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A seasonal respiratory virus named parvovirus B19 – sometimes also called fifth disease – is increasing in activity, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday. Parvovirus B19 is a common virus spread by respiratory droplets. (Dillinger, 8/13)

A second round of testing of retail dairy products, which includes more products such as cheese and butter and from a broader geographic area, found no live H5N1 avian flu virus in any of the samples, federal officials said today. The testing included 167 samples from 27 states. (Schnirring, 8/13)

One-in-six dairy products in US retail stores contained signs of inactive bird flu virus this summer, regulators said, slightly lower than the numbers seen in a different survey when the pathogen was first found in the nation’s dairy herds. None of the 167 samples, which included milk, ice cream, hard cheese, butter, cream cheese and aged raw milk cheese, contained viable H5N1 bird flu virus, the US Food and Drug Administration said. The results show pasteurized dairy remains safe to consume. (Vahanvaty, 8/13)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday it will expand bird-flu testing of beef entering the food supply as part of its response to the ongoing outbreak among dairy cattle, adding that U.S. beef and dairy products remain safe to consume. USDA officials, in a call with reporters along with staff from other U.S. health agencies, said the tests will begin in mid-September and urged livestock workers to remain vigilant. (Douglas, 8/13)

Mpox, the high infectious disease that used to be called monkeypox, has been declared a public health emergency in Africa by the continent’s top health body. Scientists from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) say they are alarmed by the speed at which a new strain of mpox has been spreading. Since the beginning of the year, more than 13,700 cases and 450 deaths have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The virus, which can cause lesions across the whole body, has spread to other African countries, including Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR), Kenya and Rwanda. (Jolaoso, 8/13)

There are two strains of mpox – clade I and clade II. Think of them as two big branches on a tree.Until about five or six years ago these clades weren’t that diverse. Something has changed. These branches are growing and the leaves on the branches are becoming more numerous. In fact, we have new subclades for both I and II, so two new offshoot branches have appeared. Clade II is far less dangerous with a case fatality rate of about 0.1%. In other words, roughly one person in a thousand dies. (Walter, 8/13)

Vaccines to help curb an escalating mpox outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring countries may still not reach the central African country for months even as the World Health Organization considers following Africa’s top public health agency in declaring the outbreak an emergency. On Tuesday, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared a public health emergency of continental concern for the first time ever, and on Wednesday, a WHO-led panel meets to decide if it represents a global threat. (Rigby, 8/14)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has upgraded the recall of about two dozen candies and snacks sold at retailers including Target and Walmart to its highest level of health hazard. Shoppers will want to check their pantries because some of the products – recalled for potential salmonella contamination – have best-by dates into April 2025. (Snider, 8/13)