Measles & Mumps News:
- A single measles case costs the U.S. about $76,155. (Common Health Coalition)
- At least four California cases (near Sacramento) are linked to someone who traveled to South Carolina. (Placer.ca.gov)
- Utah had 36 new cases this week, the most new cases in the U.S. (Brown Pandemic Center)
- The El Paso detention center with 14 measles cases has been closed to attorneys and visitors to help contain the spread. (AP)
- Parents at two Berkeley, CA schools were notified of a mumps exposure after siblings returned from travel. (ABC)
Health News:
- RSV is having a rare late-season resurgence, and babies are most at risk. (YLE)
- Oysters, clams, and all shellfish from Drayton Harbor, WA have been recalled due to potential norovirus contamination. (doh.wa.gov)
- An invasive mosquito that can carry a host of tropical diseases, including dengue, yellow fever, and Zika, is spreading in California. (SF Chronicle)
- Pregnant women in ERs took 10% less Tylenol after President Trump’s claim that it caused autism. (NPR)
- Trader Joe’s recalled 4 products for potential glass contamination. (NBC)
- The TB outbreak at a San Francisco high school led to over 1300 tests, 207 cases of latent TB, and seven confirmed or suspected cases of active TB. (YLE)
- When ICE came, Minnesota set up underground health networks. Other cities may follow suit. (NPR)
- Cases of carbon monoxide exposure are up by 50% in Maryland this year, likely due to extreme cold and some power outages. (CBS)
How concerned should we be about this swine flu in Spain?
Earlier this week, Spain reported a possible person-to-person transmission of swine flu (H1N1v). What they mean by that is that there is one adult diagnosed with swine flu that had no known contact with pigs.
You don’t need to be worried about this one just yet. Sporadic cases of swine flu happen every year. There’s no indication that there are multiple cases in Spain, and while it’s weird that this person had no direct contact with pigs, there’s still a lot we don’t know. Other good news: they had no symptoms at all, they recovered quickly, and none of their close contacts tested positive. So far, it’s nothing like the 2001 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, where we saw lots of human-to-human cases in a short period of time.
Public health officials will keep a close eye on this in Spain, and we’ll look for larger patterns or outbreaks, but so far, one single case isn’t much to worry about, even if it doesn’t have a known source yet.
Sources: ABC, Independent, CIDRAP
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