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The U.S. CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention published the 2019 Viral Hepatitis Surveillance Report.
Announced on May 19, 2021, this CDC report indicates a more than 1,300% increase in hepatitis A infections and a 63% increase in hepatitis C infections between 2015-2019.
And for the first time, the Surveillance Report describes demographic characteristics of persons with chronic hepatitis B and chronic hepatitis C by age group, sex, race/ethnicity.
Additionally, the number and rates of viral hepatitis cases by urbanicity status are included for hepatitis A, acute and chronic hepatitis B, and acute and chronic hepatitis C infections.
Finally, outcome data from CDC’s Perinatal Hepatitis B Prevention Program for infants born during 2018 to persons with HBV infection are reported from 64 jurisdictions.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver most often caused by a virus. In the US, the most common types of viral hepatitis are hepatitis A, B, and C says the CDC.
While each can produce similar symptoms, each hepatitis virus affects the liver differently, has different routes of transmission and infection, and typically affects different populations.
Fortunately, effective vaccines are available to help prevent hepatitis A and hepatitis B. Although no vaccine is available for hepatitis C, life-saving treatment can cure the virus. Learn more about the different viral hepatitis types.
A new study published by the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases today found 'antibiotic prescribing for children declined following implementing a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) program in Israel.
A reduction in respiratory tract infections (RTIs) in Israeli children was observed, but the impact on antibiotic prescribing had not been quantified.
These researchers analyzed dispensed antibiotic prescription (DAP) rates for about 1 million Israeli children under the age of 5 from July 2005 through June 2018.
Overall reduction (and 95% CIs) in DAP rates per 1,000 was estimated between aIRR value (344.7 [370.9-358.4]) and rIRR value (110.4 [96.9-123.7]).
This was largely driven by the decrease in amoxicillin/amoxicillin-clavulanate (75% of DAPs).
During the study, the 7-valent vaccine was introduced into Israel's National Immunization Plan in 2009, and the 13-valent vaccine (PCV13) was replaced in 2010.
Vaccines help prevent pneumococcal disease, an illness caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria, says the U.S. CDC. There are two kinds of pneumococcal vaccines available in the USA: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) and Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23).
Additional CDC vaccine information is found on this webpage.
The US Department of State issued a Level 4 Travel Advisory for the Republic of Columbia on May 18, 2021. This notice says to 'exercise increased caution in Colombia due to civil unrest, crime, terrorism, and kidnapping.
Specifically, the State Department stated 'Do Not Travel to Arauca, Cauca (except Popayán), Chocó (except Nuquí), Nariño, and Norte de Santander (except Cúcuta) departments.
And U.S. government personnel cannot travel freely throughout Colombia for security reasons.
Colombia is experiencing continuing demonstrations, unrest, and disruptions throughout the country. The nationwide events can cause the shutdown of local roads and major highways, often without prior notice or estimated reopening timelines.
Violent crime, such as homicide, assault, and armed robbery, is common. Organized criminal activities, such as extortion, robbery, and kidnapping for ransom, are widespread.
While the Colombian government signed a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia terrorist group, some dissident groups refuse to demobilize.
Furthermore, the National Liberation Army terrorist organization continues plotting possible attacks in Colombia. They may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas.
When visiting Columbia, the State Department suggests enrolling in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate people in an emergency.
From a health perspective, the U.S. CDC has issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for Colombia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, Dengue virus disease is present in Columbia. The CDC lists various pre-trip vaccine recommendations.
Britannica says, 'the country is bordered by Panama, which divides the two bodies of water, on the northwest, Venezuela and Brazil on the east, and Peru and Ecuador on the south. It is more than twice the size of France. Columbia's 50 million residents are largely concentrated in the mountainous interior, where Bogotá, the national capital, is situated on a high plateau in the northern Andes Mountains.
New Jersey-based Merck today announced the company’s investigational 15-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine V114 met its primary immunogenicity and safety endpoints in two late-stage trials of the V114 pediatric clinical program.
Merck stated the 'data support the potential use of V114 in healthy infants who may have previously started a pneumococcal vaccination series with the currently available 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) (PNEU-DIRECTION).
And in a catch-up setting for healthy children who were either pneumococcal vaccine-naïve or who previously received a full or partial regimen with lower valency pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) (PNEU-PLAN).
“Pneumococcal disease continues to cause serious illness and death worldwide in children under the age of 5, despite the positive impact of pneumococcal conjugate vaccination on pediatric case numbers,” commented Dr. Roy Baynes, SVP and head of global clinical development, CMO, Merck Research Laboratories, in a press release issued on May 20, 2021.
“At Merck, our goal is to expand coverage to new serotypes not targeted by currently available pediatric pneumococcal conjugate vaccines while maintaining a strong immune response to current vaccine serotypes to help sustain the progress achieved to date."
"Results from these studies support the potential of V114 to confer immunogenicity for PCV13 serotypes in infants who have previously received one or multiple doses of PCV13, and for the 15 serotypes in V114 in children in a catch-up setting.”
In the PNEU-DIRECTION (V114-027) interchangeability study in healthy infants 42-90 days of age, immune responses in those who received a four-dose series of PCV13, and those who received a mixed dose schedule of PCV13 followed by V114, were generally comparable for the 13 serotypes, or strains of pneumococcal disease, targeted by both vaccines.
In the PNEU-PLAN (V114-024) catch-up study, immune responses were generally comparable to PCV13 for the 13 shared serotypes when V114 was used as a catch-up regimen in healthy children 7 months to 17 years of age who were either pneumococcal vaccine-naïve or who previously received a partial or full regimen of a licensed pediatric PCV.
For serotypes 22F and 33F, two serotypes included in V114 but not PCV13, immunogenicity in PNEU-PLAN was higher in the V114 group than in the PCV13 group. In each study, V114 was generally well-tolerated, with a safety profile comparable to PCV13.
There are 100 different types of pneumococcal bacteria, which can affect children differently than adults, says the U.S. CDC.
Children under the age of 2 are particularly vulnerable to pneumococcal infection, and invasive pneumococcal disease incidence remains highest in the first year of life. Certain pneumococcal serotypes continue to put children at risk, including serotypes 22F and 33F, representing 16 percent of all cases of invasive pneumococcal disease in children under the age of 5.
Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, has been inventing for life for 130 years, bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases in pursuit of our mission to save and improve lives.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Level 1 Travel Alert on May 12, 2021, regarding an outbreak of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) typhoid fever in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
An earlier CDC Health Advisory Network Alert indicated XDR typhoid fever had sickened more than 5,000 people in Pakistan since 2016.
All travelers to Pakistan are at risk of getting XDR typhoid fever, says the CDC.
Typhoid fever is a serious disease caused by Salmonella Typhi bacteria. The bacteria spread through contaminated food and water and person-to-person contact.
Symptoms of typhoid fever include high fever, weakness, stomach pain, headache, constipation or diarrhea, cough, and loss of appetite. Typhoid fever can be fatal without appropriate antibiotic treatment.
If you are going to South Asia, including Pakistan, protect yourself by getting a typhoid fever vaccination before your trip.
Vivotif is an oral vaccine that can be given to people at least six years old. Typhim IV is an injectable vaccine for people at least two years old and should be given at least two weeks before travel. The injectable vaccine requires a booster every two years.
Recent cases of XDR typhoid fever have been reported among people in North America, including the USA. Most of the cases diagnosed with typhoid fever in the USA acquired the disease during international travel, says the CDC.
Norway-based Ultimovacs ASA announced today that its universal cancer vaccine, UV1, in combination with the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab, demonstrated a 60% objective response rate (ORR) in metastatic malignant melanoma.
All patients in this phase 1 study have been observed for at least 18 months, and the median observation time is 21 months.
The 60% ORR (6 complete responses (CR); 6 partial responses (PR) from a 20-patient cohort) with 30% CR clearly exceeds the response rate for pembrolizumab alone in advanced melanoma (33-37% ORR and 5-12% CR).
The median progression-free survival for the UV1/pembrolizumab combination in the study was 18.9 months compared with 5.5-11.6 months for pembrolizumab alone in advanced melanoma. The overall survival was 80%, with the median overall survival yet to be reached after 21-months of follow-up.
“These very strong and exciting data further strengthen the foundation for our broad Phase II clinical program for UV1,” commented Jens Bjørheim, Chief Medical Officer at Ultimovacs, in a press statement.
“To show this level of beneficial clinical response while being safe and well-tolerated in combination with pembrolizumab underscores our development strategy to show that UV1 can provide a significant increase in therapeutic effect in a broad range of indications and combinations.”
The company says the 'rationale for the use of UV1 is that patients with advanced malignant melanoma often lack the relevant T cells to obtain durable benefits from pembrolizumab alone. UV1 expands T cells that have the potential to increase the breadth and diversity of the immune response towards all parts of the tumor.'
The data comes from Ultimovacs’ open-label Phase I study (NCT03538314) and will be shown as a poster presentation to be held virtually Friday, June 4, 2021, through Tuesday, June 8, 2021. The data also shows that the UV1/pembrolizumab combination is well tolerated, with adverse events largely restricted to low-grade effects, mainly injection site reactions.
Ultimovacs was established in 2011, and its proprietary technology is based on clinical research conducted at the Oslo University Hospital. The company is a limited public liability company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in Norway.
More and more people are getting involved in the surveillance of invasive mosquito species, not just professionals with formal training in entomology. There are many taxonomic keys available for identifying mosquitoes of medical and veterinary importance.
A new version of MosKeyTool, the interactive identification key for identifying mosquitoes, is available. This innovative identification tool was developed by the medical entomology working group (WP3) of MediLabSecure in 2017.
This novel interactive key includes 132 mosquito species in 70 countries (Euro-Mediterranean, Black Sea, and Western Palaearctic Regions) and can be easily installed on your computer.
The MosKeyTool targets are two stages: adult female and 4th stage larva.
The reference area of MosKeyTool is the western Palearctic biogeographic region, including Europe, Atlantic, and Mediterranean Islands, Northern Africa, South Caucasus, and part of the Middle East. Most of the time, the countries are used as a geographical unit. However, the main islands or isolated archipelago are also used as a geographic unit.
MosKeyTool can be used as supporting material for self-learning and teaching the morphology, taxonomy, and systematics of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae).
Additionally, maps published by the European CDC as of March 31, 2021, show the current distribution of invasive mosquito species at the ‘regional’ administrative unit level.
Separate maps for the distribution of each of the following exotic mosquito species are currently available: Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus, Aedes japonicus, Aedes atropalpus, and Aedes koreicus.
The U.S. CDC publishes various diseases caused by various mosquitoes, such as Zika, Yellow Fever, Chikungunya, and West Nile.
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) announced on May 18, 2021, it has published a final recommendation statement on screening for colorectal cancer. It has concluded with high certainty that screening for colorectal cancer in adults aged 50 to 75 years has a substantial net benefit (B rating).
Overall, people 45 to 75 should be screened to reduce their risk of dying from this disease. For adults 76 to 85, the Task Force recommends that the decision to screen be made individually.
Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death for both men and women, with an estimated 52,980 persons in the US projected to die of colorectal cancer in 2021. It is estimated that 10.5% of new colorectal cancer cases occur in persons younger than 50 years.
In 2018, about 31% of eligible people were not up to date with screening.
Recommendations made by the Washington DC-based USPSTF are independent of the U.S. government. They should not be construed as an official position of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Travel Health Notice for Fiji on May 17, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating a moderate level of COVID-19 in the country. However, there are restrictions in place affecting U.S. citizen entry into Fiji.
Commercial transportation to/from Fiji is not available or only sporadically available, says the US Department of State.
And it may be difficult to enter or leave Fiji. Visitors should expect delays returning to the USA.
If you decide to travel to Fiji, the State Department suggests enrolling in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive security messages and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
Visit the US Embassy's COVID-19 page for more information on Fiji.
The Ministry of Health and Medical Services issued a statement on May 18, 2021, 'Due to a steadily rising number of cases, we are concerned that Nadali has become a source of widespread COVID transmission. We have cordoned off the entire Nadali Area as a screening zone, meaning no one is allowed to leave Nadali until we screen, swab, and clear everyone in the area.'
'Those who need to return to the area may do so provided they do not leave.'
'With the high-risk known contacts under quarantine, we can allow the 24-hour curfew for Suva and Nausori to lift at its scheduled close at 0400 hours tomorrow morning, allowing for limited movement in a highly controlled fashion. Suva and Nausori will again become two separate containment zones.'
'We may have found thousands of contacts, but it will take many more days of testing to know how many people may be positive and how our containment strategy must evolve in response. In the meantime, please do not leave your homes unless you need to get food, medicine, or other essential items.'
'The threat is out there, please act accordingly. Don’t only act carefully just because we’ve told you to do so, do it because your life and the lives of those you love depend on it.'
Fiji is located in the South Pacific, with more than 300 islands. Its major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu contain most of the population. Viti Levu is home to the capital, Suva.
According to a new study by immunologists from the University of Konstanz, a new cancer vaccine candidate could boost the positive effects of existing immunotherapy drugs, improving the success rate of treatments up to 75% of cases.
The vaccine, which incorporates a new immunostimulant that is safe for use in humans, was shown to eliminate tumors in mice partially.
However, the study further demonstrated that combining the vaccine with an immune checkpoint inhibitor -- an established immunotherapy drug with a 20% success rate overall for patients -- can vastly improve the proportion of individuals who respond to treatments, eliminating tumors in 75% of cases in mice.
The researchers suggest that these promising pre-clinical results should be transitioned into clinical application based on the study's findings. "This might have a very beneficial impact on immunotherapy in certain types of cancer," commented Marcus Groettrup, senior author on the study, in a press statement.
The therapeutic concept developed in this study is currently being tested in a first small phase 1 clinical trial by project partners in the Netherlands to determine if it is similarly effective in humans.
The microparticle-based cancer vaccine, which uses the immunostimulant Riboxxim that has the approval for application in humans, can generate the body's T-cell response necessary for immune checkpoint blockade drugs to be effective.
The results suggest that this new approach of using a vaccine combined with established drugs may be potent anti-cancer immunotherapy to be tested in future clinical trials.
The findings appeared in Nature Communications on May 18, 2021.
