News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The federal government is considering buying influenza vaccine from a British company in an effort to remedy a possible shortage in the United States, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – A contaminated multipurpose building apparently was the source of Escherichia coli O157 exposure for at least 19 people who got sick after attending a county fair in Ohio in 2001, according to a study published this week.

(CIDRAP News) – Recent figures from the US Department of Defense (DoD) indicate a higher rate of myopericarditis (heart inflammation) cases among military personnel following smallpox vaccination than previously reported, though the complication remains relatively rare.

(CIDRAP News) – A drug that researchers hoped would offer the first effective treatment for hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS)—a sometimes fatal kidney condition that can result from eating food contaminated with Escherichia coli O157:H7—has proved ineffective in a major clinical trial.

(CIDRAP News) – People vaccinated for smallpox in the distant past can be successfully revaccinated with diluted vaccine and have fewer side effects than people receiving the vaccine for the first time, according to a randomized, single-blind study reported by Sharon E. Frey, MD, and colleagues in the Jun 25 Journal of the American Medical Association.

(CIDRAP News) – Experience in the current US military smallpox immunization program makes clear that heart inflammation is a possible complication of vaccination, but the overall record suggests that smallpox vaccination today may be safer than in the past, according to reports published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

(CIDRAP News) – The debut of irradiated ground beef in school cafeterias grew more likely yesterday with the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) announcement that it will make the product available to schools starting next January.

(CIDRAP News) – People whose hands may be contaminated by anthrax should wash them with either antimicrobial or conventional soap and water, but should not try to cleanse them with an alcohol-based hand rub, a new study suggests.