News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Two medical aid groups in cholera-stricken Haiti are planning a pilot campaign to administer a cholera vaccine to about 1% of the population, but some public health experts are questioning whether the effort is the most cost-effective way to fight the disease, according to press reports.

(CIDRAP News) – The first cases in Haiti's cholera outbreak were confirmed nearly a year ago, and public health lessons from the experience and scientific clues about the Vibrio cholerae strain continue to emerge, including new details from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its research partners.

(CIDRAP News) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expressed renewed concern today about H5N1 avian influenza, warning of a "possible major resurgence" of bird outbreaks and saying that a vaccine-evading strain has emerged in Vietnam and China.

(CIDRAP News) – A whole-genome sequencing study of Haiti's cholera outbreak strain has produced strong evidence that United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal brought the disease into the country, according to a study published yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – An epidemiologic study by French researchers of the initial days of Haiti's cholera outbreak builds a stronger argument linking the importation of the bacteria to the arrival of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers from Nepal than a recent report from the UN's independent experts did.

(CIDRAP News) – Signaling that the current flu strains are likely to persist over the next several months, the World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended sticking with the current trio of vaccine strains for the Northern Hemisphere's next influenza season.

The WHO's vaccine strain advisory committee met on Feb 15 and 16 and released its recommendation on the WHO's Web site. The group recommends the following for next season's vaccine: