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A newly discovered COVID strain known as XEC continues to spread rapidly across multiple countries, including the U.S. Scripps Research’s Outbreak.info page, last updated on Sept. 5, reported 95 XEC cases across 12 U.S. states and 15 different countries. However, Australia based data integration specialist Mike Honey wrote on X Saturday that the new strain, which emerged in Berlin last June, has shown up in hundreds more patients across 27 countries in Europe, North America and Asia. (Robledo, 9/16)

Scientists remain on alert as XEC carries a mutation that is hypothesized to confer it “superpowers,” said Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF. While it is unlikely to cause a spike in hospitalizations and deaths, it is expected to infect more people. “With these new transmissible variants, they will likely infect people who were otherwise not going to get infected,” Chin-Hong said. (Vaziri, 9/16)

A growing number of U.S. adults are hesitant to get recommended vaccines this fall, a new survey found. The poll, which included 1,006 people, found that only 43% of respondents have gotten or plan to get the COVID vaccine. Only a slight majority (56%) of adults said they have gotten or plan to get the flu shot this fall. (Rudy, 9/16)

Sanofi and partner AstraZeneca have received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a manufacturing line for their preventive respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) therapy, the French drugmaker said on Monday. The expanded capacity will help the drugmakers meet the demand for Beyfortus ahead of the RSV season. The therapy was in tight supply last year. (9/16)

The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County has confirmed one case of locally acquired dengue fever. Dengue viruses are spread to humans through the bites of infected female Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. The health department said it is treating the affected area, though it did not specify where in the county the case was reported. (Cabrera, 9/16)

On Monday state officials announced they had completed testing on all 95 licensed farms in Massachusetts that have dairy herds, the first state in the nation to do so. The results were “100 percent negative.” The testing program is likely to be repeated on a regular basis going forward, and could serve as a national model. (Piore, 9/16)

The US will continue to work with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to ensure the spread of a lethal outbreak of mpox in Africa doesn’t develop into a pandemic. “We’ll stay committed until we bring this outbreak under control,” said John Nkengasong, US senior bureau official for global health security and diplomacy, who previously headed up Africa CDC. (Kew, 9/16)