WHO Sees Further Rise of Zika Cases in Asia-Pacific Region (Washington Post) Zika infections are expected to continue rising in the Asia-Pacific region, where authorities are increasing surveillance, preparing responses to complications and collaborating on information about the disease, the WHO said Monday. Go to article

On the Frontlines in the Fight Against Zika in Florida (Newsweek) Dr. Christine Curry, an obstetrician at the University of Miami Health System, stands at the front of a windowless conference room, where more than a dozen medical students sit dressed in clean white coats. It's late August, nearly a month after the first cases of Zika were reported in Miami-Dade County, making Florida the first state in the US with known local transmission of the virus. Go to article

Hurricane Matthew Could Make Florida's Zika Problem Worse (The Atlantic) As the US prepares to be walloped by Hurricane Matthew, the now-Category 3 storm that's churning its way toward the southeast of the country, Florida finds itself in a particularly dangerous spot. Go to article

More Zika in the US as RNA Vaccine Gets Funding (CIDRAP) While many countries in the Americas are reporting a slowing of Zika transmission, the US is seeing an increased rate in Florida. In other disease news, an RNA vaccine gets funding while a new study suggests the usefulness of IgM Zika testing for babies. Go to article

Hurricane Matthew: Haiti Battles Cholera Outbreak (Al Jazeera) Hurricane-ravaged Haiti is struggling to cope with a rise in cholera cases with officials warning that contaminated water and a lack of hygiene are posing a risk to thousands of people in the impoverished country. Go to article

See Also: 'Like a Nuclear Bomb,' Cholera and Destruction After Hurricane in Haiti (Reuters) Patients arrived every 10 or 15 minutes, brought on motorcycles by relatives with vomit-covered shoulders and hoisted up the stairs into southwest Haiti's Port-a-Piment hospital, where they could rest their weak, cholera-sapped limbs. Go to article

Reindeer to Be Culled in Russia's Far North Due to Anthrax Outbreak (The Guardian) A governor in Russia's far north has said the reindeer population will be reduced by 100,000 after an anthrax outbreak, but scientists have said twice as many need to be culled. Go to article

Cholera Outbreak in Yemen (AMN) Yemen is grappling with a cholera outbreak according to UNICEF that is complemented by a severe food shortage amid a naval blockade imposed by Riyadh which is preventing shipments to most of its ports. Go to article

Measles Outbreak Among Amish Highlights Need for Vaccinations (UPI) The measles outbreak that struck an Amish community in 2014 illustrates the ongoing threat the infection presents -- and the importance of routine vaccination, US government researchers say. Go to article

Influenza at the Human-Animal Interface--Summary and Assessment, 20 July to 3 October 2016 (WHO) Since the last update, two new laboratory-confirmed human cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) virus infection were reported to WHO. Go to article

Why Scientists Are Keeping an Eye on a Little-known Virus (NPR: Goats and Soda) When an 8-year old boy showed up at his school's clinic in rural Haiti with a low-grade fever and abdominal pain, he was told he had typhoid and given medicine to treat it. But blood tests showed something else: Mayaro, a mosquito-borne virus that may now be circulating in the Caribbean. Go to article

How to Move 2 Million People out of Hurricane Matthew's Way (Wired) Across swaths of Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina, half the highway lanes have reversed. Traffic engineers call this "contraflow," the volte-face of normal traffic. Now, on both sides of these roads, vehicles only run one way--away from Hurricane Matthew. Go to article

The Mental-health Crisis Among Migrants (Nature) On an ice-cold day in January, clinical psychologist Emily Holmes picked up a stack of empty diaries and went down to Stockholm's central train station in search of refugees. She didn't have to look hard. Crowds of lost-looking young people were milling around the concourse, in clothes too flimsy for the freezing air. "It struck me hard to see how thin some of the young men were," she says. Go to article

Neglected Tropical Diseases: A Best Buy in Global Health (Huffington Post) One of the lesser known success stories in global health is about the progress we have made over the past decade in controlling and eliminating neglected tropical diseases or NTDs. And yes, the term "neglected" is there for a reason: because these diseases affect the poorest of the poor and have endured largely due to indifference and neglect. Go to article

A New Way to Measure Progress in Global Health (Humanosphere) The world has made tremendous progress in global health during the past 25 years, reducing the impact of some major killers like HIV or, well, childbirth, and greatly expanding access to drugs or vaccines to prevent and treat many millions of the poorest people on the planet. Go to article

Public Health Labs Hope Federal Funds Will Speed Zika Test Results (NPR: Shots) Houston-based Legacy Community Health Services, a federally qualified health center, is trying hard to fight the Zika virus. It's screening pregnant women and following federal guidelines to test people at risk. Go to article

The Coming Public Health Disaster (US News and World Report) NASA scientists recently confirmed that August was the hottest month in recorded history. It tied this past July for that dubious honor. Meteorologists are linking this heat to the recent spate of extreme flooding worldwide - everywhere from Louisiana to China. However, global warming isn't just an environmental issue. According to the Lancet, a British medical journal, "Climate change could be the biggest global health threat of the 21st century." Go to article

Public Health as Foreign Policy: Trauma in the Arab World (Foreign Policy In Focus) If Washington wants to decrease volatility and violence in the Arab region, US foreign policy must advocate for the treatment of conflict-related mental health issues among Arab publics. Go to article