#14,582
Over the past year I’ve posted more than 800 blogs, dozens of which looked at newly published research into a variety of emerging infectious diseases. Given the sheer volume of published studies every month, these findings are easily lost in the shuffle, and quickly forgotten.
During the last couple weeks of December, when the publication of new papers is reduced and outbreak news is generally slow, I try to revisit some of research from the past year that I found particularly interesting.So, intermittently over the next two weeks we'll look back at some of the research that made up the passing parade of 2019.
In January of this year, while the biggest disease outbreak news centered on Ebola in the DRC, ASF spreading in Asia, a Hantavirus outbreak in Argentina, an uptick in MERS in KSA, and the intensifying flu season in the United States, we looked at more than a dozen studies, including:
A pair of journal articles appearing in the Journal of Korean Medical Science on the unusual presentation of this case, and its potential impact on rapidly diagnosing MERS cases.
Chest: Flu Vaccine Reduces Severe Outcomes Among Hospitalized Patients With COPD
Researchers found a lower mortality rate, less critical illness, and a 38% reduction in influenza-related hospitalizations in vaccinated vs unvaccinated individuals.
ABSTRACT: Severely ill women with 2009 H1N1 influenza during pregnancy were more likely to have adverse birth outcomes than women without influenza, providing more support for influenza vaccination during pregnancy.
EID Journal: Cumulative Incidence Of WNV Infection - U.S., 1999-2016
An analysis published in the CDC's EID journal that estimated the incidence of WNV infection in the United States is likely 140 times higher than has been reported.
Viruses: Aerosol & Contact Transmission Of Japanese Encephalitis Virus In Experimentally Infected Mice
A study which presents evidence that the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) - which until now as been viewed as a vector borne virus - can be transmitted via direct contact and aerosols among experimentally infected mice.
Curr. Opinion Virology: Viruses In Bats & Potential Spillover To Animals And Humans
From their website summary:
Link
The study shows that bats carry a significantly higher proportion of viruses able to infect people than any other group of mammals; and it identifies the species and geographic regions on the planet with the highest number of yet-to-be discovered, or ‘missing’, viruses likely to infect people.
Emerg. Microbe & Inf: MERS Infection In Non-Camelid Domestic Mammals
A 2017 study (see EID Journal: Domestic Pig Unlikely Reservoir for MERS-CoV) confirmed that pigs can be experimentally infected with the MERS virus, although they did not develop clinical disease and only shed small quantities of the virus, making them unlikely to spread the disease.
This latest study, not only expands the range of domestic species tested to include cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys, buffaloes, mules, and horses - but also extended testing far beyond Saudi Arabia - to include Egypt, Tunisia, and Senegal.
They found goats and sheep were the most likely to exhibit antibodies to MERS-CoV (or a MERS-like coronavirus), but evidence of prior infection was also detected in 1 cow and 3 donkeys.
During the month of January we also looked at the Interim Estimates of 2018/19 Vaccine Effectiveness Against A(H1N1)pdm09, Canada,
a Pediatrics Study that found the LAIV Less Effective Against H1N1 Than the Flu Shot, and a CDC Update that found Candida Auris Detections Nearly Tripled In 2018.
Even though finding and posting reports on disease outbreaks remains a big part of this blog, I admittedly get my greatest blogging satisfaction from reading - and writing about - the information from these studies.
