India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and mainland China also experienced new outbreaks of H5 N1 influenza in December. During the same period, four new human cases - in Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia - were reported to the World Health Organization. A 16-year-old girl in Egypt and a 2-year-old girl in Indonesia have died.
Health care workers in emergency departments are often carriers of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), potentially putting patients at risk.