News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The United States has made little progress in the past year in improving its ability to blunt the impact of a biological weapons attack, says a new report from the commission Congress established to assess the nation's efforts to prevent and respond to terrorism.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials today released new guidance to help businesses prepare for an expected resurgence of novel H1N1 activity during the upcoming influenza season, a document that clarifies how long sick workers should stay home and suggests ways to keep employees safe and business disruptions at a minimum.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials recommended today that schools should not close down during novel H1N1 influenza outbreaks, though they emphasized that the advice is a guideline and that decisions should be made based on local conditions.

GAO criticizes choice of Kansas for animal disease lab, report saysA draft report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used a flawed analysis in deciding to locate a special animal disease laboratory in Manhattan, Kan., the Washington Post reported today. The GAO said DHS greatly underestimated the risk of an accidental release of dangerous pathogens from the lab, as the site is in a tornado-prone area.

(CIDRAP News) – Officials from several agencies recently converged on Miami's international airport to take part in a full-scale exercise of the federal government's risk-based strategy to slow the spread of a future pandemic influenza virus across US borders.

(CIDRAP News) – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has listed public health emergency preparedness and food safety as two of 13 "urgent issues" that will need attention from President-elect Barack Obama and the new Congress next year.

(CIDRAP News) – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a status report yesterday on progress states have made toward preparing for a flood of people needing medical care in the wake of an event such as a terrorist attack or an influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Five years after the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic spread around the globe via air travel, significant barriers still stand in the way of tracking down and notifying airline passengers who may have been exposed to an infectious disease.