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When 12-year-old Kali developed a nearly fatal infection caused by a “brain-eating” ameba known as Naegleria fowleri, her only hope of treatment was an investigational drug recently acquired by CDC’s Drug Service program. Read more about Kali’s story and the lifesaving CDC program that provides licensed physicians in the U.S. with investigational new drugs that are not readily available through pharmaceutical companies.

CDC recommends that healthcare providers consider not only Ebola virus disease (EVD), but also other much more likely infectious diseases, including malaria, when evaluating ill travelers from Liberia to the United States. Signs and symptoms of EVD are non-specific and overlap with many other more prevalent infectious diseases in West Africa. For any patient returning from West Africa and presenting with non-specific signs and symptoms consistent with EVD, providers should use clinical judgment, taking into account the patient’s epidemiological history for management, diagnostic testing, and treatment and coordinate healthcare as needed with the state or local health department to ensure that these patients get appropriate care without delay. The rapid identification of the cause of an acute illness in a Person Under Investigation (PUI) enables rapid treatment and resolution of symptoms.

CDC recommends that healthcare providers consider not only Ebola virus disease (EVD), but also other much more likely infectious diseases, including malaria, when evaluating ill travelers from Liberia to the United States. Signs and symptoms of EVD are non-specific and overlap with many other more prevalent infectious diseases in West Africa. For any patient returning from West Africa and presenting with non-specific signs and symptoms consistent with EVD, providers should use clinical judgment, taking into account the patient’s epidemiological history for management, diagnostic testing, and treatment and coordinate healthcare as needed with the state or local health department to ensure that these patients get appropriate care without delay. The rapid identification of the cause of an acute illness in a Person Under Investigation (PUI) enables rapid treatment and resolution of symptoms.

CDC recommends that healthcare providers consider not only Ebola virus disease (EVD), but also other much more likely infectious diseases, including malaria, when evaluating ill travelers from Liberia to the United States. Signs and symptoms of EVD are non-specific and overlap with many other more prevalent infectious diseases in West Africa. For any patient returning from West Africa and presenting with non-specific signs and symptoms consistent with EVD, providers should use clinical judgment, taking into account the patient's epidemiological history for management, diagnostic testing, and treatment and coordinate healthcare as needed with the state or local health department to ensure that these patients get appropriate care without delay. The rapid identification of the cause of an acute illness in a Person Under Investigation (PUI) enables rapid treatment and resolution of symptoms.

Wild or pet turtles may be cute and fun to pick-up and play with, but they can carry bacteria that may make you seriously sick. Turtles, particularly small turtles, can carry Salmonella—the bacteria that causes salmonellosis. In 2012, there were eight multi-state outbreaks of turtle-associated salmonellosis in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico, resulting in 78 hospitalizations; 70% of those affected were children under age 10. Learn about the laws in place to prevent turtle-associated salmonellosis in the U.S. in the latest Public Health Matters post.

During this COCA call, clinicians will receive guidance for healthcare providers presented with a patient who has traveled from Liberia in the last 21 days. Clinicians will get guidance on taking thorough histories (covering health, travel, and exposure) and on using clinical judgment to evaluate patients based on those histories and their symptoms, and will be advised to consider other illnesses occurring among travelers returning from West Africa in the differential diagnosis, including malaria.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to closely monitor Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) globally, including the cases of MERS-CoV infection recently reported by China and the Republic of Korea, to better understand the risks to public health. The purpose of this HAN Advisory is to provide updated guidance to state health departments and healthcare providers in the evaluation of patients for MERS-CoV infection, which have been revised in light of the current situation in the Republic of Korea. Healthcare providers and public health officials should maintain awareness of the need to consider MERS-CoV infection in ill persons who have recently traveled from countries in or near the Arabian Peninsula1 or in the Republic of Korea as outlined in the guidance below. Please disseminate this information to healthcare providers, especially infectious diseases specialists, intensive care physicians, internists, infection preventionists, and to emergency departments and microbiology laboratories.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to closely monitor Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) globally, including the cases of MERS-CoV infection recently reported by China and the Republic of Korea, to better understand the risks to public health. The purpose of this HAN Advisory is to provide updated guidance to state health departments and healthcare providers in the evaluation of patients for MERS-CoV infection, which have been revised in light of the current situation in the Republic of Korea. Healthcare providers and public health officials should maintain awareness of the need to consider MERS-CoV infection in ill persons who have recently traveled from countries in or near the Arabian Peninsula1 or in the Republic of Korea as outlined in the guidance below. Please disseminate this information to healthcare providers, especially infectious diseases specialists, intensive care physicians, internists, infection preventionists, and to emergency departments and microbiology laboratories.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continues to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to closely monitor Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) globally, including the cases of MERS-CoV infection recently reported by China and the Republic of Korea, to better understand the risks to public health. The purpose of this HAN Advisory is to provide updated guidance to state health departments and healthcare providers in the evaluation of patients for MERS-CoV infection, which have been revised in light of the current situation in the Republic of Korea. Healthcare providers and public health officials should maintain awareness of the need to consider MERS-CoV infection in ill persons who have recently traveled from countries in or near the Arabian Peninsula1 or in the Republic of Korea as outlined in the guidance below. Please disseminate this information to healthcare providers, especially infectious diseases specialists, intensive care physicians, internists, infection preventionists, and to emergency departments and microbiology laboratories.

In a small, rural town in Southern Indiana, a public health crisis emerges. In a community that normally sees fewer than five new HIV diagnoses a year, more than a hundred new cases are diagnosed and almost all are coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Learn more about how this outbreak was discovered and what caused this widespread transmission in the latest Public Health Matters post.