Emerging Infectious Diseases最新文献

To investigate local transmission of Orientia tsutsugamushi by chiggers in North Carolina, USA, we tested remnant serum specimens from patients with eschar undergoing testing for suspected tickborne disease. We identified 11 persons with O. tsutsugamushi antibodies, including 4 who were positive by both assays; none had severe clinical manifestations consistent with scrub typhus.

Haematospirillum jordaniae was first identified as a human pathogen in 2016. In this article, we describe 4 patients who had H. jordaniae infections identified in 2020 and who had temporally and spatially linked environmental exposures. Three of the 4 patients reported leg injuries while participating in recreational river water activities in south-central Pennsylvania, USA. In 2024, we detected H. jordaniae in river samples collected at locations identified during patient interviews. All patients sought emergency department services for clinical assessment; however, the causative bacterial isolate was not initially identified. H. jordaniae was identified as the bacterial cause months after patient treatment and discharge. Although H. jordaniae infections are considered rare, the true occurrence is unknown. Additional information about the organism's ecology and environmental seasonality could guide public health messaging and increase awareness among healthcare providers.

We report mortality in rainbow snakes in Virginia and North Carolina, USA, linked to snake fungal disease caused by Ophidiomyces ophidiicola. During 2013-2023, we observed 46 dead rainbow snakes with lesions indicative of snake fungal disease, noted elevated disease severity compared with other species, and recorded fewer live snakes over time.

We report 2 cases of febrile lymphocytic meningitis with encephalitis in patients in France. One patient had not traveled outside Paris; the other had traveled to eastern France. Laboratory findings revealed acute West Nile virus infection. The cases occurred days apart, raising concern the virus has spread further in France.

Mpox is a reemerging infectious disease caused by monkeypox virus (MPXV). Whole-genome sequencing provides comprehensive surveillance of MPXV but is challenging in resource-limited outbreak settings and on clinical samples with low viral load. We developed a low-cost, high-throughput partial-genome sequencing strategy and a freeware Nextflow pipeline for MPXV genomic surveillance. We targeted 2 genomic regions of MPXV by using short overlapping amplicons. This amplicon-based approach generated high-quality sequences over the 2 genomic regions from clinical specimens, including samples with low viral DNA and from formalin-fixed tissues. This partial-genome sequencing approach can determine MPXV subclades and offers an attractive strategy to lower cost and improve MPXV surveillance during outbreaks in mpox-endemic and -nonendemic countries.

The prevalence of Spiroplasma ixodetis in ticks that have bitten humans in Sweden and in the Åland Islands, Finland, was 2.6%, with observed significant geographic differences between regions. The pathogen was not detected in blood samples from participants bitten by S. ixodetis-positive ticks, indicating low risk for transmission to humans.

We detected dengue virus serotype 3 in 11.8% (16/136) of febrile patients in Luanda Province, Angola, during April and July 2024. Our genetic analyses reveal that dengue virus serotype 3 lineage III_B.3.2 probably was imported from the Americas into Angola in late 2022 and then spread through local transmission.

We report Borrelia afzelii hepatitis in an immunosuppressed patient in Switzerland receiving anti-CD20 therapy and venetoclax. Diagnosis was made by metagenomic sequencing and PCR. This case underscores the need to consider Lyme borreliosis in unexplained hepatitis cases and highlights the value of molecular diagnostics in immunosuppressed patients when serologic test results are negative.

We report 4 dengue cases in travelers returning to Israel from Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt, all confirmed as dengue virus type 2 infections. Phylogenetic analysis showed clustering with strains from Pakistan. Our findings provide molecular evidence of dengue circulation in the Sinai desert, highlighting the need for increased awareness among travelers and health authorities.

We detected yellow fever virus by using quantitative PCR in Aedes albopictus mosquitoes and isolated the virus in C6/36 cells in 4 of 18 pools, including 118 specimens collected in an urban green area in São Paulo State, Brazil. Additional monitoring to detect shifts in transmission of this species is warranted.