News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Citing evidence of increased Escherichia coli O157:H7 on beef carcasses, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced this week that beef slaughter and grinding plants will be required to add safety steps aimed specifically at the pathogen.

(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.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released detailed guidelines to help state and local health departments organize efforts to vaccinate the entire population against smallpox within 10 days in case the disease re-emerges.

(CIDRAP News) – In response to a US senator's speculation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there is no evidence that bioterrorism has played a role in the spread of West Nile virus to and within the United States.

(CIDRAP News) – The United States deserves good marks for its efforts to improve core aspects of public health preparedness in the past year, but the nation performed generally poorly in international aid and cooperation to reduce threats to public health, according to the American Public Health Association (APHA).

(CIDRAP News) – The current high prevalence of eczema, or atopic dermatitis (AD), suggests that a large share of the population could be at risk for the serious side effect of eczema vaccinatum (EV) if they underwent smallpox vaccination, according to specialists writing in the September Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is inviting public comments on a new draft report on how to control microbial pathogens in juices.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is taking several steps to improve the monitoring and analysis of adverse events related to food products, dietary supplements, and cosmetics.

The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) announced it is working on a single adverse event reporting system that will replace separate systems for the three categories of products.