News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A new national survey suggests that most Americans have serious misconceptions about smallpox, including a belief that smallpox cases have occurred in the past 5 years and that smallpox is treatable.

(CIDRAP News) – VaxGen Inc., a California biotechnology company, announced plans this week to seek US licensing for an attenuated smallpox vaccine that is considered safer than existing vaccines but was developed too recently to be proved effective against the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – The 7,000-member Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has urged President Bush not to make smallpox vaccine available to the public for now, on grounds that serious reactions to it could undermine public confidence in the shots and in other immunizations as well.

Editor's note: This story was updated Nov 15 to include additional information from Food and Drug Administration officials.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials have announced plans to expand research on whether chronic wasting disease (CWD) in deer and elk poses a threat to humans and other species.

(CIDRAP News) – Recent meat recalls associated with a prolonged listeriosis outbreak show that the current federal program for keeping Listeria out of meatis falling short, Elsa Murano, the US Department of Agriculture's undersecretary for food safety, said in remarks prepared for a speech yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has finished writing rules that open the door to the irradiation of fruits and vegetables imported into the United States.

(CIDRAP News) – The world's last naturally acquired case of smallpox occurred almost exactly 25 years ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes in today's issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The smallpox case occurred in the Merca District of Somalia on Oct 26, 1977, the CDC says. Less than 3 years later, in May 1980, the World Health Organization declared the world free of naturally occurring smallpox.

(CIDRAP News) – A listeriosis outbreak in Pennsylvania and neighboring states has expanded to 40 cases, with seven deaths and three miscarriages or stillbirths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced yesterday. The source of the outbreak remained unknown.

(CIDRAP News) Ð Citing six illnessoutbreaks over the past 2 1/2 years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasupdated its warning about the dangers of eating raw or lightly cooked sproutsto include mung bean sprouts as well as alfalfa sprouts.

(CIDRAP News) – Anyone who may have been exposed to smallpox should be vaccinated against the disease, regardless of contraindications such as eczema or HIV infection, according to the mass-vaccination guide released this week by federal health officials.