News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – In an unprecedented move, the US government, following an advisory panel's advice, has asked the journals Science and Nature to omit key details of two studies on the transmissibility of dangerous mutant strains of H5N1 influenza viruses in ferrets on grounds that the information could be misused by bioterrorists.

(CIDRAP News) – In the film "Contagion," opening in theaters today, a respiratory virus from Malaysia makes its way from bats to humans, spreading quickly around the world and killing a high proportion of those infected. It's clearly an extreme scenario, but not an impossible one, say experts who have seen the movie.

(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) – Health officials investigating a cluster of Escherichia coli O104:H4 infections at a German school found a large number of asymptomatic infections in students and staff, a development that could pose new threats, the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) said yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has deleted the name of a German seed importer from a risk assessment report on the recent cluster of Escherichia coli cases in France, out of concern about potential unnecessary harm to the company, CIDRAP News learned today.

(CIDRAP News) – A spate of new reports on Germany's huge outbreak of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) is emphasizing the idea that the strain is unusually virulent, but the latest findings leave major questions about the outbreak unanswered.

(CIDRAP News) – German authorities investigating a possible sprout link to a large Escherichia coli outbreak said today that lab samples are negative so far, dashing hopes for a quick end to the investigation and adding more confusion to the search for the source.