After reports that a lab technician's death was possibly linked to pneumonic plague in Russia, U.S. officials said they are closely watching the situation.
The lab technician is a 28-year-old woman who worked at the Irkutsk Antiplague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East, which was set up in the 1930s as an anti-plague body and later expanded its scope to other highly dangerous diseases. The woman died after being diagnosed with pneumonia of "unknown" origin, according to the public health agency, Rospotrebnadzor.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday morning that Russian officials had shared some information about an infected lab worker and their concerns that other Russians could be affected.
"There's very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia, obviously, but … if something like that gets out, it could quickly spread," said Rubio, who added that he didn't think it was cause for alarm. "We're watching and monitoring it closely."

#post #closely #irkutsk

Michael Douglas has claimed that someone plotted to stab him with a HIV-infected needle at the 1992 Oscars.
In his memoir, One ******* uva Ride, the Basic Instinct actor recalled being met by an FBI agent and a police sergeant when he arrived on the red carpet at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles to present the Best Actress award.
They informed him that there was a "credible threat" to his life.
"We have information that someone will try to stab you with an HIV-infected needle tonight," Douglas recalled the authorities telling him in the book, according to Page Six.
"This was during the height of the AIDS crisis, and getting stabbed with an infected needle would essentially be a death sentence."
According to the Wall Street star, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents were undercover throughout the crowd in an effort to thwart the plot.

#infected #needle #helluva

Ahead of the release of Zach Cregger's reboot today, there were already seven Resident Evil movies — six of them in a more action-oriented series starring Milla Jovovich, four of which were directed by her husband, Paul W.S. Anderson, plus an unrelated "reboot" in 2021 called Welcome to Raccoon City that went for more of a John Carpenter vibe and was an attempt to truly "adapt" the games. There's also a Netflix TV show version that ran for a single season in 2022. Countless other works in the horror genre have unofficially cribbed from the Resident Evil games over the years. It's an incredibly influential series.
And yet, Zach Cregger, hot off his Oscar-winning original horror film Weapons, is the first filmmaker to truly feel like he's adapting the experience of playing the games, arguably the scariest survival-horror ones ever made, rather than simply incorporating story and plot elements to explain the outbreak of infected people. In Cregger's hands, Resident Evil is pure crowd-pleasing popcorn cinema, best experienced in a packed movie theater with dozens of other people reacting loudly to the madness.
The premise couldn't be simpler — and the runtime a brisk 90ish minutes — as we follow a medical courier named Bryan (Austin Abrams, proving himself to be the Bruce Campbell for a new generation) who unwittingly finds himself fighting for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in a swirl of chaos. Fans of the video games will recognize various easter eggs and nods to game mechanics, including the importance of conserving ammo and checking every last drawer for more of it.
But you don't need to be familiar with the games at all to enjoy the movie, which is an efficient horror set-piece machine that just keeps putting Abrams in increasingly concerning situations. I can't stress enough how much this is a one-man show anchored by Abrams, and he crushes it. He's in every scene, earning tons of laughs simply by reacting as a normal person would in this situation; he's a true audience-surrogate character, ushering us through the chaos. His comedic timing, paired with Cregger's ****** ured camerawork and editing, is a match made in genre-movie heaven.
I didn't expect it to be so heavily inspired by genre classics like The Thing and Evil Dead. In fact, it's a better Evil Dead movie than the last several movies with "Evil Dead" in the ****** le, nailing the horror-comedy tone that only Sam Raimi and a few others can pull off with aplomb. Cregger has a ton of fun with the various monstrous forms that the infected take here, from fusing multiple humans together to crafting his own horror take on a big, scary guy like Dune's Baron Harkonnen. Resident Evil movies have thus far treated the zombies as pretty traditional movie zombies; Cregger's version gets at the attempt to create the next stage of human evolution.

#resident #dead

The New York City Health Department has ordered 10 cooling towers in the South Bronx, including one at Yankee Stadium, to be cleaned and disinfected after preliminary testing found the presence of Legionella bacteria as officials investigate a cluster. NBC News medical contributor Natalie Azar discusses how the test was conducted the possible threat level to attendees.

#stadium

Several baby goats at a mobile petting zoo in North Carolina were infected with rabies, and authorities are asking anyone who had contact with the animals to reach out to health officials. Rabies can be deadly if people don't receive treatment before symptoms begin.
Residents in western North Carolina may have had contact with the infected goats from Farm Adventures at the mobile petting zoo's location in Harmony or at off-site events between July 28 and August 27, local officials said in a statement.
Farm Adventures is based in Iredell County and books events in surrounding communities, and officials say the owner has been cooperating with the investigation.
"There is not a broad risk to the public — only those who attended events at the mobile petting zoo and were in close contact with the goats are at risk," officials said, asking residents to call their local health department for a rabies risk ***** sment and potential treatment.
"Residents should not wait for symptoms before calling," Mecklenburg County Health Director Dr. Kimberly Scott said.

#Health #mobile #petting

Two workers at Germany's Frankfurt airport who caught malaria from a mosquito thought to have arrived on a plane have died, the city's health authority said this week.
Airport officials had earlier said one employee had perished, with six workers infected.
The Robert Koch Institute said an imported Anopheles mosquito carried over by an aircraft was the likely cause.
The other four infected employees were hospitalized and receiving treatment, said an airport spokesman.
Traps have been installed at the airport and mosquitoes captured will be ******* yzed in a laboratory to determine their species and origin, BBC News reported.

#airport #mosquito #infected #robert

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — More than 300 people died of Ebola in eastern Congo in the past week, one of the highest weekly tolls yet, government data showed Monday, as health workers struggle to catch up with an outbreak that is spreading at unprecedented speed.
Ministry of Health data showed that as of Saturday, the outbreak had recorded 5,514 cases and 2,642 deaths, including 317 deaths reported in the previous seven days. But Congolese experts have said the outbreak that started weeks before it was confirmed could be three times the known size.
This is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history, with many people dying outside treatment centers. It has recorded seven times more deaths at this stage than the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak that is the deadliest in history with over 11,000 in all.
Most new cases in Ituri province, the current epicenter, still come from outside monitored contacts.
Nearly half of people infected have died — 47.9% — but the government data shows much higher rates in hard-to-reach areas such as North Kivu province, which has a fatality rate of 68.6%.

#ebola #congo #showed

Hayden Panettiere reportedly carried intense guilt over living apart from her daughter, Kaya, even after explaining that she had not been in the right mental state to raise her at the time. An insider claimed the custody decision continued to trouble the actress, who wrote candidly about motherhood, postpartum depression, and addiction in her memoir, "This Is Me: A Reckoning."
"Hayden's been racked with guilt about not being the mother she wanted for her child and allowing her ex-fiancé to bring up Kaya," the source told the Daily Mail. "She didn't believe she was in the right mental state to be a good mother at the time. It bothered her greatly."
The guilt reportedly existed alongside other painful relationships in Panettiere's life, including an estrangement from her mother and the abuse she said she endured during her turbulent romance with Brian Hickerson.
Panettiere recalled that Kaya's 2014 birth quickly became a frightening medical crisis. Doctors reportedly declared a "code crimson" emergency after Panettiere's blood would not clot following a C-section. She underwent a three-hour operation and later learned that her uterus had become infected. The traumatic delivery was followed by an equally difficult emotional period.
Panettiere described bonding with her newborn as an "insurmountable task," admitting that she "felt nothing" toward her daughter. She characterized the experience as "a total blackout of emotion."

#daughter

DAKAR, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of ‌Congo has spread to a ‌sixth province, Bas-Uele, located in the northeast of the country, the communications ministry said on Friday, officially confirming a case discovered earlier.
Health authorities have identified a ‌person who ⁠has died from Ebola in the provincial capital Buta, an ⁠official from the National Institute for Biomedical Research told Reuters on Thursday.
Bas-Uele wasn't previously affected by the virus. The ‌new case raised fears that people who have been in contact with the patient may have also been infected.
Delayed detection, conflict and strained health ‌services have helped the virus spread more rapidly than in previous outbreaks.
The latest report, ‌published on the ministry's X account, said that the number of confirmed Ebola cases in Congo has increased to ‌4,665, including 2,184 deaths.

#case

(NewsNation) — Two new states have reported an outbreak of cyclospora linked to lettuce, bringing the total number of affected states to 17.
Officials with the Food and Drug Administration added Maine and Massachusetts to the list in a Thursday update on the outbreak.
Cases of cyclosporiasis, the illness caused by cyclospora, have been confirmed in Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Cyclosporiasis can last for weeks: Here's what to watch for
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tracked laboratory-confirmed 13,895 cases of cyclosporiasis since May 1, 2026, with 9,481 part of the outbreak. The total number of cases is likely to be higher because not everyone who is infected with cyclospora will see a doctor and because it requires specialized testing that may not be run for every person showing symptoms.

#maine #number

DAKAR, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The ongoing Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo concerns a previously unseen ‌variant of the rare Bundibugyo species of the virus, ‌indicating it stemmed from a new transmission from animals to humans rather than from variants linked to earlier outbreaks, a new study said.
• Researchers from Congo, Uganda, Belgium and other countries ******* ysed the genetic make-up of virus samples from 22 patients in Congo ‌and Uganda and ⁠found the outbreak strain was genetically distinct from previous Bundibugyo Ebola viruses seen in outbreaks in ⁠2007 and 2012.
• The findings, published on Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, suggest the outbreak began with a fresh animal-to-human transmission event and was then spread between people.
• The study did ‌not identify the animal source of the outbreak, but Ebola viruses are known to spill over periodically from infected animals to humans.
• The genetic ******* ysis helped confirm that cases detected in Uganda were linked to the outbreak in Congo.

#congo #virus #animals #humans

NEW YORK (AP) — Ancient mummy DNA recovered in Chile has yielded the firmest evidence yet that European colonization brought smallpox to the Americas.
Smallpox was one of the deadliest diseases in human history before it was eradicated in 1980, largely thanks to vaccination. For centuries, the virus had killed about one-third of the people it infected and left most survivors with deep and sometimes disfiguring scars.
Outbreaks struck Asia and Europe and eventually spread to the Americas, where colonial writings, administrative records and missionary reports documented how it killed millions and devastated Indigenous populations who had never been exposed to the virus.
Now there's scientific evidence for the spread: An ******* ysis of Chilean mummies provides the strongest genetic link yet to the virus as it existed outside of the Americas, and provides a better picture of how it reached remote populations through colonization, said geneticist Shigeki Nakagome with Trinity College Dublin.
In the new study, Nakagome and colleagues examined 13 bone samples previously collected from an archaeological site at Camarones, in northern Chile.

#populations

DAKAR, July 13 (Reuters) - The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to two more northeastern provinces, Haut-Uele ‌and Tshopo, the country's public health institute said in its ‌latest report.
The number of confirmed Ebola cases across the country rose to 1,926, including 702 deaths, official data showed late on Sunday. Four cases were recorded in Tshopo, including two deaths, with one death confirmed in Haut-Uele, as of Saturday.
The latest Ebola outbreak, Congo's 17th, was declared on May 15 and has been ‌largely concentrated in Ituri province, ⁠with cases also reported in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces.
The often fatal viral disease spreads through direct contact ⁠with bodily fluids from infected people or animals and causes symptoms that can include high fever, vomiting and internal and external bleeding.
Reuters reported in late June that Congolese health authorities had started tracing people potentially exposed to Ebola ‌in Tshopo and Haut-Uele, but until now the two provinces had not been included in the government's daily reports.

KINSHASA, July 8 (Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo said on Wednesday that suspected Ebola cases had been reported ‌in a new province, highlighting the expansion of the ‌ongoing outbreak as deaths hit 600.
The outbreak, declared on May 15, has so far infected 1,759 people across the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, according to the government's latest situation report published Wednesday night.
But that case total does not include two cases ‌in Kisangani, the ⁠capital of Tshopo province and one of Congo's biggest cities, the situation report said.
One of those cases is ⁠linked to the health zone of Niania in Ituri province, where the first cases were reported. But the second case "does not appear to have a geographic link" beyond Kisangani, it said.
The positive test results ‌are in the process of being validated by confirmatory testing, after which they will be included in the official case total, it said.

DAKAR, June 30 (Reuters) - Congolese health authorities are tracing people potentially exposed to Ebola in two provinces not previously affected by the ‌latest outbreak, amid fears the virus could spread further, a health ‌ministry report and a senior health official said.
The outbreak, declared on May 15, has so far infected 1,307 people and killed 377 across the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu, according to government data released on Monday.
In Tshopo province, health workers are tracing people who may have been exposed to the body of ‌a pregnant woman who ⁠died of Ebola in Ituri's Niania health zone, according to a health ministry report dated June 29 and reviewed by ⁠Reuters.
The woman fell ill on June 18 and died on June 27, the report said. Her body was transported by motorcycle about 300 km west to the city of Kisangani in neighbouring Tshopo province, where a sample taken at a morgue ‌tested positive for Ebola.
The report said the body's journey through several health zones before the diagnosis was made created a high risk of transmission. Authorities have launched contact-tracing efforts across the province.

Let’s bounce around a bit on a day when the attention span is shorter than the line at a haggis food truck …
Let’s start with the English language and the rare opportunity for an occasional grammar sinner to shake his fist at the clouds.
The World Cup is here. You may have noticed. And with it, we’re being subjected (infected?) to the outside world’s odd mix of subjects and verbs.
By odd, Florida Man, don't you just mean different?
Yeah, exactly. Don’t like it.

France has confirmed its first case of Ebola - a doctor who had returned from a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The doctor was "immediately admitted to a specialised facility" and is in a stable condition, the French health ministry said on Wednesday.
DR Congo announced an Ebola outbreak last month, but experts believe the virus had been circulating for weeks previously.
More than 260 people are confirmed to have died from the virus in the central African country, while 1,000 people have been infected.
This is the first Ebola case to have been confirmed in Europe, although an American doctor who tested positive in DR Congo was treated at a German hospital last month.

Malaysian scientists have discovered a new species of parasitic fungus that preys on "zombie fungus" known to infect insects before subjecting them to a gruesome death.
The new species was found in the jungles on Malaysia's part of Borneo, a large island known for its biodiverse rainforests. Samples were collected during multiple field trips conducted by the University of Malaysia Sabah's Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, and the research was published in the New Zealand Journal of Botany.
It was dubbed a "hyperparasite" because it "effectively parasitizes the primary pathogen," the institute's Deputy Director Jaya Seelan Sathiya Seelan told AFP on Friday.
"The fungus belongs to the genus Pleurocordyceps and acts as a specialized hyperparasite," Seelan said.
The new species targets ants already infected by Ophiocordyceps, or "zombie fungus," which manipulates the infected insect's nervous system and makes it behave erratically before killing it and bursting from its carcass.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A cholera outbreak in northeastern Nigeria has killed 74 people and infected more than 7,000 others since it started in early May, medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday.
The outbreak, reported in 14 of Borno state's 27 local governments, is unfolding in communities with health systems made fragile by nearly two decades of violent extremism from the Boko Haram insurgent group.
The illness is endemic and seasonal in the country, where only 14% of Nigeria's population of more than 200 million have access to safely managed drinking water supply services, according to government data from 2020.
The situation is sometimes worse in Borno, both in Maiduguri, the state's capital, which is densely populated, and in remote communities with poor sanitation and hygiene due in part to being out of the close reach of health authorities.
The medical group said that it has treated 7,439 cholera patients at its facilities, representing an average of 185 admissions per day. It said that it recorded 500 patients last week on Friday, a single-day record in the outbreak.

The country where lethal hantavirus cases are on the rise. Experts blame climate change

Hantavirus cases in Argentina have almost doubled in the past year, with the country recording 32 deaths alongside its highest number of infections since 2018.
The rise comes as Argentine authorities race to trace the footsteps of a couple who traveled extensively in the country and later died amid an outbreak of the virus on the cruise ship MV Hondius. The vessel left port in Ushuaia, southern Argentina, on April 1 and is currently on its way to Spain’s Canary Islands.
It is expected to reach Tenerife’s industrial port of Granadilla early Sunday morning.
Experts blame climate change and habitat destruction for the rise in cases of the disease, which is usually caused by exposure to the urine or feces of infected rodents.
The current season, which started in June 2025, has already seen 101 confirmed hantavirus cases, Argentina’s health ministry said – compared with just 57 during the same period last season.

https://www.yahoo.com/news...

What we don't know about the hantavirus outbreak as the cruise ship nears Spanish territory

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Countries around the world are preparing to deal with the 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands.
The vessel is expected to reach the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, early Sunday morning.
At least three passengers have died, and several other people have been infected.
Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure. The World Health Organization says the risk to the wider public from the outbreak is low, but the Andes virus implicated in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases.
Authorities and the cruise operator have been providing updates, but some key information is still lacking.

https://www.yahoo.com/news...

Salmonella outbreak tied to raw oysters sickens at least 64 people in 22 states

BALTIMORE — A Maryland resident is among at least 64 people in 22 states who have fallen ill after being infected with the same strain of salmonella linked to raw oysters, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Of those sickened nationwide, 20 people were hospitalized as of Tuesday. No deaths have been reported. Federal officials did not say whether the Maryland case resulted in hospitalization or identify where the contaminated oysters were harvested or sold.
The CDC did not provide requ

Washington state resident dies of new H5N5 form of bird flu

The first person infected with the H5N5 bird flu has died, according to health officials in Washington.
The person, who lived in Grays Harbor County, had been hospitalized earlier this month in Kings County, where Seattle is located.
Officials from the Washington State Department of Health did not release the person's name, age or gender. According to a news release from Grays Harbor County health officials last week, the person was considered “older” and had underlying health conditions. Their symptoms included a high fever, con

Washington state resident hospitalized with strain of bird flu never seen in humans

A strain of bird flu never seen in humans infected a Washington state resident and left the person hospitalized, according to state health authorities.
Washington State Department of Health authorities announced that an older resident was hospitalized in early November with flu-like symptoms. Health department spokesperson Roberto Bonaccorso told USA TODAY on Nov. 19 that the person remains hospitalized. The person has underlying health conditions and keeps backyard poultry that were exposed to wild birds.

At least nine people in southern Ethiopia have been infected with the deadly Marburg virus, a clinically similar cousin to Ebola, according to the WHO.

There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat the virus.