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OTTAWA - Canadian health authorities are worried an outbreak of West Nile virus infection in Louisiana, which has killed four of 58 infected people, could mean the mosquito-borne illness is changing the way it spreads. "Something seems peculiar about Louisiana with such a large number of human cases," said Harvey Artsob, head of zoonotic diseases at Health Canada. "It's important for us to understand why, so that all our messages of reassurance in other parts of North America still hold. What's changed in Louisiana?" As Canadians head to summer cottages this weekend, the official government message remains that West Nile...

-Local farmers report huge financial losses as many yaks in the area have fallen ill -GB authorities say veterinary team has been sent with medicines to treat the animals Over 100 yaks have been killed after a mysterious disease broke out in the high-altitude pasture of Shimshal Pamir, local residents said on Wednesday, as officials confirmed the situation and said a medical team had been dispatched for rescue. Located at 3,100 meters above sea level, Shimshal is the highest settlement in Pakistan’s northern Hunza region and the last village before the country’s border with China. “A disease broke out in...

As a powerful storm takes shape just east of the Rockies by the middle of the week, AccuWeather meteorologists are forecasting a vast eruption of severe weather, including the potential for tornadoes, Friday and Saturday in the zone from the Great Plains to the Mississippi Valley. Should the storm develop to its full potential, it could be one of the strongest on record for the region in terms of low pressure. The more intense the storm, the greater the amount of energy will be available for severe weather, rain, snow and winds in general. Even a more moderate, typical storm...

New York officials are taking precautions against the avian flu after seven cases were detected at live bird markets in New York City. The markets were ordered on Friday to shut down for about one week to combat the illness, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Friday. “The order came after seven cases of bird flu were found in poultry during routine inspections of live bird markets in the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens,” the outlet said, noting that officials said there have been no cases of the avian flu among New Yorkers. In an...

A yearlong outbreak of tuberculosis in the Kansas City, Kansas area has taken local experts aback, even if it does not appear to be the largest outbreak of the disease in U.S. history as a state health official claimed last week.“We would expect to see a handful of cases every year,” said Dr. Dana Hawkinson, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Kansas Health System. But the high case counts in this outbreak were a “stark warning," he said.The outbreak has killed two people since it started in January 2024, Kansas state health department spokeswoman Jill Bronaugh said. Health...

People across America are feeling the sting of the rising cost of eggs in part being driven by the bird flu outbreak. In October, Vice President-elect Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) pointed to the skyrocketing price of eggs as evidence of President Joe Biden (D) and Vice President Kamala Harris’s (D) economic policies, per Breitbart News. “Eggs, when Kamala Harris took office, were short of $1.50 a dozen. Now, a dozen eggs will cost you around $4, thanks to Kamala Harris’ inflationary policies,” he said.

Norovirus cases are surging across the country this winter, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. There were 91 outbreaks reported by state health departments during the week of Dec. 5, up from 69 in the last week of November, according to the CDC. The highest number for the same period over the last several years was 65 outbreaks. But the data are not comprehensive. Currently, state, local and territorial health departments are not required to report individual cases of norovirus illness to the CDC, and only 15 states participate in the National Outbreak Reporting System.

A video recently emerged showing several cows lying dead on roadsides in California’s Central Valley amid an avian influenza outbreak across the U.S., sparking biosafety concerns. The dead cows were close together with swarms of flies buzzing around them, video shows. Dr. Crystal Heath, a veterinary doctor with the Berkeley, California-based nonprofit Our Honor, took the video Oct. 8 and shared it on Twitter on Oct. 17. The dead livestock were in front of Mendonsa Farms and Land O’Lakes Borges Dairy, both in Tulare County, Heath said. There were no visible warning signs of potential biosafety risk that the exposed...

<p>As Mozambique battles to control a fast-spreading cholera outbreak in the cyclone-hit central city of Beira, international assistance is arriving. The number of cholera cases jumped to 271 over the weekend although no deaths from the disease had been reported. More than 500 people have died in Mozambique from Cyclone Idai, which slammed into Beira more than two weeks ago, according to government officials. Another 250 died in neighboring Zimbabwe and Malawi. The Chinese government has sent doctors to battle the cholera outbreak in Beira, a port city of 500,000. Chinese aid workers sprayed anti-cholera disinfectant in parts of Beira Sunday. The World Health Organization has said some 900,000 cholera vaccine doses are expected to arrive on Monday, with a vaccination campaign to start later this week.</p>

Boar's Head on Friday announced that it is "indefinitely" closing the Virginia manufacturing plant that's been linked to the deadly listeria outbreak. "Given the seriousness of the outbreak, and the fact that it originated at Jarratt, we have made the difficult decision to indefinitely close this location," which was shut down in late July, the company said. The company's Jarratt facility was linked to the meats sliced at deli counters, including Boar's Head brand liverwurst, that caused the biggest listeria outbreak since 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Several athletes competing at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, including five Australian water polo players and a British swimmer, have tested positive for COVID-19, according to officials. The uptick in cases has raised questions around the measures in place to stop the spread of COVID at the Olympics. This year's Games are considered the first post-pandemic Olympics. Unlike the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, there are no strict protocols or restrictions around COVID-19 in Paris. However, COVID-19 is still spreading around the world. The United States is facing a summer wave, and...

TOPLINE Health officials in India are racing to contain an outbreak of Nipah virus after a teenage boy died from an infection over the weekend, the latest in a series of outbreaks in the region of the incurable virus that kills as many as three in four people it infects and has been flagged as having the potential to seed a new pandemic.Nipah is a rare and potentially deadly virus that was first discovered in 1999 after an outbreak among pigs and pig farmers in Malaysia and Singapore.Nipah is a zoonotic virus—meaning it can spread from animals to humans—and can...

A Massachusetts pharmacist accused of causing a fungal meningitis outbreak that caused the deaths of 11 Michigan residents is set to go on trial for murder. Livingston County Circuit Judge Matthew McGivney set a trial date for Nov. 4 for Glenn Chin who faces 11 counts of second-degree murder for his alleged involvement in the deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Monday, May 20. “Eleven Michiganders tragically lost their lives as a result of a lack of concern for patient safety,” Nessel said. “My department looks forward to finally seeking justice for the victims and...

Meteorologists are closely monitoring a developing weather system that shows significant potential for a widespread and robust severe weather outbreak across the Southern Plains and the Midwestern United States. According to the latest data from the Global Forecast System (GFS), a surface low is expected to develop in Kansas around February 27, reaching a minimum pressure of 986mb. Subsequently, the system is forecasted to intensify further as it moves northeast, reaching Ontario with a minimum pressure of 972mb by early February 29.

An “unknown” outbreak aboard a cruise ship is spreading, and now 154 people are sickened, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in an update this week. So far, 25 crew members and 129 passengers on the Carnival-owned Cunard Cruise Line’s Queen Victoria have become ill during the trip, which is up by about 15 cases from when the illnesses were reported earlier in February, according to the CDC. The Queen Victoria cruise has 1,824 passengers and 967 crew members on board, according to the agency. It’s still not clear what’s causing the outbreak on the cruise...

A Chinese researcher isolated and mapped out COVID-19 — and uploaded it to a US-run database — at least two weeks before Beijing officially identified the virus which has claimed more than 3 million lives worldwide, according to bombshell new documents. The documents, obtained from the US Department of Health and Human Services by House Republicans and first reported by the Wall Street Journal, show virologist Dr. Lili Ren uploaded nearly the entire sequence of COVID-19’s structure to a US government-run database on Dec. 28, 2019. Her work was nearly identical to what Beijing eventually presented to the World Health...

Are you panicked yet?You should be. I have reliable evidence that we are all going to die!Of course, this has always been true and will remain so for the foreseeable future. But despite the media attempts to get people worked up about a “mysterious” outbreak of pneumonia in Chinese children, there is no indication that anything mysterious is happening in China or elsewhere in the world.It appears to be true that children in some regions of China are getting pneumonia and winding up in hospitals, as far as I can tell in a news environment where trust has been broken,...

A study published by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in July, and reportedly circulating widely on Chinese social media this week, concluded that as many as 20 species of coronavirus are “highly likely” to cause an outbreak among humans. The study appeared in Emerging Microbes & Infections in July, the South China Morning Post noted on Sunday, but it began making headlines in Chinese-language media as social media users discovered it and began spreading its conclusions online.

Health authorities in Jamaica over the weekend issued warnings about a dengue fever outbreak with more than 500 suspected or confirmed cases so far. "The dominant strain is Dengue Type 2, which last predominated in 2010," the Jamaica Ministry of Health and Wellness said in a statement Saturday via the government-backed Jamaica Information Service, which added that there are "no dengue-related deaths classified at this time." However, it stressed that six deaths are under investigation. As of Sept. 22, there were 565 confirmed, suspected, and presumed cases of dengue, a virus that is spread via certain species of mosquitoes. Some...

Students and staff in one class at a public school in Montgomery County, Maryland, are being told that they must wear masks for the next 10 days after three “or more” people tested positive for COVID-19. In a letter sent home to parents on Tuesday, Rosemary Hills Elementary School principal Rebecca Irwin Kennedy wrote that KN95 masks would be distributed and students and staff in “identified classes or activities” will be required to mask up while in school for the next 10 days “except when eating or drinking.” The letter states that after a 10-day period, “masks will become optional...