T
oday's Headlines: December 12, 2018
Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases
The Recurring Dread of a Paralyzing Illness (The Atlantic) The 2018 spike in acute flaccid myelitis has peaked, but the quest to understand this debilitating illness continues. AFM, or acute flaccid myelitis, is a rare polio-like illness that affects around one in a million people, mostly young children. Go to article
Government Affairs & National Security
Global Health Security
The Venezuela Regional Migration Crisis (Congressional Research Service) The deteriorating humanitarian situation in Venezuela has elevated congressional concerns about the country, which remains in a deep political and economic crisis under the authoritarian rule of President Nicolás Maduro. Even as Venezuela has experienced hyperinflation (the highest in the world), a rapid contraction of its economy, and severe shortages of food and medicine, President Maduro has refused to accept international humanitarian assistance. Go to article
Medicine & Public Health
Tick-borne Flaviviruses, with a Focus on Powassan Virus (Clinical Microbiology Reviews) The tick-borne pathogen Powassan virus is a rare cause of encephalitis in North America and the Russian Far East. The number of documented cases described since the discovery of Powassan virus in 1958 may be <150, although detection of cases has increased over the past decade. In the US, the incidence of Powassan virus infections expanded from the estimated 1 case per year prior to 2005 to 10 cases per year during the subsequent decade. Go to article
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