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The U.S. Department of State issued an updated Level 1 travel advisory for the Argentine Republic on August 18, 2023.
The State Department says visitors should exercise standard precautions when visiting Argentina in 2023, as some areas have increased risk.
For example, the City of Rosario has been issued a Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution advisory.
The State Department says criminal elements are active in Rosario (Santa Fe province), increasing civil unrest.
Additionally, U.S. Embassy personnel are required to give advance notice before traveling to Rosario, which is located about 300 km northwest of Buenos Aires.
In 2022, Statista reported Argentine Patagonia received nearly 3.9 million overnight visitors, with January welcoming about 454 thousand people.
If you decide to travel to Argentina, enrolling in the free Smart Traveler Enrollment Program makes it easier to be located in an emergency.
From a health perspective, the U.S. CDC suggests various travel vaccinations, including for dengue outbreaks, when visiting Argentina in 2023.
Gavi today reported the Republic of Kenya is innovating to help every eligible child get four malaria vaccine doses in 2023.
As of August 18, 2023, about 96.5% of eligible children in Vihiga County in Kenya have received at least one RTS,S vaccine dose.
However, only 30% of eligible children in Vihiga are yet to complete the four-dose regimen that maximizes the WHO-approved malaria vaccine's effectiveness.
Part of the so-called "Lake-endemic region" in Kenya, a particularly mosquito-plagued set of districts abutting Lake Victoria, Vihiga has been offering malaria vaccinations since 2019.
The positive impact of malaria vaccination is already being measured.
More than a million Gavi-supported RTS,S (Mosquirix™) vaccine doses have been administered to some 400,000 children across the Lake-endemic counties, and Dr Abdourahmane Diallo, WHO Kenya Representative, confirms that those jabs, in concert with other malaria-control measures, have led to a demonstrable decline in case" .
The U.S. CDC Kenya"s Amy Herman-Roloff quantifies that decline at 50%.
The precise burden of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa has remained elusive, wrote researchers in an article published by the journal BMC Medicine.
Infection with Plasmodium falciparum is a frequent event for individuals living in stable transmission areas in Afric. Not all new infections cause illness in partdue tof acquired immunity, says the CDC.
In Africa, two malaria vaccines have been in use during 2023.
In addition to malaria, the CDC included Kenya in a recent polio outbreak travel advisory. When visiting polio outbreak areas, the CDC recommends travelers ensure they have been fully immunized.
A cross-sectional study from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging published on August 16, 2023, aimed to quantify the clinical trial eligibility criteria for lecanemab and aducanumab treatment for people with early Alzheimer's Disease (AD).
These AD therapies, which are not preventive vaccines, recently received U.S. FDA authorization.
The data indicates that few people are eligible for the anti-beta amyloid monoclonal antibody (mAbs) therapies.
Two hundred thirty-seven participants (mean age 80.9) with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia and increased brain amyloid burden comprised the study sample.
The mAb aducanumab trial's exclusion criteria reduced the number of available participants, narrowing those eligible to 12 (5.1% of 237).
The common exclusions related to other chronic conditions and neuroimaging findings.
"At first glance, applying clinical trial criteria to real-world practice may seem overly conservative," noted Stephen Salloway, MD, of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and co-authors, in a related editorial published on August 16, 2023.
The journal Neurology published this Research Article: Eligibility for Anti-Amyloid Treatment in a Population-Based Study of Cognitive Aging.
The U.S. CDC published a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) today that concluded all adults at risk for mpox should receive Bavarian Nordic JYNNEOS® (MVA-BN) vaccine, irrespective of childhood smallpox vaccination status.
Immunologic studies have demonstrated some long-term immunologic memory from childhood smallpox vaccination that is cross-protective against mpox. Still, such immunity might have waned by May 2022, when the global outbreak began.
On August 18, 2023, the MMWR disclosed although persons aged >50 years likely received a childhood smallpox vaccination, they might have more comorbidities and a higher risk for severe mpox than those aged ≤50.
This study found among 29,984 adults with mpox, those aged >50 years had higher prevalences of immunocompromising conditions and HIV and lower prevalence of symptoms than younger people.
Among 1,020 adults aged >50 with vaccination data, prevalences of pruritus, constitutional symptoms, and hospitalization were lower among those who received the JYNNEOS vaccine than those who had not.
This finding underscores the importance that persons at risk for mpox, particularly adults aged >50 years, receive the recommended JYNNEOS vaccination. JYNNEOS vaccination is recommended for all adults at risk for mpox irrespective of receipt of childhood smallpox vaccination, wrote these researchers.
The JYNNEOS vaccination services remain available in most health clinics and pharmacies in U.S. cities, London, and in various other locations.
It's unknown how long JYNNEOS protection last or if protection might decrease over time, says the CDC.
On August 3, 2023, the U.S. government ordered an additional $120 million worth of JYNNEOS vaccines.
While the 2023-2024 flu season in the Northern Hemisphere is accelerating, influenza infections have already caused significant mortalities in the U.S.
The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Mortality Surveillance data available on August 17, 2023, reported that 6.1% of the deaths during week #32 were due to pneumonia, influenza, and/or COVID-19.
Among the deaths reported during week #32, six listed influenza as an underlying or contributing cause of death on the death certificate.
Additionally, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the total number of influenza pediatric deaths for this flu season has reached 168.
Furthermore, 1.3% of patient visits reported were due to respiratory illness, including fever, cough, or sore throat.
An analysis published by the Journal of Infectious Diseases on August 1, 2023, found the risk of flu-related intensive care admission was seven-time greater in unvaccinated people in certain countries.
The CDC recommends an annual flu shot for most people six months of age to reduce future deaths.
Updated flu shots are available, over 100 million so far, in health clinics and pharmacies in the U.S. Last flu season, about 173 million flu shots were distributed in the U.S.
The CDC encourages influenza vaccinations before and during the flu season.
Note: The CDC stated on August 18, 2023, the data presented are preliminary and may change as more data are received and processed.
According to reporting by Roll Call's Ariel Cohen, the U.S. administration announced in In March 2022 to keep providing free COVID-19 vaccines to every member of the public, it put the onus on insurers to negotiate the price of the vaccines.
On August 18, 2023, Cohen wrote, 'To prepare for insurers taking on price negotiation and to make sure the uninsured and underinsured still had access, the Biden administration announced in April of this year that it was setting up a partnership with pharmacies to deliver shots to the uninsured and underinsured at no up-front cost.
The so-called "bridge access program" would be a $1.1 billion public-private partnership between the U.S. CDC and pharmacies.
But months later, the government hasn't been able to finalize partnerships with any pharmacies.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, pharmacies administered a significant percentage of all vaccinations.
The Federal Retail Pharmacy Program for COVID-19 Vaccination is one part of the U.S. federal government's strategy to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for the American public.
As of July 21, 2023, more than 305 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered and reported by Federal Retail Pharmacy Program participants in the U.S. This includes 8 million doses administered onsite to long-term care facilities in the early days of the COVID-19 vaccination program.
The CDC said it planned to negotiate contracts with CVS, Walgreens, and eTrueNorth to provide pharmacy-based vaccination services to uninsured adults in low-access areas and areas of low vaccination coverage.
But the companies are still in contract negotiations with the government, and it's unclear when contract negotiations will be finalized.
"All of these are still in contract negotiation, so it's really difficult to see what the implementation of this program's going to look like in pharmacy," said Edward Salaguinto, a pharmaceutical constant to the California Department of Public Health.
The CDC is now targeting mid-October 2023 to get the pharmacy program up and running, according to multiple individuals working on the program — which could be about a month after the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines are expected to become available.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) today reported that after several months of meager infection rates, COVID-19 transmission has increased in some EU/EEA countries.
As of August 17, 2023, this increase has coincided with increasing detections of SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5-like lineages carrying the F456L mutation and other drivers can contribute to the increasing transmission rates.
These drivers include large gatherings during seasonal holidays and lower levels of immunological protection against infection after several months of very low disease incidence.
Fortunately, there is currently no sign of increased COVID-19 hospitalizations or pressures on healthcare systems.
Additionally, the ECDC wrote adherence to national COVID-19 vaccination schedules is essential to protect people at high risk for severe disease and death.
As of August 11, 2023, among people aged 60 years and above, the cumulative uptake of a first booster was 84.9% (country range: 13.3–100.0%), and of a second booster was 35.6% (country range: 0.4–87.0%).
Countries should assess their readiness to identify target groups and conduct timely COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.
In addition, communication campaigns aimed at the public and healthcare professionals are deemed necessary to reach high-risk groups and inform them of the importance of staying up to date with vaccination.
The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) today announced thirty-five laboratory experts gathered this week in the Dominican Republic to discuss increasing the use of tools to detect and monitor mosquito-borne diseases in the Americas.
The PAHO confirmed that from January until the end of July 2023, 27,000 Zika cases have been reported across the Americas.
The most significant Zika outbreaks were reported in Brazil, Bolivia, Belize, and Paraguay.
The U.S. CDC says because the mosquitoes that spread Zika are found throughout Puerto Rico, people living on the island are at risk for infection. In addition, the Puerto Rico Department of Health says Zika will continue to infect people in 2023.
In 2022, there were about 40,000 Zika cases in the Americas.
"At least nine arboviruses with public health impact - such as dengue, zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever - are circulating in Latin America and the Caribbean, so strengthening and expanding laboratory detection and surveillance capacities are key to ensuring a timely response to outbreaks and epidemics," said Sylvain Aldighieri, Deputy Director of PAHO's Department of Health Emergencies, in a press release on August 16, 2023.
As of August 2023, the U.S. FDA has not approved a Zika vaccine.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA) webinar on August 17, 2023, focused on eliminating measles in the U.S.
This webinar is essential since measles cases worldwide increased by about 80% during 2022. Globally, measles outbreaks have been reported in various countries this year. In the U.S., there have been 19 measles cases reported in 2023.
During this COCA Call, presenters reviewed the clinical presentation and diagnosis of measles infection, how to report suspected cases to public health agencies, and outlined vaccination recommendations in the U.S.
Measles is a vaccine-preventable disease, says the CDC. Measles vaccines (MMR) are available at health clinics and pharmacies in the U.S.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the intramuscular route of administration for M-M-R®II and ProQuad® vaccines. In addition, the FDA approved the Priorix vaccine to prevent MMR in individuals one year and older.
Updated on August 21, 2023, with data regarding measles cases.
