Congo's Bundibugyo outbreak counted 317 deaths in a week as alfalfa sprouts and California dust carry other infections
Congo's health ministry counted 317 Bundibugyo deaths in a week, while alfalfa sprouts sickened 55 people in 15 US states and dry California land tracked higher Valley fever rates.
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Ituri and North Kivu counted 317 deaths in a single week
Congo's health ministry has counted 5,514 cases and 2,642 deaths in the Bundibugyo virus outbreak in Ituri and North Kivu, 317 of them in the past week. The overall fatality rate stands at 47.9 per cent, rising to 68.6 per cent in North Kivu, while more than 16,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine have now reached the region. The figures come from Congo's Ministry of Health and were reported by the Associated Press. Experts quoted in the report believe the outbreak began in February and say it was not officially declared until 15 May. Bundibugyo is a distinct ebolavirus species from the Zaire strain; Ervebo was licensed against the Zaire strain. Vaccination is running against rebel activity in the east, health workers who have gone unpaid, and public messaging that disputes the disease exists at all.[1]
Alfalfa sprouts sickened 55 people in 15 states
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention names Everything Sprouts LLC of Minneapolis as the grower, with product sold under the Everything Sprouts and Calco brands. Officials have counted 55 illnesses across 15 states; as of 21 August, four people had been hospitalised and no deaths had been reported. Two people were infected with both E. coli and Salmonella. The company says the products went to wholesale distributors and grocery stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin between 27 May and 21 August, while illnesses have been counted in 15 states. The source of the contamination is still under investigation.[2]
Dry land and new fallow track higher Valley fever
Alexandra Heaney and colleagues linked 65,657 Valley fever cases in 20 California counties between April 2008 and March 2021 to the land around each community. Shrubland, barren land and grassland — and newly fallowed fields whose prior crop history was mixed — tracked higher incidence; orchards, rice and vegetables tracked lower. The Science Advances paper analyses confirmed cases reported to the California Department of Public Health alongside land-cover and farm data. Newly fallowed fields with mixed prior crop histories were associated with higher incidence, though total fallow acreage on its own was not significantly linked. The authors present the findings as associations, and they do not claim direct causation.[3]
