#infection

www.news.com.au

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/urgent-warning-after-second-meningococcal-alert-reported-in-wa/news-story/0d4381bcd22856b3f6f2d108ab2f2162

abcnews.com

Congo's Ebola burial teams battle community anger, fatigue and fear of infection

BUNIA, Congo -- Yuma Adolphe and his team are responsible for the safe and dignified burial of some of the people who die from Ebola in Congo's Ituri province, the epicenter of history's deadliest Ebola outbreak. Nearly every day, they dig the graves, prepare the bodies and handle the coffins. But as the authorities grapple with the outbreak, which has killed nearly 3,200 people among more than 6,600 confirmed cases, the burial team says they are at their limits, struggling with an increasing workload and hostile communities. “It is difficult, but we try to push ourselves beyond our limits,” Adolphe told The Associated Press. Since the outbreak began in mid-May, authorities have deployed small burial teams like Adolphe's across the hot spots to handle the burials. Paid $20 a day, they are a part of a group of front-line workers who are working to contain the rapidly moving disease. Despite the toll, the burial team members say the priority is to keep their community safe. “We have to look at our own mental well-being, and physically the fatigue mounts, but we keep going to ensure the community is protected.” But their work is in the crosshairs of the locals' frustration...

www.theguardian.com

California warns of measles exposure in six counties from unvaccinated train passenger

Health authorities work to notify people who were exposed to person who traveled through at least six counties

www.news-medical.net

SARS-CoV-2 protein ORF8 drives macrophage infection and lung inflammation

In the sickest COVID-19 patients, the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn't just cause severe damage by directly infecting airway cells. The virus can also trigger hyperinflammation-a cycle in which the immune cells themselves become infected, stop fighting the virus, and instead trigger high levels of inflammation throughout the lungs. Now, researchers at Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco (UCSF) have discovered how a SARS-CoV-2 protein called ORF8 is responsible for hijacking the immune system's macrophages and causing this dangerous cycle. The work, published in Science Advances, also shows that blocking ORF8 reduces lung inflammation and damage in mice infected with SARS-CoV-2. Our results reveal that ORF8 is really a key ringleader behind how SARS-CoV-2 spreads and causes severe lung inflammation. By showing how this protein tricks our immune cells, we've uncovered a promising new path for developing treatments to protect the lungs." Melanie Ott, MD, PhD, the Nick and Sue Hellmann Distinguished Professor and director of the Gladstone Infectious Disease Institute Setting off a cellular chain reaction At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Gladstone and UCSF researchers teamed up to map out the interactions between SARS-CoV-2 proteins and human proteins. Their goal was to find vulnerabilities in the virus...

www.pnj.com

Florida Vibrio vulnificus infections rise. Where new cases were reported

Florida's Vibrio vulnificus infections now total 22 cases and four deaths, according to the latest health department update on the rare brackish-water bacterium found in raw seafood that can quickly and severely damage human flesh. Florida Department of Health data, updated on Sept. 17, added another confirmed case in Santa Rosa County as of the period ending Sept. 12. The health department does not release identifying details, but the victim is described as being between 25 and 29 years old. There have been four deaths reported so far in 2026, in Bay, Broward, Marion, and Palm Beach counties. Florida recorded 33 cases and five deaths in 2025. Vibrio vulnificus is not limited to Florida. Elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, Louisiana reported 17 cases and six deaths as of Sept. 16, with 16 of the cases from wound/seawater exposure. The Mobile County Health Department has reported 11 cases of vibriosis this year as of Sept. 12. The Mississippi Department of Health has reported 3 as of August. Four cases have been reported in Texas. South Carolina does not require cases to be reported, but the state Department of Public Health told WMBF News it was aware of three cases and one...

www.ahajournals.org

Severe Infections as a Novel Risk‐Enhancing Factor for Incident Heart Failure | Journal of the American Heart Association

publichealthreview.substack.com

Antimicrobial Resistance:

The Public Health Crisis We Can No Longer Ignore.

www.thestar.com.my

The dangers of RSV infection in young children

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a common respiratory virus that infects the lungs and breathing passages. While most people experience mild, cold-like symptoms, RSV can be a serious health concern, especially for infants and older adults. In fact, RSV is a leading cause of hospitalisation in young children, causing about 3.6 million hospitalisations and 110,000 deaths annually in those under the age of five years worldwide. It is a highly contagious virus that spreads through droplets from an infected person’s cough or sneeze, or through direct contact with a contaminated surface. Symptoms of an RSV infection typically appear within two to eight days after exposure. They often resemble a common cold and can include: Runny nose Decreased appetite Coughing Sneezing Fever Wheezing. In young infants, the only signs of infection may be irritability, decreased activity and breathing difficulties. When there are complications While most RSV infections are mild, they can lead to severe complications in young children. RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lungs) and pneumonia (an infection of the lungs) in infants and toddlers. These conditions can cause severe breathing problems, requiring hospitalisation, and in some cases, mechanical ventilation. Children...

phys.org

How a pathogen turns flowers into leaves

Scientists have found how a protein produced by bacteria disrupts the mechanism that controls flower development in plants, turning reproductive organs into leaf-like structures. These findings shed…