News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The number of US gastroenteritis deaths more than doubled in 8 years, with Clostridium difficile and norovirus as the two most common culprits, researchers reported today at an infectious disease conference.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Senate's battle over pending food safety legislation erupted in a House of Representatives committee hearing on Salmonella in eggs today, where two illness victims gave a face to the outbreak and farm owners faced public questions for the first time, with one of them blaming feed ingredients for the contamination.

(CIDRAP News) – A day before the May 5 call toaction from the World Health Organization (WHO) to improve hand hygienepractices in healthcare workers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) held a clinicians teleconference on the topic and said it would unveil anew online resource tomorrow as part of the day's events.

(CIDRAP News) – A woman whose 7-year-old son became severely ill after eating tainted peanut butter crackers told a Senate committee today that the nation needs an electronic registry of foodborne disease cases to help public health agencies recognize outbreaks and find their causes faster.