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So far, North America has been lucky. Community acquired infections of avian   influenza have not yet occurred, although an imported case of H5N1 was identified in Alberta Canada in 2013 and two imported cases of H7N9, a husband and wife, were reported from British Columbia in just this past week. Because of recent outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5 subtypes) in wild birds and domestic flocks in North America, the Center for Disease Control has issues guidance for health care workers for identifying and testing patients with potential avian influenza infections. As of January 31, 2015, no H5 subtype human avian influenza infections have been recorded from these outbreaks which have been reported from six western states along the Pacific Flyway (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and California ). ( link ) CDC document: Interim Guidance on Testing, Specimen Collection, and Processing for Patients with Suspected Infection with Novel Influenza A Viruses with the P...

In 2014, 366 human cases of avian influenza infection from four subtypes, A(H7N9), A(H5N1), A(H5N6) and A(H10N8) were reported from 7 countries, China, Egypt, Taiwan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The case-fatality risk ranged from possibly as low as .22 to as high as .67 among these subtypes in 2014. There is no evidence among any of these subtypes of sustained human-to-human transmission. Influenza viruses that easily circulate among human populations are referred to as seasonal influenza viruses and can cause severe illness in 3 to 5 million individuals annually.[1] Avian influenza Type A viruses that cause infection in birds are referred to as avian influenza viruses. These viruses occur naturally among wild birds worldwide and can infect domestic poultry and other bird and animal species.[2] These avian influenza viruses circulating in bird populations do not usually infect humans. However, sometimes humans can become infected with avian influenza subtypes which hav...

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), three West African countries continue to experience intense transmission of Ebola. More than 16,000 cases of Ebola have been reported from Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in the past several months since the outbreak started earlier this year ( link ). There is some evidence that the rate of new Ebola infections in these countries is not growing as fast as previously estimated which is good news. The WHO situation report published on November 26, 2014 ( link ) states “Case incidence is stable in Guinea, stable or declining in Liberia, but may still be increasing in Sierra Leone”. However, there is great uncertainty over the quality of the reporting data emanating from West Africa on this Ebola outbreak. Also, based on the fluctuating numbers of newly reported cases in each of these three countries, it is difficult to assess the increases or decreases in the incidence of cases in these three countries. Assuming that the case numbers r...

Earlier this month, I noted that the World Health Organization (WHO) did not report information on five MERS cases from Saudi Arabia from October  (see Has WHO overlooked 5 MERS cases in Saudi Arabia? ), although theses cases were counted in the world-wide total in the Disease Outbreak News posted on November 7, 2014 ( link ). Two days ago, the WHO provided additional details about these five cases ( link )  that are not available on the statistics page of the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health website. The reporting of these additional case details is important to understanding the nature of human MERS infections. Since, the last WHO update on MERS from Saudi Arabia (through October 30, 2014), the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health website has reported almost 20 new MERS cases ( link ),. Hopefully, WHO will publish details about these cases soon as well.

Previously, I discussed discrepancies between the MERS case counts for the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) ( link ). The WHO case count differed from the number posted on the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health website by 15 cases. At least 12 cases previously announced by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health had not yet been posted in Disease Outbreak News by the WHO through October 21, 2014. Yesterday the WHO reported in aggregate 12 new MERS cases from Saudi Arabia from the period October 18 to October 26, 2014 ( link ). These 12 cases do not equate to the 12-case differential noted in my previous post. The most recent WHO report regarding cases from Saudi Arabia ( October 16 link ) only enumerates cases through October 11, 2014. However, between October 12 and October 16, the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health website announced five additional MERS cases, Taif (3), Riyadh (1), and Al Karj (1). Hopefully, the WHO will repor...