Volume 18, Number 8—August 2012

This clone is a major public health problem because it limits antimicrobial drug therapy.

Sinks are a potential reservoir for environment-to-patient and patient-to-patient transmission.

Resurgence of pertussis was not directly correlated with changes in vaccine composition or schedule.

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) is carried by rodents. In very rare instances, it has been transmitted from person-to-person by organ transplantation. In 2011, a total of 14 organ recipients were infected with the virus, of which 11 died in the United States. The 4 most recent patients received organs from the same donor, which resulted in 2 deaths. Only after these 4 organ recipients became sick was it discovered that the donor had been exposed to rodents. Had this exposure been known before transplantation, the organ recipients may have been more closely monitored. Early diagnosis and treatment might have improved their chances of survival. Although organ donor screening reduces the risk for transmission of some viruses, it is not possible to screen for all possible viruses, including LCMV. For patients who get severely ill after receiving a transplant, clinicians should add LCMV infection to their list of possible causes.

You don’t have to be a contestant on Fear Factor to eat unusual things. An investigation of 9 new cases of lung fluke infection in Missouri found that in all cases, patients had eaten raw crayfish while on rafting or camping trips and most had been drinking alcohol. Although all patients recovered after treatment, a few whose diagnosis was delayed had unnecessary procedures and serious illness. Physicians should consider lung fluke infection in patients with nonspecific cough and fever, especially patients who have recently returned from a recreational river trip. Crayfish in Missouri rivers often carry lung flukes and should not be eaten raw.

Rodents infected with this virus may be a serious threat to public health.

The host range of HEV in Europe is expanding, and zoonotic transmission of HEV from rabbits is possible.

Processing does not substantially abate endogenous virus.

What would you do if you had a sexually transmitted disease that was untreatable with antibiotics? That is the situation we may be heading toward. In the United States, gonorrhea is the second most common reportable infection. Over the years, the organism that causes it, N. gonorrhoeae, has acquired resistance to several classes of antibiotics including, most recently, the fluoroquinolones. In fact, widespread resistance led CDC to stop recommending fluoroquinolones for gonorrhea treatment in 2007. Today, cephalosporin-based combination therapy is the last remaining option currently recommended for gonorrhea treatment. Understanding of the causes of drug resistance is needed so that control measures can be improved and the effectiveness of the few remaining drugs can be maintained. This article investigates possible causes for the emergence of fluoroquinolone-resistant N. gonorrhoeae that occurred several years ago. Fluoroquinolone-resistant strains spread in the United States in the late 1990s and spread more rapidly among men who have sex with men (MSM) than among heterosexual men. One possible explanation for the rise in drug resistance, especially among heterosexuals, is acquisition of resistant gonorrhea through travel. Certain drug-resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae, particularly the multidrug resistant strains (also resistant to penicillin and tetracycline) circulating among MSM, seemed to be able to reach high prevalence levels through domestic transmission, rather than through frequent importation. After resistance emerged in a geographic area, resistant strains appeared among MSM and heterosexuals within several months. When resistance is detected in either MSM or heterosexuals, prevention efforts should be directed toward both populations.

The best model comprised enzootic surveillance data from avian, mosquito, and climate sources.