Latest Disease outbreaks News

Long Island’s last duck farm weighs closure after outbreak leads to killing of entire flock

Jan. 24, 2025 18:34 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s Long Island was once synonymous with “duck” in the culinary world. Now it may lose its last commercial farm. The avian flu outbreak that has led to the slaughter of millions of birds at U.S. poultry farms and driven up the price of eggs struck the...

Trump wants to pull the US out of the World Health Organization again. Here's what may happen next

Jan. 21, 2025 13:26 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years — a move many scientists fear...

A sample from a remote Tanzanian region tests positive for Marburg disease, confirming WHO fears

Jan. 20, 2025 09:47 AM EST

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) — Tanzania’s president said Monday that one sample from a remote part of northern Tanzania tested positive for Marburg disease, a highly infectious virus which can be fatal in up to 88% of cases without treatment. President Samia Suluhu Hassan spoke in...

Bird flu found in a Georgia commercial flock for the 1st time amid the nationwide outbreak

Jan. 19, 2025 16:06 PM EST

ATLANTA (AP) — For the first time since the 2022 countrywide outbreak, bird flu hit a poultry producer in Georgia, the nation's top state for chicken production. The state Department of Agriculture announced Friday that the agency has detected a case of Highly Pathogenic Avian...

WHO says suspected outbreak of Marburg disease kills 8 in a remote part of Tanzania

Jan. 15, 2025 03:00 AM EST

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) — The World Health Organization said Wednesday an outbreak of suspected Marburg disease has killed eight people in a remote part of northern Tanzania. “We are aware of 9 cases so far, including 8 people who have died,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus...

California man says two of his cats died after drinking raw milk recalled for bird flu

Jan. 14, 2025 17:36 PM EST

A California man whose two cats died after drinking raw milk recalled for bird flu risk says he meant to keep his beloved pets healthy, but his efforts tragically backfired. “It’s horrible when you realize that you’re the one that actually gave them the milk that killed...

Sierra Leone declares emergency after confirming 2nd mpox case in 4 days

Jan. 13, 2025 16:54 PM EST

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency Monday after the country reported its second case of mpox in less than four days, health authorities said. Neither case had known recent contact with infected animals or other sick individuals, the health ministry...

Today in History: December 31, Edison demonstrates incandescent lights in Menlo Park

Dec. 31, 2024 00:02 AM EST

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 31, the 366th and final day of 2024. This is New Year’s Eve. Today in history: On Dec. 31, 1879, Thomas Edison first demonstrated his electric incandescent lights for the public by illuminating some 100 bulbs in and around his laboratory in...

Nasty norovirus is back in full force with US cases of the stomach virus surging

Dec. 28, 2024 16:17 PM EST

Cases of a wretched stomach bug are surging in parts of the United States this winter, according to government data. The most recent numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show there were 91 outbreaks of norovirus reported during the week of Dec. 5, up from...

California declared an emergency over bird flu. How serious is the situation?

Dec. 21, 2024 09:18 AM EST

California officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in that state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the U.S. That raises new questions about the virus, which has spread for years in wild birds, commercial...