The Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) first struck the US coasts in April 2013, leaving public health and veterinary doctors puzzled because they could not figure out how it arrived across the ocean despite stringent measures on animal import. This virus has now made its way across to Oahu, the most populous island of Hawaii. The … Continue reading Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in Hawaii: An Epidemiological Puzzle
Tag: viral diseases
Winter Cuts Short Eastern Equine Encephalitis in New York
The Onondaga county of New York reported the second human case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis in September this year. EEE is caused by a virus belonging to the genus Alphavirus, of the family Togaviridae. It has been especially active this year in US, causing a number of equine cases as well as human cases (as evinced … Continue reading Winter Cuts Short Eastern Equine Encephalitis in New York
500 Sea Lion Carcasses Wash up on Peruvian Beaches
Last January, animal lovers the world over were shocked to learn that over 400 dolphin carcasses had washed ashore in Peru. There was extensive news coverage, mainly because this was reminiscent of another massive die-off a couple of years ago. In 2012, eventually, amidst somewhat questionable situations, it seems to have been declared that the die … Continue reading 500 Sea Lion Carcasses Wash up on Peruvian Beaches
Lassa Fever Outbreak in Benin
A few days ago, I wrote about how an outbreak of plague was threatening to rake up high numbers (and still is!) in Madagascar and yet it seemed to have been overshadowed by the big news in the medical world: the ebola outbreak. Now, closer home to the Ebola outbreak, in the West African nation … Continue reading Lassa Fever Outbreak in Benin
MERS CoV: Can it spread from camels to man?
The Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS CoV) is a novel single stranded RNA virus that has been doing the rounds in the Middle East, bits of Europe and North America. Given our experiences the last time we had a new respiratory virus (remember the pandemic?), things have moved rather fast this time once the … Continue reading MERS CoV: Can it spread from camels to man?
Scepticemia 