ETIDIOH - NEW

  Situation at a glance On 1 September 2025, WHO received an alert from the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) regarding suspected cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the Bulape Health Zone, Kasai Province, DRC .  The first known index case was a pregnant woman who presented at Bulape General Reference Hospital on 20 August 2025 with symptoms of high fever, bloody diarrhoea, haemorrhage and extreme weakness . She died on 25 August from multiple organ failure .  On 4 September 2025 , following confirmatory laboratory testing, the Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of EVD .  Ebola virus disease is a serious , often fatal illness in humans. The virus is transmitted to humans through close contact with the blood or secretions of infected wildlife and then spreads through human-to-human transmission .  As of 4 September 2025, 28 suspected cases, including 15 deaths (case fatality ratio (CFR): 54%), have been reported from three ar...

  ABSTRACT Bourbon virus (BRBV) is an emerging tick-borne virus that can cause severe and fatal disease in humans . BRBV is vectored via the Amblyomma americanum tick , which is widely distributed throughout the central, eastern, and southern United States . Serosurveillance studies in Missouri and North Carolina identified BRBV-neutralizing antibodies in approximately 0.6% of tested individuals . To date, no specific antiviral therapy exists. As part of an initial screen, several nucleoside analogs were tested for their ability to inhibit BRBV replication in cell culture. Among the compounds assessed, molnupiravir , an antiviral drug with oral availability and broad spectrum antiviral activity against RNA viruses, showed antiviral activity against BRBV production in vitro. In vivo, pre-exposure administration of molnupiravir protected susceptible type I interferon receptor knockout (Ifnar1-/-) mice against lethal BRBV infection. The protection by molnupiravir was associated with l...

{Summary} Time Period: August 24, 2025 - August 30, 2025 -- H5 Detection :  3 sites ( 0.7% ) -- No Detection :  428 sites ( 99.3% ) -- No samples in last week :  31 sites (...) Source: US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,  https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/wwd-h5.html ____

  Summary Background Influenza vaccination is widely recommended to prevent death and serious illness in vulnerable people , including those with heart failure . However, the randomised evidence to support this practice is limited and few people are vaccinated in many parts of the world. We aimed to determine whether influenza vaccination can improve the outcome of patients after an episode of acute heart failure requiring admission to hospital in China . Methods We undertook a pragmatic, multiregional, parallel-group, cluster (hospital)-randomised, controlled, superiority trial over three winter seasons in China. Participating hospitals were located in the counties of 12 provinces with the capability of establishing a point-of-care service to provide free influenza vaccination to a sufficient number of patients before their discharge, if allocated to the intervention group. No such service was used in hospitals allocated to usual care (control) but patients were informed of fee-fo...

  Abstract H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses have spread globally and pose a risk for a human pandemic . Prior studies suggest that early life exposures to group 1 influenza viruses (H1N1 and H2N2) prime antibodies that cross-react to the hemagglutinin of H5N1 , which is also a group 1 virus. Less is known about how immune history affects antibody responses against the neuraminidase (NA) of H5N1 viruses. Here, we measured NA inhibition antibodies against multiple H5N1 viruses using sera from 155 individuals born between 1927 and 2016 . We found that individuals primed in childhood with H1N1 viruses were more likely to possess higher levels of antibodies that cross-react with the NA of H5N1 viruses compared to individuals primed in childhood with H2N2 or H3N2 viruses. While young children rarely possessed cross-reactive NA antibodies, we found that childhood infections with contemporary H1N1 , but not H3N2, viruses can elicit them. These data suggest that immune history...