Zika Case Count in the US Tops 4,000 (
Becker's Infection Control) As of Oct. 19, 4,016 people in the US have contracted Zika, and 899 of them are pregnant women, according to the CDC. Of the 4,016 cases in the US, 137 were acquired from mosquitoes in Florida. The majority of the other cases are travel-associated, but 32 are classified as sexually transmitted.
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Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases
Government Affairs & National Security
Global Health Security
UN Wants $200 Million to Compensate Haiti Cholera Victims (
AP) The UN says it is looking to raise $200 million from member states to compensate the families of people who have died from cholera in Haiti. David Nabarro, a special adviser to the secretary-general, said Monday that the money to "provide material assistance" was part of a new UN approach to dealing with the disease that is believed to have been introduced to Haiti by UN peacekeepers from Nepal.
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Medicine & Public Health
Science & Technology
Pasteur Institutes Acknowledge Unauthorized Import of MERS Samples on a Flight from Seoul to Paris (
Science) A researcher from the Pasteur Institute Korea in Seoul brought samples taken during the country's outbreak of MERS on an intercontinental flight last year without the appropriate paperwork, hoping to get them studied at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Both institutes have acknowledged the incident, which IP says was a breach in French biosafety protocol. But both say the trip never put anyone in danger, because the samples had undergone a treatment that would have killed any living virus.
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Other 21st Century Threats