News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – In a major effort to track influenza viruses in nature and learn more about how they interact with the human body, the federal government this week announced a $23-million-a-year program to fund research centers at six institutions around the country.

(CIDRAP News) – The outbreak of an unusual pig-related disease in China might be nearly spent, and evidence continued to point to Streptococcus suis as the cause, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Reports from China today put the number of human cases of the baffling disease spreading through pigs in several areas at high as 212, with some 134 people still hospitalized and at least 14 considered critical. The number of deaths so far stands at 38.

(CIDRAP News) – Reports on the mysterious pig-borne disease spreading among humans in China are numerous, with the number of cases closing in on 200 and fatalities standing at 34.

(CIDRAP News) – The next infectious disease to enter the United States might cross the border taped to a traveler's leg or tucked snugly under a tourist's hat.

Smuggling of wild animals has always posed hazards to human health, but the stakes may be getting higher today, given the role of animal hosts in lethal outbreaks such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and avian influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization has issued an alert over outbreaks of severe respiratory illness, including atypical pneumonia, that it has been investigating since mid-February in Vietnam, Hong Kong, and mainland China.