News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Despite a flood of new federal aid, the states are only modestly better prepared to cope with major health emergencies now than they were before the terrorist attacks of 2001, according to a report by a nonprofit public health advocacy group.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday reaffirmed its earlier findings that recent hepatitis outbreaks in Tennessee, Georgia, and Pennsylvania were caused by green onions (scallions) from Mexico.

(CIDRAP News) – Signs of an unusually bad influenza season increased this week as federal health officials reported widespread influenza in 13 states and hints of a possible vaccine shortage began to appear.

(CIDRAP News) – An analysis of hepatitis A cases associated with a Chi Chi's restaurant near Pittsburgh points to green onions (scallions) from Mexico as the source of the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration has advised the public to consider avoiding raw or lightly cooked green onions (scallions) in the light of evidence linking them to recent hepatitis A outbreaks.

(CIDRAP News) – Mexico closed its border to livestock from the United States last week because of concern that a herd of US cattle bound for Mexico had foot-and-mouth disease, but the border was quickly reopened when the disease was found to be a relatively harmless look-alike.

(CIDRAP News) – A New Mexico firm has recalled 22,000 pounds of beef jerky in the wake of an outbreak of Salmonella infections that have been linked with the firm's products, according to New Mexico and federal officials.

(CIDRAP News) – A new blood test for West Nile virus (WNV) is not foolproof but has made the blood supply safer now than it was a year ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – The last areas of California under quarantine for exotic Newcastle disease (END) were released yesterday, signaling the end of an 11-month, $160 million battle to control the highly infectious disease of poultry and other birds.

(CIDRAP News) – West Nile virus infected 1,067 people the week of Sep 4 to 10, more than double the number the previous week, and claimed 17 more lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far this year there have been 2,923 cases with 54 deaths, the CDC reports in the Sep 12 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. That compares with 4,156 cases and 284 deaths last year.