News & Perspective

– WASHINGTON, DC (CIDRAP News) – Health authorities must remain alert to new and renascent disease threats, experts warned this week at an international medical meeting.

(CIDRAP News) – Friday's announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that influenza appears to be slowing down has left medical personnel relieved for the imminent end of a harsh flu season.

But it has also left them worried over weaknesses that the season exposed in public health's ability to anticipate flu's behavior, and over doubts raised among their patients by the flu vaccine's diminished effectiveness.

(CIDRAP News) – School-based vaccination could be a cost-effective option for preventing influenza in school-age children and their families, according to a recent multistate trial.

(CIDRAP News) – The count of West Nile virus (WNV) cases in the United States so far this year remains ahead of last year's pace, but fewer severe cases have been reported, according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – The number of West Nile virus (WNV) cases reported so far this season has dramatically outpaced the number reported at about this time last summer, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – The number of illnesses related to West Nile virus (WNV) in the United States rose in 2006 for the second year in a row, after a dramatic decline in 2004, suggesting that the virus will remain endemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Editor's note: Because of a technical problem, this story was not published until Mar 27.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) opened a meeting with Asian health officials in Jakarta today to hear their concerns about access to H5N1 influenza vaccines and discuss solutions that might allow researchers to regain unrestricted access to H5N1 samples.

(CIDRAP News) – The first fully automated test to screen donors of blood, tissue, and organs for West Nile virus (WNV) was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

(CIDRAP News) – Forty-one states and the District of Columbia have reported a total of 3,830 cases of West Nile virus (WNV) infection, including 119 deaths, so far this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.