WHO Dispatches Top Official to Head MERS Team in South Korea

The country is now reporting 41 cases of the disease, four of them fatal, since the first patient was detected May 20, according to published reports and statements from the South Korean health ministry. The disease, caused by a member of the coronavirus family, emerged in the Middle East in 2012 and has mainly been confined to the region. Between April 2012 and June 5, 2015, some 1,211 cases have been reported worldwide, including 492 deaths, according to the European Centres for Disease Control. http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/GeneralInfectiousDisease/51960?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2015-06-06&eun=g721819d0r

CDC: Flu Vaccine Was Only 19% Effective This Season.

reports that flu vaccines “were only 19% effective in preventing doctor visits for influenza this season, one of the lowest rates in the past decade, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.” Brendan Flannery, an epidemiologist in the CDC’s Influenza Division, said the viruses used to make the vaccine this year weren’t a good match for the dominant strains of influenza in circulation. In the past decade, “effectiveness rates for flu shots have ranged from 10% to 60%, according to the CDC.” http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/06/04/flu-shot-effective/28465601/

NIH Suspends Operations In Pharmaceutical Development Section After Fungal Contamination Discovered.

reports that the National Institutes of Health “has suspended operations” of its Pharmaceutical Development Section, which manufactures medications for clinical research, after the discovery during an inspection of the facilities by the Food and Drug Administration, conducted “between May 19 and May 29,” that two vials of albumin, used in administering interleukin, were contaminated with the fungus aspergillus, and an unnamed “non-human pathogen.” NIH is seeking alternative sources for medications, and so far has “found no evidence of patient harm.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/nih-suspends-operations-of-drug-unit-after-fungal-contamination-in-vials/2015/06/04/b6218cd6-0af6-11e5-9e39-0db921c47b93_story.html

Appalachia gripped by hepatitis C epidemic, bracing for HIV

In a study last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that hepatitis C cases across four Appalachian states — Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia — more than tripled between 2006 and 2012. Kentucky leads the nation in the rate of acute hepatitis C, with 4.1 cases for every 100,000 residents, more than six times the national average, according to the CDC. Havens has tracked 503 drug users since 2008. Now 70 percent of them have hepatitis C. http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/ap/health/appalachia-gripped-by-hepatitis-c-epidemic-bracing/nmWBd/

Rabbit Study Suggests Staph Bacteria May Be One Potential Cause Of T2D.

reports that a study published in the journal mBio suggests that staph bacteria may be “one potential cause” of type 2 diabetes (T2D). After exposing “rabbits to the toxin produced by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria,” investigators “found that exposure to high levels of this toxin caused the animals to develop symptoms of the disease, including insulin resistance, glucose intolerance and inflammation.” http://www.newsweek.com/staph-bacteria-may-be-trigger-type-2-diabetes-339190

Number of live anthrax shipments to labs expands, officials say

Live samples of anthrax were shipped from a military lab to 51 other laboratories in 17 states, the District of Columbia and three foreign countries, Pentagon officials said Wednesday. That's more than twice as many laboratories as previously believed, according to the preliminary results of an investigation led by Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/06/03/pentagon-anthrax-robert-work/28407617/

Hormone Replacement Therapy For Menopausal Women May Not Dim Memory, May Improve Mood.

Science Now” blog, a 662-participant study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine found that women at midlife “who received hormone-replacement therapy soon after entering menopause did not experience declines in memory or other measures of cognitive health,” while “menopausal women who followed an oral estrogen-plus-progesterone regimen were less prone to depression and had better mood.” The study’s findings show further evidence that, “for women who take hormone replacements close to the time of their last period, and who stay on it for just a few years rather than decades, easing the symptoms of menopause may not be so dangerous.” http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-menopause-hormone-replacement-cognition-20150602-story.html