News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – A health official in Uganda said yesterday that the Ebola outbreak in the western part of the country is receding, though it's too soon to say the disease has been contained, according to media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – Lobbying by the maker of the only US-licensed anthrax vaccine was a key factor in causing the federal government to cancel its big contract with VaxGen Inc. for a new anthrax vaccine that was expected to be safer, according to a report published yesterday by the Los Angeles Times.

(CIDRAP News) – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a guide to help communities retool their health-related call centers into systems for meeting the needs of the public in homes or shelters during emergencies such as a pandemic or bioterrorist attack.

(CIDRAP News) – The US government's attempt to add a next-generation anthrax vaccine to its stockpile failed because of a premature contract award, unrealistic expectations, and confusion about how the vaccine would be used, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative agency of Congress.

(CIDRAP News) – The US government recently awarded contracts totaling about $34 million to two companies for development of drugs to treat pneumonic plague, tularemia, and anthrax, three of the diseases terrorists are deemed most likely to try to exploit.

(CIDRAP News) – Two pharmaceutical companies recently announced they received federal biodefense grants totaling $21.5 million to support the development of products that could be used to counter an anthrax attack.

Elusys Therapeutics, based in Pine Brook, N.J, said in a Sep 25 statement that it had been awarded a $12 million contract to continue developing AnthrimTM, the company's late-stage anthrax treatment.

(CIDRAP News) – The federal government has awarded a $400 million contract to Emergent BioSolutions for another 18.75 million doses of anthrax vaccine, with a bonus to be paid if the company wins approval for extending the vaccine's shelf life.

(CIDRAP News) – Three University of Texas facilities have recently had laboratory accidents with dangerous pathogens, including the agents of anthrax, tularemia, and shigellosis, according to a statement yesterday from the Sunshine Project, a nonprofit group that monitors biodefense research safety.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers from the University of Michigan recently reported promising results in animal tests of an inhaled anthrax vaccine, offering hope for a vaccine that would cause fewer side effects and be easier to store and administer than the licensed vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – Two people from Danbury, Conn., were recently diagnosed with cutaneous anthrax infections, probably because of exposure to spores on untanned animal hides brought from Africa.