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The U.S. on Saturday reported its first case of a more aggressive strain of mpox: an individual in California who had recently traveled from eastern Africa. The case was confirmed by the California Department of Public Health and reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The person was treated in San Mateo County based on their travel history and symptoms and is now isolating at home and recovering, the state's health department said in a press release. (Bendix, 11/16)

Oregon is the latest state to confirm a case of avian influenza in a human, according to a release from the state Health Authority. It’s the first time that a human transmission of the virus has been confirmed in Oregon by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, there have been 52 cases in people across the country, including 11 in Washington. (Wiley, 11/15)

Almost one in four Americans may be suffering from long COVID, a rate more than three times higher than the most common number cited by federal officials, a team led by Boston area researchers suggests in a new scientific paper. The peer-reviewed study, led by scientists and clinicians from Mass General Brigham, drew immediate skepticism from some long COVID researchers, who suggested their numbers were “unrealistically high.” But the study authors noted that the condition is notoriously difficult to diagnose and official counts also likely exclude populations who were hit hardest by the pandemic but face barriers in accessing healthcare. (Piore, 11/17)

For the first time, new home tests — available at pharmacies without a prescription — can test for both the flu and COVID simultaneously. The tests are very reliable — they rarely say someone's positive when they're really negative or vice versa, according to the FDA. If you test negative but are still having symptoms that feel like COVID or the flu a couple of days later, doctors recommend taking a second test. (11/18)

Nearly a fifth of dengue infections in the Americas and Southeast Asia were propelled by climate change, according to a study that researchers from the University of Maryland, Harvard University and Stanford University presented Saturday at the annual American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in New Orleans. The latest data from the Pan-American Health Organization shows that in the first 10-plus months of 2024, there were nearly 7,500 deaths and more than 12.3 million infections – three times the number of cases in 2023, which was record-setting at the time. (Cuevas, 11/17)