The Las Vegas-based Southern Nevada Health District announced an updated count of 48 flu deaths for Clark County, Nevada, the southern county that includes the city of Las Vegas, on April 23.
The April 16-19 conference includes four special sessions on critical public health topics: the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh, the need for innovative use of big data in public health, the 1918 influenza centenary, and the U.S. opioid overdose epidemic.
Seven people acting as patients with Ebola symptoms, including one pediatric patient, were to present themselves at health facilities in Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma, or Idaho. Health care workers were to collect collect and ship samples for diagnostic tests to state laboratories and have the patients transported by air or ground ambulance to designated Regional Ebola Treatment Centers.
The Lancet Respiratory Medicine's editorial notes that early detection of sepsis is vital but is hampered by signs and symptoms of the condition being similar to other disorders.
The agency noted that the increasing threat of infectious diseases spurs the need for breakthrough technologies and capabilities to protect first responders and equip them with therapeutics to stop infectious agents.
For the week ending Dec. 30, 2017, which was the most recent report available as of Jan. 9, there had been 27 flu-associated deaths in persons under 65 years of age reported to CDPH. But because only influenza deaths in persons less than 65 years are reported to CDPH, the total number of deaths due to influenza is higher, according to the agency.
Four states experienced high flu activity (Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas), while five states (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, and Kentucky) experienced moderate activity in the week that ended Dec. 9.
"These findings remind us of the seriousness of flu and that flu prevention should really be a global priority," said Dr. Joe Bresee, M.D., associate director for global health in CDC's Influenza Division and a study co-author.
"The time to start thinking about and preparing for a flu outbreak is now, before flu season kicks into high gear. And in turning our attention to the flu season, we should also remind ourselves of the importance of building contingency plans that maintain business continuity should employees become ill and have to remain at home," said Gareth Jones, acting president and CEO of CCOHS.
The 2017 awards fund projects that "range in scope from meters to the entire globe and time scales from weeks to millennia," said Sam Scheiner, an EEID program officer in the NSF directorate. "This broad approach to attacking problems in infectious disease ecology and evolution will provide the basic knowledge that we will need when the next Ebola virus or Zika virus outbreak happens."
The medicines are being distributed to health facilities and mobile health clinics across the country, and WHO is also filling critical shortages in disinfection materials and PPE for health professionals and safe burials.
"Today we are prepared to add four Ebola countermeasures to the stockpile, whereas three years ago, very few products were even in early stages of development," BARDA Director Rick Bright, Ph.D., said. "This marks a pivotal moment in U.S. and global preparedness for future public health emergencies from viral hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola."
The agency's reminder said measles cases have been reported in 15 European countries during 2017: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald has been the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health and the state health officer for the past six years.
"CDC's Ebola exhibition shows what it was like 'inside the outbreak' for one of the world's worst public health emergencies," said CDC Acting Director Dr. Anne Schuchat, M.D. "I hope people will leave the museum recognizing that, with commitment and will, working together, we can change the world and make it a safer, healthier place for everyone."
"Everything here is water-related, which tends to be the case with health care," said Bryan E. Christensen, an industrial hygienist and epidemiologist with CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. "There really needs to be an increased role for the industrial hygiene field at health care facilities. It's something that needs more emphasis going forward."
This year's meeting is the final one with Dr. Margaret Chan as director-general of WHO. She told the delegates that countries should work to improve their collection of health data and should make health strategies more accountable.
"The public plays an essential role in the fight to contain and eradicate diseases like Ebola, Zika, and influenza," said CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. "The situation is urgent, but information can help make us less vulnerable."
It’s the first virus transmission since June 15, 2016.
The CDC posted a travel notice for Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Maldives and Soloman Islands.