There is an ongoing outbreak of Nipah virus in West Bengal state in India. Health authorities have reported confirmed infections and, as a precaution, some Asian countries are reinstating COVID-style screening at airports for travelers coming from affected areas.
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Follow up report: Nipah virus disease has been confirmed by the National Institute of Virology (Pune), with additional suspected infections identified among healthcare workers in West Bengal, India
beaconbio.org/en/report/
Can avian flu spread via the wind? Can't be ruled out, experts say
A 2024 outbreak of #H5N1 on three unrelated poultry farms in the Czech Republic suggests airborne transmission, which is difficult to prove.
www.cidrap.umn.edu/a...
I was in W Africa during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, working alongside EIS officers.
Their expertise, with partners, was essential in stopping the spread.
Cutting EIS is reckless. With Marburg & Ebola outbreaks, who will track and contain the next outbreak?
The consequences will last for decades.
#Ebola in Uganda: Confirmed cases up to 7, all contacts of the first confirmed case, the male nurse who died on 1/29. That is the only death so far. Other cases are family members or health workers who treated the nurse. Nearly 300 contacts have been identified & are being monitored. (source: #WHO)
In the span of just 2 weeks. Marco Rubio has beat Rex Tillerson and Mike Pompeo to become the worst Secretary of State in US history. Suspending foreign assistance and dismantling USAID has destroyed 80 years of US investment in soft power.
This is a litmus test for the impact
of the US aid freeze and Trump’s abandoning of global health security leadership. Recent Ebola outbreaks have been mostly well controlled - Uganda-WHO cooperation will be as crucial as ever in replicating this recent success.
As a virologist who specializes in outbreaks, Angela Rasmussen writes that having Kennedy at the helm of HHS during an outbreak of a lethal virus is the worst pandemic scenario she can conceive—and it’s a worryingly real possibility. foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/30/rfk-jr-rfk-co...
There have been 12 outbreaks of Ebola or Marburg (a close cousin) in the past 4 years
Zero have landed in the US
Why?
Because of people like Stephanie Psaki and a US deeply engaged in the world
So Stephanie asks
Who is protecting Americans from Marburg now?
www.statnews.com/2025/01/27/m...
'Just as the cyber and space domains were integrated into operational doctrine in response to emerging threats, the biological domain must now be defended proactively' write Max Breet and Lauren Ross in today's RUSI Commentary. bit.ly/3VxrTlN
1/ 🚨 New study in Nature Medicine on the 2024 Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) outbreak in Rwanda. It sheds light on the genomic origins, transmission dynamics, and public health response. 🧵
Paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#Marburg #GlobalHealth