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http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2012/O26-02-12/index.html

Highlights

• A total of 29 persons infected with the outbreak strain of STEC O26 have been reported from 11 states.
  • The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alabama (1), Arkansas (1), Iowa (5), Kansas (2), Michigan (10), Missouri (3), Ohio (3), Pennsylvania (1), Washington (1), Wisconsin (1), and West Virginia (1).
  • Seven ill persons have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.
• Results of the epidemiologic and traceback investigations indicated eating raw clover sprouts at Jimmy John’s restaurants was the likely cause of this outbreak.

Accuracy of Rapid Influenza Diagnostic Tests: A Meta-analysis
Caroline Chartrand, Mariska M.G. Leeflang, Jessica Minion, Timothy Brewer,
and Madhukar Pai
Ann Intern Med 2012;156 500-511
http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/abstract/156/7/500?etoc

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Knust B, Medetov ZB, Kyraubayev KB, Bumburidi Y, Erickson BR, MacNeil A, et al. Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Kazakhstan, 2009–2010. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2012 Apr [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1804.111503

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http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/general/news/apr0312masks.html

Lab study supports use of N95 respirators for flu protection

Robert Roos News Editor

Apr 3, 2012 (CIDRAP News) – “A new laboratory study supports the long-debated view that airborne viruses play a role in spreading influenza and that N95 respirators provide the best protection against airborne viruses, with surgical masks affording much less.

A US-Chinese team of researchers created a simulated examination room with mechanized mannequins spaced 6 feet apart to represent coughing and breathing humans. They found that flu viruses floated between the two and were “inhaled” by the breathing mannequin, but that an N95 respirator sealed to the mannequin’s face stopped 99.8% of them.

A poorly fitted respirator or a loose-fitting surgical mask, by contrast, blocked only about two thirds of the virus particles….”

Noti JD, Lindsley WG, Blachere FM, et al. Detection of infectious influenza virus in cough aerosols generated in a simulated patient examination room. Clin Infect Dis 2012 (early online publication).

Cowling BJ. Airborne transmission of influenza: implication for control in healthcare and community settings. (Editorial) Clin Infect Dis 2012 (early online publication).

http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/03/24/cid.cis237.abstract

Conclusions. These results support a role for aerosol transmission and represent the first reported laboratory study of the efficacy of masks and respirators in blocking inhalation of influenza in aerosols. The results indicate that a poorly fitted respirator performs no better than a loosely fitting mask.