News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) today said flu transmission is increasing across the European Union (EU), led by a spike in the United Kingdom, and warned people in recommended groups to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

(CIDRAP News) – The United Kingdom is on the leading edge of an increase in influenza activity in Europe, with 57 respiratory disease outbreaks and an increase in critically ill patients and deaths reported in the country last week, according to the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA).

(CIDRAP News) – A West Nile virus (WNV) seroprevalence study of Italian organ donors revealed that 1.2% of 1,248 serum samples were positive and that some of the donors who had been exposed to the virus were from regions where infection wasn't thought to be a risk.

(CIDRAP News) – An independent committee set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) to review its pandemic response wrapped up a 3-day meeting today, during which members heard testimony from widely divergent groups, from health officials to some of its most public critics.

(CIDRAP News) – European countries won't likely experience another wave of pandemic H1N1 influenza cases this spring and summer, though the virus will probably continue to circulate and be the region's dominant strain for the next flu season, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Though pandemic flu activity continues to fall across much of the Northern Hemisphere, some parts of the world are hot spots for the virus, including parts of Europe, North Africa, and South Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.