News & Perspective

Jul 15 (CIDRAP NEWS) – The United Nations' food standards body announced last week that it would allow higher kiloGray (kGy) doses for irradiating food.

(CIDRAP News) – The devastating outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the Netherlands is showing signs of losing steam, and a smaller outbreak in neighboring Belgium has been halted, according to European officials.

(CIDRAP News) – Laboratory studies have shown that the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus can survive up to 2 days on plastic surfaces and at least that long in human feces, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced.

(CIDRAP News) – A previously unrecognized coronavirus that has been regarded for 3 weeks as the likely cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been confirmed as the pathogen, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Global cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have continued to climb rapidly in recent days, reaching 1,485 today, as the World Health Organization (WHO) and various cities and countries stepped up efforts to contain the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – An outbreak of atypical pneumonia that began in southern China last fall was probably severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the mysterious flu-like illness that has spread to 13 countries since late February, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Suspected US cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) climbed to 22 today as the global total neared 360, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

The US total now includes three patients who didn't travel to Southeast Asia, the epicenter of the outbreak, but apparently caught the illness from close contacts who had traveled there, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said at an afternoon news briefing.

(CIDRAP News) – As cases in the global outbreak of "severe acute respiratory syndrome" (SARS) climbed to 264 today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said there is evidence that the illness may be caused by a previously unknown member of the Paramyxovirus family, which causes measles, mumps, and canine distemper.

(CIDRAP News) – As part of an effort to provide a safer smallpox vaccine, federal health officials today awarded contracts to two companies to develop and test a vaccine using a strain of vaccinia virus that can't reproduce in human cells.

(CIDRAP News) – Two men have had encephalitis and one contracted myocarditis after getting smallpox shots in the US military vaccination program, but all three have recovered, a Department of Defense (DoD) vaccine expert said today.