News & Perspective

If the H7N9 influenza virus now circulating in China evolves into a pandemic strain, the world is likely to have great difficulty providing adequate supplies of an effective vaccine in time to blunt its impact, according to a viewpoint article by three experts in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

(CIDRAP News) – Another patient in China has died from an H7N9 influenza infection, raising the number of fatal illnesses to 32, though no new cases were reported today, holding the overall case total to 131.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported the death today in an update based on information from China's National Health and Family Planning Commission.

(CIDRAP News) – Three new cases yesterday, with two deaths, increased a cluster of novel coronavirus (nCoV) cases in eastern Saudi Arabia to 13, and authorities confirmed that the illnesses are associated with a healthcare facility.

Saudi Arabian officials and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported three more novel coronavirus (nCoV) cases today in the same area of Saudi Arabia as seven cases reported yesterday, raising worries about possible person-to-person transmission.

Editor's note: This story was revised on Apr 20, 2013, to correct the number of H5N1 cases that occurred in the same province as H7N9 cases and to correct the time from onset of illness to death in H7N9 cases.

(CIDRAP News) – Beijing health authorities today confirmed an H7N9 infection in a 7-year-old girl who lives in the city, the first case to be detected outside of eastern China, according to Chinese media sources.

(CIDRAP News) – Chinese health officials yesterday announced three severe respiratory infections, two of them fatal, from H7N9 influenza, a subtype that has not been known to infect humans before.

(CIDRAP News) – A presidential bioethics commission asked to study whether anthrax vaccine trials should be conducted in children before an event occurs released its assessment today, spelling out several steps that would need to be taken before research could proceed.