News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A report by an epidemiologist sent by France to assist Haiti with the cholera response said United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces from Nepal are the most likely source of the outbreak, though others deny the claims or say the findings are inconclusive.

(CIDRAP News) –Cholera deaths are climbing in southwestern Haiti, an area that had been previously spared by the outbreak, as health officials face prevention challenges from local beliefs that the disease is caused by supernatural forces.

(CIDRAP News) – Combining two antiviral drugs, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), has been suggested as a way to improve treatment of influenza, but a clinical study from France suggests that oseltamivir alone works better, at least in otherwise healthy adults with uncomplicated influenza A/H3N2 infections.

(CIDRAP News) – In a flu vaccine update at a federal advisory meeting today, officials with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said early signs suggest flu vaccine uptake in children is on par with last year and that enhanced monitoring for narcolepsy and seizures has turned up no signals of trouble.