8 Sardinia),  - 38 were asymptomatic cases among blood donors ,  - 193 were West Nile Fever cases,  - 3 asymptomatic and  - 3 unspecified cases.  -- Among the confirmed cases, there were 27 fatalities : 1 Piedmont, 1 Lombardy, 1 Emilia-Romagna, 11 Latium, 11 Campania, 2 Calabria).  - The Case-Fatality Rate in WNND cases is so far at 13.9% (during 2018 it was 20%, in 2024 14%).  -- One confirmed human case of Usutu virus infectio...

  Significance Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) threatens wildlife, agriculture, and humans. Along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway , a major waterfowl migration corridor and HPAIV hot spot, landscape changes are altering migratory bird distributions and increasing opportunities for wild–poultry interactions . By integrating empirical data into an individual-based model, we show that landscape change between 2000 and 2015 reshaped waterfowl migration , substantially increased wild-poultry spillover , and avian influenza virus (AIV) reassortment in poultry , our proxy for potential AIV diversification and emergence of novel subtypes. Risk regions expanded across southeastern China, the Yellow River basin, and northeastern China . These findings highlight the importance of landscape changes in potentially elevating AIV diversification and emergence, and the landscape dynamics should be integrated into future studies. Abstract Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses...