News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – In a new study, Chinese hospital staffers who wore N95 respirators all the time enjoyed significantly lower rates of clinical respiratory illnesses (CRIs) than workers who wore surgical masks or used N95s only for high-risk procedures.

(CIDRAP News) – The influenza vaccine that was developed to fight the 2009 pandemic saved roughly 300 lives and prevented about 1 million illnesses and 6,000 hospitalizations, or under 3% of the estimated total burden in each category, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first influenza vaccine produced with the help of an insect virus and recombinant DNA technology, an approach the agency says may make it possible to start production faster in the event of a flu pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – The House of Representative's final approval last night of a deal to stave off severe "fiscal cliff" budget cuts protects public health preparedness funding, at least for the next 2 months.

(CIDRAP News) – A new report from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offers a few predictions on when certain new countermeasures against biological threats will become available, including a forecast for two novel influenza drugs and possibly a next-generation anthrax vaccine within the next 5 years.