News & Perspective

June 25, 2002 (CIDRAP News) – Eating tabletop sauces at restaurants in Mexico may be an important risk factor for traveler's diarrhea, a new study suggests.

(CIDRAP News) – Caught between the unknown risk of a smallpox attack and concern about adverse vaccine reactions, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) yesterday recommended that only healthcare workers assigned to deal directly with a smallpox outbreak be vaccinated against smallpox.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced it will increase testing of imported shrimp and crayfish to look for traces of the antibiotic chloramphenicol, which some countries have found in imports from China and Vietnam.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers at the University of Texas report that they have engineered antibodies that can protect rats from the effects of the anthrax toxin, possibly pointing the way toward development of similar antibodies that could protect humans.

(CIDRAP News) – The farm bill that was recently passed by Congress creates at least a possibility that irradiated foods eventually will be sold as "pasteurized" and served in government-subsidized school lunches. But it appears that those changes won't happen quickly, if they happen at all.

(CIDRAP News) – President George W. Bush yesterday signed a far-reaching bioterrorism bill designed to strengthen the public health system, tighten controls on dangerous pathogens, and protect the nation’s food and water supplies.