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As noted in the previous post, there have been at least 460 human cases of H7N9 reported in the current H7N9 outbreak between November 1, 2016 and February 27, 2017. Of great concern is a possibility that many of these cases are a result of human-to-human transmission. There is little publicly available information about the relationships, if any, among these hundreds of cases. To date, only four two-person clusters have been reported by the World Health Organization (WHO, January 17 and February 20) with family members comprising three of the clusters. For all four of these clusters, the WHO notes that human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out. One important clue to the nature of the outbreak is the geographic distribution of the reported cases. An indirect signal of human-to-human transmission can be multiple cases occurring in a localized geographic area within a short period of time. The recent WHO line listing of H7N9 cases from China ( Influenza at the Human Animal Interfa...

As of October 6, 2014, seven countries have reported cases of Ebola as noted below.   The Democratic Republic of Congo has reported at least 53 cases from a local Ebola outbreak ( link )   not associated with the current outbreak that apparently originated in Guinea in December 2013 ( link ).    Guinea (977 confirmed cases) link Liberia (931 confirmed cases) link Nigeria (19 confirmed cases) link Senegal (1 imported infection) link Sierra Leone (2179 confirmed cases) link Spain (1 locally acquired infection) link United State of America (1 imported infection) link

As of August 29, 2014, six countries from Africa are currently reporting confirmed Ebola cases. See map below. Democratic Republic of the Congo The DRC has reported a Zaire ebolaovirus outbreak in province unrelated outbreak in West Africa. Forty-two confirmed, probable, and suspected Ebola cases have been reported. link Situation: currently under control Guinea According to the World Health Organization (WHO) on August 28, 2014, a minimum of 648 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola have been reported from Guinea. link Situation: is not under control Liberia According to WHO as of August 28, 2014, a minimum of 1378 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola have been reported from Liberia. link Situation: is not under control Nigeria According to WHO as of August 28, 2014, 17 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola have been reported from Nigeria. All appear to have been linked to one imported case from Liberia. link Situation: currently under c...

As of August 25, 2014, at least two cases of Ebola have been identified from Équateur Province in the Democratic Republic of Congo by the Ministry of Health from among 8 tested individuals. ( link )  According to the Minister of Health Felix Kabangue Numbi, the Ebola strains identified include Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV) and a Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV)/ Sudan ebolavirus cross strain. According to Kabangue Numbi the Zaire and Sudan strains are very similar. Although there is uncertainty over the strain or strains infecting individuals in this outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it does not appear to be the same strain that has recently infected more than 2500 people in Nigeria and Western Africa. According to Kabangue Numbi, as many as 13 people have died from this Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The index case was apparently a pregnant woman who died on August 11. The husband of this woman has tested positive and a doctor, nurse, and hygienist who ...

The current Ebola outbreak in Africa has now grown to more than 2200 cases from four countries, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. ( link ) The map below shows the geographic distribution of Ebola cases within Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in West Africa based on recent reports. See map notes.