ETIDIOH - NEW

  {Summary} -- During current epidemiological week ( 11– 17 September 2025),  65 new confirmed human cases of infection with West Nile Virus have been reported.  -- The total number of confirmed cases , since the beginning of the epidemic season, has thus risen to 647 (it was 582 last week), of these:  - 300 were West Nile Neuroinvasive Disease (WNND): 15 in Piedmont, 39 Lombardy, 24 Veneto, 2 Friuli-Venezia Giulia, 1 Liguria, 23 Emilia-Romagna, 5 Tuscany, 83 Latium, 2 Molise, 77 Campania, 2 Apulia, 2 Basilicata, 5 Calabria, 1 Sicily, 19 Sardinia,  - 54 were asymptomatic cases detected among blood donors ,  - 284 were West Nile Fever cases (one imported from Kenya),  - 3 asymptomatic cases and  - 6 unspecified casese.  -- Among confirmed cases, there were 47 death cases : 7 in Piedmont, 5 Lombardy, 1 Emilia-Romagna, 16 Latium, 15 Campania, 2 Calabria, 1 Sardinia.  - The Case-Fatality Rate in WNND cases was 15.8% (it was 20% in 2018 and...

  ABSTRACT Cell cultures are widely used to study infectious respiratory diseases and to test therapeutics; however, they do not faithfully recapitulate the architecture and complexity of the human respiratory tract . Lung organoids have emerged as an alternative model that partially overcomes this key disadvantage. Lung organoids can be cultured in various formats that offer potential for studying highly pathogenic viruses . However, the effects of these different formats on virus infection remain unexplored, leaving their relative value unclear. In this study, we generated primary lung organoids from human donor cells and used them to derive monolayers and air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures with the goal of comparing the replication kinetics of two circulating highly pathogenic coronaviruses , severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ( SARS-CoV-2 ) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus ( MERS-CoV ). Infection studies revealed that organoid-derived monolayers di...

  Situation at a glance Between 1 January and 29 August 2025, the International Health Regulations National Focal Point (IHR NFP) for Bangladesh notified WHO of four confirmed fatal Nipah virus (NiV) infection cases , temporally unrelated , reported from four different districts across three separated geographical divisions (Barisal, Dhaka, and Rajshahi) in Bangladesh.  NiV infection is a zoonotic disease transmitted to humans through infected animals (such as bats or pigs ), or food contaminated with saliva, urine , and excreta of infected animals .  It can also be transmitted directly from person to person through close contact with an infected person.  Fruit bats or flying foxes (Pteropus species) are the natural hosts for the virus.  Human NiV infection is an epidemic-prone disease that can cause severe disease in humans and animals, with a high mortality rate , and outbreaks primarily occurring in South and South-East Asia .  Since the first recognized...

  Abstract Global efforts to eradicate smallpox—an Orthopoxvirus infection—began in the mid-20th century, with the last naturally occurring case reported in 1977. This was achieved through global solidarity efforts that expanded the smallpox eradication vaccination program . Approximately 50 years following the cessation of mass smallpox vaccination and in the absence of access to a sustainable boosting program , the population immunologically naïve to Orthopoxviruses has increased significantly. With increasing global movements and travels, we argue that the emergence of two back-to-back yet distinct mpox epidemics in the 21st century is a sign of humanity’s lost herd immunity to Orthopoxviruses. This needs concerted efforts to restore. Source: Viruses,  https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17/9/1257 ____