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The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that the Republic of Indonesia's polio outbreak risk was assessed as high at the national level.
As of April 17, 2023, the WHO says the current polio outbreak in Indonesia poses a moderate regional risk and a low risk globally.
These assessments are related to the Indonesia Ministry of Health notifying the WHO of the detections of a circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) and acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) from the Purwakarta district in West Java province.
A total of four confirmed cases of VDPV2 have been reported in Indonesia since November 2022.
This includes three cases of cVDPV2 with AFP in Aceh province and one in West Java province.
Additionally, four healthy children in Aceh province were confirmed to have cVDPV2 on November 25, 2022.
Despite Indonesia having a strong capacity to respond to poliovirus outbreaks, there is a high susceptibility of the population to poliovirus type 2 after switching from trivalent to bivalent OPV.
WHO's International Travel and Health recommends that all travelers to polio-affected areas be fully vaccinated against polio.
And the WHO does not recommend any travel and/or trade restrictions to Indonesia based on the current information available for this event.
Indonesia has been included in recent U.S. CDC travel alerts for measles and polio.
In the U.S., polio vaccines are offered at health clinics and pharmacies in Texas.
The U.S. CDC's Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report published today highlighted negative news regarding influenza-associated pediatric mortality.
During Week #15, two influenza-associated pediatric deaths that occurred during the 2022-2023 season were reported this week.
This data increases the total number of pediatric flu deaths reported during the 2022-2023 flu season to 143.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there were very few pediatric deaths reported.
Pre-pandemic, during the 2019-2020 flu season, 199 deaths were confirmed by the CDC.
The positive news posted by the CDC on April 21, 2023, is the majority of influenza viruses tested are in the same genetic subclade as and antigenically similar to the influenza viruses included in this flu season's influenza vaccines.
The CDC continues to recommend that everyone ages six months and older get an annual flu vaccine as long as flu activity continues in the U.S.
As of March 4, 2023, the CDC reported that about 173 million flu shots had been distributed this flu season, about the same as 2021-2022.
And flu shots are advised for those traveling to countries where influenza cases have been reported, such as Brazil, Belize, Guatemala, Peru, and Europe.
Aptitude Medical Systems today announced that it had received an award of up to $53.7 million from the U.S. government. The funding supports the development of over-the-counter molecular diagnostics capable of delivering lab-quality results in 15-30 minutes while approaching the cost of antigen tests.
About $19.6 million in funding is targeted to develop and validate at-home COVID and COVID/Flu tests.
And up to $34.1 million was allocated for options to develop additional multiplex tests for other infectious disease threats.
Aptitude aims to make molecular tests as accessible as antigen tests according to JP Wang, Ph.D., Aptitude CSO and co-founder, in a press release on April 20, 2023. "The value of that upgrade is clear – a PCR-quality molecular test means that you can detect infection earlier to avoid spreading to your family, friends, and coworkers."
This work is funded in whole or in part with federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under contract number 75A50123C00013.
The Government of Western Australia (WA) recently confirmed a case of measles was identified in a returned overseas traveler.
According to the Department of Health, on April 20, 2023, this was the first measles case reported in WA in more than three years.
And if you attended the exposure sites during the listed dates, you may have been exposed to this very transmissible virus and should monitor for symptoms.
People with measles typically develop symptoms around ten days after exposure, and rashes usually appear four to five days after symptoms start showing.
Globally, measles cases increased by about 80% last year compared with 2021, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC's top ten global measles outbreak list is led by India.
To alert international travelers of their measles risk, the CDC reissued its Watch - Level 1, Practice Usual Precautions notice on April 6, 2023.
Vaccination with a measles-containing vaccine is the best way to ensure you are protected, says the CDC.
For travelers 12 months or older, two doses at least 28 days apart are recommended.
In the U.S., measles vaccines are offered at health clinics and pharmacies in cities such as Austin, Houston, and Lubbock, Texas.
Th World Health Organization (WHO) today announced that while the COVID-19 pandemic is diminishing in some countries, in other parts of the world, new cases and related fatalities increased last month.
Published on April 20, 2023, the WHO's Weekly Epidemiological Update Edition #139 on COVID-19 reported new cases, and deaths decreased by 27% and 32%, respectively, compared to the previous 28 days.
Unfortunately, the United States of America (USA) is a leader in both categories.
This is partly due to the reductions in testing and delays in reporting in many countries, wrote the WHO.
At the country level, the highest numbers of new 28-day cases were reported from the USA (432,798 new cases; -45%), the Republic of Korea (+6%), France (+65%), and Brazil (+35%).
The highest numbers of new 28-day deaths were reported from the USA (5,559 new deaths; -32%), Brazil (-26%), Germany (-58%), and the Islamic Republic of Iran (+193%).
From a vaccination perspective, fewer COVID-19 vaccines were administered last month.
However, India began reordering various non-mRNA vaccines in April 2023.
And in the USA, the government expanded access to bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines on April 18, 2023,
As of April 16, 2023, a total of 13,322,849,443 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally during the pandemic.
The U.S. Department of State recently reissued its Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution travel advisory for the Dominican Republic, which has realized a post-pandemic in visitors.
In February 2023, about 1 million visitors returned to the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola, located in the Caribbean Sea, according to Travel Path.
On April 17, 2023, the State Department confirmed the development of a professional tourist police corps, the institution of a 911 system, and a concentration of resources in resort areas means these areas are better policed than urban areas like Santo Domingo.
If needed, the U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo is located at Av. República de Colombia #57.
And this Advisory encourages visitors to avoid demonstrations and enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive Alerts and make locating during an emergency easier.
From a health perspective, the U.S. CDC has included the Dominican Republic in recent dengue and cholera outbreak alerts.
And yellow fever vaccination is required if traveling from the states of Mina Gerais, Espirito Santo, Sao Paulo, or Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, including if the transit was less than 12 hours in an airport located in any of these states in Brazil.
If you depart from Houston, Texas (77018), travel vaccination clinics and pharmacies are near Bush International Airport.
The peer-review JAMA Network Open published today results from a study that found more Canadians were hospitalized during later COVID-19 waves compared to the initial year of the pandemic.
However, the health outcomes were less severe in these hospitalized people.
In a cohort study of 55,714 adult and pediatric patients hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 in 155 acute care hospitals in Canada, surveillance data show that during waves 5 and 6 of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals experienced a surge in patients hospitalized with COVID-19, an increase in nosocomial transmission of COVID-19, and a decrease in severe outcomes.
These data suggest the importance of COVID-19 vaccination in reducing the burden on the Canadian healthcare system and severe outcomes associated with COVID-19, wrote these researchers.
The U.S. CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) today announced that during January 2022, the COVIDTests.gov program became available to all U.S. households, which could order free-to-the-user at-home test kits from the federal government.
In a probability sample of U.S. households, both awareness of the COVIDTests.gov program and use of kits were high, with more than 41 million households estimated to have used kits during January–May 2022.
This MMWR concluded the long-term availability of government-supplied test kits appears to have significantly improved access to SARS-CoV-2 virus testing for racial and ethnic minorities, underscoring a critically important element of the U.S. national COVID-19 response.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently published Influenza Update N° 443, confirming after January 2023, worldwide activity increased with a higher proportion of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and B virus detections until a peak around week #10, after which detections decreased.
Currently, there are sporadic reports of the Southern Hemisphere flu season causing infections in Brazil and Peru.
And as of April 17, 2023, the WHO reported Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) activity was generally low or decreasing except in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and a few countries in the Region of the Americas.
In South Africa, the RSV detection rate among children under five years of age in pneumonia surveillance reached a very high level.
And RSV remained elevated in Guatemala and Mexico and increased in the Plurinational State of Bolivia.
As of April 20, 2023, the U.S. FDA has not authorized any RSV vaccine candidate.
However, various countries have approved RSV monoclonal antibody therapies.
