The Ischilín department reported 14 new cases of trichinellosis in 2025.

Trichinella infections are frequently reported in Argentina. Homemade sausage foods do not usually go through regulatory sanitary controls and may be sold privately on the roads of the country.

Trichinellosis is caused by the larvae of an intestinal worm when eating insufficiently cooked meat (mainly pork, but also game and other animals such as bear). Symptoms vary widely: muscle pain, inflammation of the eyelids and eye pain, diarrhea, and fever. Cardiac and neurological complications are possible, and the disease is sometimes fatal.

The first cases of rabies in capybaras (a mammal in the guinea pig family) on the coast of São Paulo raise concerns about virus monitoring. The variant detected in Ilha Anchieta was the same one carried by common vampire bats, which probably fed on the rodents' blood at a time of habitat alteration.

Three capybaras were found dead on Ilha Anchieta, in the municipality of Ubatuba (São Paulo state), between December 2019 and January 2020. The cases occurred shortly after the works carried out on the ruins on that island in 2019, when the roof of a building was renovated and the bats temporarily lost their shelters.

Capybaras:

According to media, there have been reports of about 80 cases of methanol poisoning (including 34 deaths) due to counterfeit/adulterated alcohol in Istanbul since 13 January 2025. It is possible that not all cases are being detected and the full extent is unknown. Methanol poisoning usually manifests itself within 12 to 24 hours of ingestion with neurological (e.g. headache, altered consciousness), gastrointestinal (e.g. nausea, vomiting, severe abdominal pain) and ophthalmological (e.g. blurred vision, photophobia) symptoms. Complications include seizures, loss of vision, kidney failure, respiratory arrest, coma and death. Counterfeit alcohol is widespread in Turkey due to the rising cost of alcoholic beverages.

The risk of mosquito borne infection is increased during the current Australian summer season. Various mosquito borne diseases occur in Australia such as:

• Ross River fever (RRF) is the most commonly reported mosquito-borne disease in Australia, averaging around 5’000 infections each year, although this is likely to be an underestimate of the true number. It is widespread in Australia but more commonly found in Queensland, the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Ross-River-virus is an arthritogenic alphavirus.
  
• Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE) - MVE virus is enzootic (endemic in animals) in freshwater habitats of the Kimberley region of Western Australia and the northern area of the Northern Territory. Occasional outbreaks occur as far south as NSW following the migration of infected birds and with local mosquito populations boosted by rainfall/flooding. While most people with MVE virus are asymptomatic, apparent clinical infection is often severe due to neurological involvement, causing death in approximately 15-30% of cases and residual mental or functional disability in up to half of those who survive. The causative virus belongs to the family of flaviviruses.
  
• Dengue - the dengue virus is no longer endemic in Australia but is introduced each year by infected travellers arriving from overseas. Risk of infection is elevated in Queensland or on the Cocoseilande (Throat Islands). 
  
• Japanese Encephalitis occurs in Australia. First outbreaks were reported in 2022 in the states of Queenland, New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria - mainly in the Murray valley with over 70 pig farms affected throughout temperate regions of the country. Human cases and deaths had been reported. In the current season 2024/25, only sporadic human cases have been reported so far. The situation in Torres Strait and Cape York Pennisula in north eastern Australia is unclear since surveillance has been stopped since many years.

For more details to the diseases and other mosquito borne disease in Australia such as Barma Forest and Kunjin virus (a subtype of West Nile virus) infection, see LINK.

The Jubilee 2025 is a special holy year of the Catholics which occurs once every 25 years, involving major religious mass gathering events in Rome which are attended by millions of pilgrims from all around the world. In 2025, starting from 24 December 2024 until December 2025, it is estimated that more than 35 million pilgrims will visit Rome

According to media, since 25 November 2020, 16 cases of diphtheria have been reported in the Western Cape province, mainly in the capital, Cape Town (94% of cases). 

The following countries have reported new confirmed cases of clade I infections within the past 6 weeks:

• Democratic Republic of the Congo: n.a. | 2024: cumulative 9’513 cases (clade Ia and Ib)
  
• Burundi: 798 cases | 2024: cumulative 3’035 cases of clade Ib
  
• Uganda: 767 cases | 2024: cumulative 1’552 cases of clade Ib
  
• Central African Republic: 4 cases| 2024: cumulative 90 cases of clade Ia
  
• Rwanda: 17 cases | 2024: cumulative 69 cases of clade Ib
  
• Kenya: 12 cases | 2024: cumulative 31 cases of clade Ib
  
• Congo: 1 case |2024: cumulative 23 cases of clade Ia
  
• Cameroon: n.a. |2024: cumulative 9 cases of clade Ia and Ib
  
• Zambia: 2 cases | 2024: cumulative 3 cases of clade Ib
  

No new cases have been reported within 6 weeks from Zimbabwe (2 clade Ib cases).

A significant number of suspected mpox cases, that are clinically compatible with mpox remain untested due to limited diagnostic capacity in some African countries and thus never get confirmed. For updates, details, suspected cases, epidemic curves, see WHO LINK.

New imported mpox cases clade Ib outside of Africa:

• Belgium: Two cases – first case in an adult traveler returning from Africa (country not specified), second case was a household contact.
  
• France: first case (7 Jan 2025). The case did not have a travel history to Central Africa, but had been in contact with two individuals who had returned from a country in Central Africa. Investigations into the source of the infection are ongoing. 
  
• China: 5 confirmed clade Ib mpox cases, which involve a foreigner who had lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and four close contacts.
  

Previously, imported clade Ib cases have also been reported in Canada (1), Germany (6), India (1), Pakistan (1), Sweden (1), Thailand (1), the United Kingdom (5), and the United States (1).

Weekly trends in Africa:

The Lunar New Year is celebrated in different ways in many countries and cultures throughout Asia and worldwide and is variously also known as Chinese New Year, the Spring Festival, Tet and Seollal.

Celebrations officially start on 29 January 2025, with the festival likely to attract big crowds and international visitors.