News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Aiming to make imports safer, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will open four overseas offices by the end of the year, starting with China and followed by India, Europe, and Latin America, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced recently.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) held a 2-day meeting this week to gather feedback on its next proposed steps to reverse the recent increase in recalls and illnesses related to Escherichia coli O157:H7 in ground beef.

(CIDRAP News) – State and federal public health officials are managing two large Salmonella outbreaks, one linked to contaminated groundwater that has sickened as many as 216 people in Alamosa, Colo., and another that is apparently connected to imported Honduran cantaloupe and involves 59 illnesses in 16 states and Canada.

(CIDRAP News) – This week's health warnings about soft cheeses made from unpasteurized milk were based on 35 recent cases of tuberculosis in New York City that are believed to have been linked to raw-milk products.

Editor's note: Based on a Food and Drug Administration news release, the original version of this story incorrectly listed Ranchero as one type of soft cheese that may be made from raw milk The FDA later issued a clarification saying that Ranchero is a trademark of the Cacique Co. of Industry, Calif., for a cheese made with pasteurized milk.

(CIDRAP News) – Two billion people around the world get sick from unsafe food each year, but following five simple rules could significantly reduce that toll, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – When epidemiologists at Miami–Dade County Health Department noted an unusual rise in the incidence of typhoid fever during the winter of 1998-99, they faced a mystery. According to a report by Dolores J. Katz and associates in the Jul 15 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, the clues to the source of the outbreak represented a new arena for public health surveillance.