The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) is awaiting CDC/ACIP recommendations and clinical guidance for administering the updated 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine. This has been DPH’s protocol since the first COVID-19 vaccines became available in late 2020.
Chagas disease, a potentially deadly condition caused by an infected triatomine insect or "kissing bug," may be becoming endemic in the United States, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. In the report, published last month in the September issue of the CDC's Emerging Infectious Diseases journal, the authors said the disease is already endemic to 21 countries in the Americas, and growing evidence of the parasite is challenging the non-endemic label in the U.S.
The latest outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) affecting Kasai province has grown to 42 cases, five of them confirmed, the country's health ministry said in its latest situation report, translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infection disease news message board. The number of deaths remains at 15. So far, 157 contacts have been identified, and 19% are being followed.
Typically, the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, the basin has instead drifted into a September slumber that could last at least the next several days. Since World War II, mid-September has typically been the time of year with the most active Atlantic storms and hurricanes. The calculations by the National Hurricane Center pinpoint Sept. 10 as the actual peak of the hurricane season.
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that a single injection of the antibiotic benzathine penicillin G (BPG) successfully treated early syphilis just as well as the three-injection regimen used by many clinicians in the United States and elsewhere. These findings from a late-stage clinical trial suggest the second and third doses of conventional BPG therapy do not provide a health benefit. The results were published on Sept. 3 in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Metabolic Meals is collaborating with investigators and has reached out directly to customers who purchased affected meals to inform them of the outbreak. Sixteen people in 10 states have gotten sick from the same strain of salmonella. Seven people have been hospitalized and no deaths have been reported. Most people infected with salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps six hours to six days after being exposed to the bacteria.
Identify, Isolate and Inform: It is important to continueto ask travel questions. The purpose of this notice is to remind healthcare providers about actions to take in Georgia when evaluating patients for possible serious communicable diseases.
Travel Clinical Assistant (TCA)
TheTravel Clinical Assistantprovides post-travel clinical information on travel-related diseases for 231 countries. Diseases with recent outbreaks occurring in the last two years are listed first.
Violent Actors and Cyber Criminals Threaten Emergency Services Sector
The Office of Intelligence and Analysis sent anassessmentof threats to the Emergency Services Sector— police, firefighters, and other first responders— from violent extremists, other physical threat actors, or malicious cyber actors.
