CDC emphasizes testing, treating monkeypox in pregnancy
Today during a Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity call, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and children who have been exposed to monkeypox be tested promptly if they show symptoms.
The officials also said pregnant or breastfeeding women should be offered the Jynneos vaccine as post-exposure prophylaxis (prevention) if they have a known close exposure to the virus.
Yesterday the CDC has reported 26 more monkeypox cases, raising the US total to 28,087.
In global news, Brazil reported its eighth death related to monkeypox infection. The country has 9,026 cases.
In Europe, case counts continue to drop according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). A total of 25,282 cases have been reported to date in the region. Six percent of patients have required hospitalization (747 cases), 5 patients have been admitted to intensive care units, 4 of whom died.
Oct 26 CDC tally
Oct 26 Brazilian news report
Oct 26 ECDC report
USDA unveils dashboard for avian flu in wild birds
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today announced the launch of a new dashboard that shows the results of its avian influenza monitoring in wild birds.
In a press release, APHIS said it routinely screens for avian influenza viruses, since H5 and H7 spillovers can occur in domestic poultry. Highly pathogenic strains can cause high mortality in both poultry and wildlife. All of the surveillance findings are confirmed at the USDA’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.
The new dashboard can help assess the risks from the virus to poultry producers, wildlife managers, and members of the public. It covers samples tested between July 2021 and April 2022 and tracks both low- and high-path detections. Over that period, surveillance found 644 high-path positives, most of them from a broad swath of the country that stretches from the Midwest to the Southeast.
The new portal is separate from an ongoing list of Eurasian H5N1 detections from APHIS and other collaborators, which as of today has 3,124 detections from all but five states: New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Hawaii.
Oct 27 USDA news release
USDA APHIS wild bird surveillance dashboard
USDA APHIS wild bird detection updates