Disease Surveillance

Allison Aubrey from NPR reports that tick-borne diseases in the United States, such as Lyme disease, have steadily been rising in prevalence in recent years. With the CDC reporting that the actual prevalence of Lyme disease cases is 10 times higher than reported cases, there is a considerable lack…

As Donald G McNeil Jr. Reports in the New York Times, preliminary research shows promising results for infant antibiotic administration in Africa. Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, a recent study has demonstrated a significant reduction in mortality rates for infants in three African…

As of January 1, 2018, Nigeria suffered a widespread Lassa fever outbreak that is finally starting to decline. Over 1,849 cases have been reported across 21 states for possible Lassa fever. 413 of those reported were in fact infected, 1,422 tested negative, 9 were classified as probable…

Toxic lead was found in nearly 70% of 3000 tested households in Chicago. While lead exposure is particularly dangerous to children and pregnant women, officials have emphasized that these findings should draw concern, but not panic. Chicago is not alone, with the CDC reporting that at least 4…

Typhoid fever has surfaced again in Pakistan. There was an outbreak in November, 2016 that was immediately addressed, yet it has revamped. This ongoing issue with Typhoid is worrisome and upon examination, this current strain of Typhoid has been shown to have acquired some additional DNA sequences,…

Enrique Rivero- Ucla researchers, in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC, discovered a link between internet searches and tweets concerning sexual risk behavior and the resulting syphilis outbreak trends. Researchers found that the model using AI to analyze the…

The Cholera outbreak that first hit Somalia in December of 2017 is continuing to ramp up and as of March 18th of this year, has reached 1,613 cases including nine deaths. Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease that is transmitted by consumption of food or water contaminated with the bacteria…

The ongoing Listeriosis outbreak in South Africa that began in January of 2017 has infected over 978 individuals as of March 14th of this year. The majority of these cases came from a province known as Gauteng. Over 183 patients have died from this outbreak that is still not fully under control.…

Time: The worst of the flu season that we saw in February is slowing down, but the season is not over yet. The majority of this season was dominated by Influenza A H3N2 strain, but Influenza Type B was reported more frequently towards the end of March. It is possible to get both separately in a…

Since 2010, Uganda has set a standard for quick detection and response time to deadly hemorrhagic fevers common to the area, including Ebola. As a coordinated effort between the Ugandan Ministry of Health, the Uganda Virus Research Institute, and the CDC, this program has cut down outbreak response…

Susan Scutti, CNN- Over recent years, both the US and Europe have seen a rise in mumps outbreaks. According to a recent study published by the Science Translational Medicine Journal, the rise in cases could be due to waning vaccine protection from the MMR vaccine mumps component, which immunizes…

SHASTA DARLINGTON, NY Times- Brazil announced recently that the country plans to vaccinate the entire country against Yellow Fever by April 2019. The 207 million people country frequently suffer outbreaks from the mosquito-borne disease. However, recently, Brazil has suffered one of the worst…

abc News: In late February of 2018, North Port Florida reported an outbreak of Legionnaires disease. Doctor Farouq, an infectious disease physician became worried when several patients presented with similar pneumonia-like symptoms living in the Islandwalk Community in North Port. He alerted the…

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is an endemic country for cholera. Since November of 2017 to mid-February 2018, 1065 cases including 43 deaths were reported in Kinshasa province. Although Cholera is common in some regions, heavy rainfall in January 2018 followed by widespread flooding lead to a…