Tag Archives: zoonotic

Experts keep an eye on new strains of flu

It’s flu season, and public health officials and infectious disease experts at the University of California-San Francisco are paying close attention to new strains of influenza. They’re concerned with a new strain of avian flu that could mutate and become more easily transmitted. Currently, to contract avian flu, you have to have direct contact with an infected bird; the disease isn’t able to be transmitted between people. The experts are also keeping an eye on new, drug-resistant strains of flu reported in Australia during the flu season there.

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One Health Headlines: Friday, January 6, 2012

At the beginning of this week Massachusetts health officials announced the first human case of rabies reported in the state since 1935. It was later determined that the victim was infected by a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus). This follows last month’s announcement out of South Carolina that a woman died after contracting rabies, that state’s first human case of rabies in half a century.

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Recent news about rabies shows why pets must be vaccinated

Going through some of today’s One Health news, I noticed that many of the stories were about rabies: Australian veterinarians have warned that there could be terrible consequences if an Indonesian epidemic of rabies reaches Australia. A man in Boston has fallen ill with a rare case of rabies. And, in better news, Indian researchers have taken an important step toward a cure for the disease.

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Genetically engineered, highly contagious strain of H5N1 causes controversy

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, working independently, have found a way to genetically engineer H5N1, the avian bird flu, to make it highly contagious to humans. Ron Fouchier, the Dutch scientist, created the virus in a lab and then infected ferrets, which transmit diseases to each other similar to the way humans do. (A ferret infected with the virus could cause another ferret housed in the same cage to get sick simply by being nearby.)

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One Health Headlines: Friday, December 16, 2011

Most people are worried about a global disease outbreak, but aren’t aware that diseases spread by animals to people, or zoonotic diseases, are what they should be most concerned about. That’s according to a poll recently conducted by EcoHealth Alliance, a New York-based organization of scientists dedicated to conserving biodiversity, and that story leads off this week’s One Health roundup.

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