News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said today it has found 130 suspected cases of plague, 57 of them fatal, in its ongoing investigation of an outbreak in the northeastern Congo.

In its previous update on Mar 9, the agency had reported 114 cases, including 54 deaths.

(CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization (WHO) team on a medical mission to contain a plague outbreak in the Congo has found more suspected cases, but the scope of the outbreak remains smaller than initially feared.

(CIDRAP News) – An outbreak of pneumonic plague in a lawless part of the Congo appears to be smaller and more geographically limited than was originally feared, according to recent reports.

(CIDRAP News) – An unusual outbreak of pneumonic plague that has killed at least 61 people and potentially sickened hundreds of others is the focus of a World Health Organization (WHO) mission in a war-torn area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

(CIDRAP News) – State Public Health Veterinarian Mira Leslie, DVM, MPH, hopes to greatly expand Washington's disease surveillance network Oct 1 when she speaks at a statewide veterinary meeting.

(CIDRAP News) – The bacterium that causes plague, Yersinia pestis, may have acquired its lethal traits by shedding genes found in a closely related bacterium that is less dangerous, according to a recent study.

(CIDRAP News) – A disease suspected to be plague has infected 1,042 people and killed 58 in a northeastern district of the Congo so far this year, according to a United Nations agency.

(CIDRAP News) – The US House this week overwhelmingly approved the "BioShield" bill to guarantee a market for antidotes to biological and chemical weapons, thereby sending the legislation to President Bush for his promised signature.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published a guidebook to help medical examiners and coroners detect and respond to bioterrorism.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Senate yesterday overwhelmingly passed "Project BioShield," a 10-year, $5.6 billion program to promote rapid development and use of drugs and vaccines to counter biological and chemical weapons.