News & Perspective

Swine reassortant suggests 2009 H1N1 virus could cause more troubleScientists have found a hybrid influenza virus in swine that combines elements of the pandemic 2009 H1N1 virus and a Eurasian swine flu virus, suggesting that continued circulation of the pandemic virus in pigs could lead to novel viruses with the ability to infect humans, according to a report published yesterday in the Journal of Virology. The detection of the pandemic virus in pigs prompted a flu

(CIDRAP News) – The global economic crisis and climate change are taking their toll on world health and may threaten the recognition and control of infectious diseases, Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said today at a global health forum.

– TORONTO (CIDRAP News) – Ten years after H5N1 avian influenza first began to raise fears of a potential pandemic, the world has a stronger set of tools to contain that virus and similar threats, but also a fresh awareness of humanity's vulnerability to fast-spreading diseases, experts said yesterday at an international conference on flu.