In just a few months, concern around a new virus in the Middle East, a coronavirus known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) – has escalated quickly, sparking fears among some public health experts that the virus may pose a substantial threat to the entire world.

Though the name Middle East Respiratory Syndrome may sound harmless – perhaps even bland – the virus represents a very serious potential health problem.

Earlier this week, most of the general public began to see the first news reports on H7N9, a new strain of bird flu currently seen in China.

Now, only a few days later, the news is spreading. But has the flu spread with it? Should the general public be concerned?

Let’s look at the H7N9 facts.

Today, the University of Minnesota is pleased to announce the first cured case of Bieber Fever in a 12-year-old girl from Greater Minnesota.

School of Public Health infectious disease expert Dr. Michael Osterholm, the director of the University’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, spearheaded the efforts and was overwhelmingly pleased by the results and optimistic about the future for similar cases.

“It was touch and go for a while, but the success seen with this case really gives us hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Osterholm said. “We are always cautious about declaring success for something as complicated as Bieber Fever, but in this case, I feel confident that this patient is cured. She no longer has any signs or symptoms of Bieber Fever and all of her lab test results have returned to normal.”

A virus that resembles SARS, the viral respiratory illness that invaded dozens of countries a decade ago, is raising major concerns among health experts…

The effectiveness of the flu vaccine is a hot topic as this season of influenza has brought with it hospitalizations and untimely deaths.

WCCO’s Good Question asked: why isn’t the flu shot more effective?

“Influenza isn’t like mumps or measles; it constantly changes,” explained Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., professor in the School of Public Health. “Vaccine makers try to account for that by predicting which strains will be out there, and matching the vaccine.”

He adds, “We’ve seen years when the match was supposedly very good, and vaccine protection was really bad. We’ve seen years where the match wasn’t very good, and yet vaccine protection was above average.”

A recent study led by Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), found current influenza vaccines offer less protection against seasonal influenza than previously reported.

In a Star Tribune editorial “A call to action on influenza,” the paper’s editorial board examines why the U.S. government deemed influenza a national-security threat and how far we have come in combating this deadly virus.

The piece expresses the editorial board’s disappointment in the level of response by leading public health organizations to a recent influenza report from Michael Osterholm and the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).

Most notably, the editorial finds fault with the lack of a response from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which develops national vaccine-use guidelines.

According to the editorial:

“This landmark report should have been a headline item at a recent meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices(ACIP), which develops national vaccine-use guidelines. Instead, the discussion about the new report was negligible at best, which is intriguing because the Minnesota report suggested that this eminent group’s recommendations were good policy but not always backed up by data. Those are fighting words in the scientific world.

At the very least the report merited an in-depth discussion at the meeting late last month. The report shouldn’t have changed flu-shot recommendations, but it was a call to action. In an interview Friday, ACIP chair Dr. Jonathan Temte emphasized his organization’s deliberative process. Neither Temte nor Dr. Joseph Bresee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided a satisfying answer about how or when their organizations might act on the Minnesota analysis to champion a more effective vaccine.”

Visit the Star Tribune web site to read the full piece by the editorial board.