News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced seven new research grant programs to speed efforts to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases related to bioterrorism.

(CIDRAP News) – Tularemia, one of the six diseases considered most likely to be spread by bioterrorists, remains uncommon in the United States, with 1,368 cases reported between 1990 and 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has released a 68-page report on its plan for expanding research on "Category A" bioterrorism agents: anthrax, smallpox, plague, tularemia, viral hemorrhagic fevers, and botulism.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning of a possible risk of tularemia transmission from pet prairie dogs because of an outbreak at a Texas company that distributes the animals nationwide and internationally.

(CIDRAP News) – A study focusing on the two plasmids, or extrachromosomal DNA rings, usually found in Bacillus anthracis cells helps explain why different varieties of anthrax differ significantly in virulence.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services yesterday announced $350 million in grants for eight regional centers to lead and coordinate research on defenses against bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials yesterday released a 37-page report that they say demonstrates "tremendous progress" in developing countermeasures for bioterrorism through federally funded research since early 2002.

(CIDRAP News) – Air monitoring devices in Houston recently picked up fragments of the bacteria that cause tularemia, but no human cases of the disease have been found, Houston health officials reported yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Albany Medical College in Albany, N.Y., has received an $8.3 million federal grant to study pulmonary tularemia, with the main emphasis on developing a vaccine, college officials announced last week.

The grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will fund tularemia research at the college for 4½ years, the college said in a news release.

(CIDRAP News) – The Bush administration today proposed a $274 million program to improve the nation's alertness for bioterrorism by measures such as increasing environmental monitoring, analyzing health data, and inspecting crops and livestock.