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(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will soon release about 20% of the $1 billion in bioterrorism preparedness funding that is slated to go to states this year, HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced Jan 25.

(CIDRAP News) – Thousands of people who were potentially exposed to anthrax last fall will be interviewed over the next 8 weeks to assess the results of their postexposure antibiotic treatment, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Food safety regulators and specialists from around the world will meet in Marrakech, Morocco, Jan 28 through 30 in what the World Health Organization (WHO) calls the first global meeting dealing with methods to ensure food safety.

(CIDRAP News) – British and American scientists have teamed up with several technology corporations in seeking to enlist personal-computer (PC) owners from around the world in the hunt for a molecule that can keep the anthrax toxin out of human cells.

Jan 22, 2001 (CIDRAP News) – The case of a postal inspector who handled anthrax-tainted equipment and came down with a lingering anthrax-like illness—but never had clear evidence of the organism in his body—continues to puzzle his physicians nearly 3 months after he first got sick.

(CIDRAP News) – A preliminary study linking anthrax vaccinations in pregnant women with an increased risk of birth defects in their babies has prompted the US military to step up efforts to prevent immunization of pregnant women.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent survey of more than 10,000 people in seven states found no connection between people's risk factors for foodborne illness, such as risky food-handling habits, and their willingness to buy irradiated meat and poultry, according to a report in the December Journal of Food Protection.

(CIDRAP News) – Salmonella standards for meat and poultry will be among several topics on the table when the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) meets Jan 22 to 25 in Washington, DC.

(CIDRAP News) – Dozens of people in California and neighboring states contracted Salmonella infections from eating raw alfalfa sprouts last year in an episode that has prompted the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to renew its warning that people with weak immune systems should not eat sprouts.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials revealed this week that they are working on a plan to use immune globulin derived from the blood of anthrax-vaccinated military personnel for emergency treatment of patients with severe cases of inhalational anthrax, if needed.

(CIDRAP News) – A recent analysis of ground pork in grocery stores in five states showed that 4% of the samples contained enterococci with high-level resistance to gentamicin, an antibiotic used to treat enterococcal infections in humans. In addition, most Enterococcus faecium isolates were resistant to quinupristin-dalfopristin (Synercid), a streptogramin antibiotic used to treat infections caused by vancomycin-resistant E faecium.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has released two sets of guidelines designed to help food-related businesses of all kinds prevent food contamination and tampering by criminals or terrorists.

(CIDRAP News) – A new nuclear medicine technique using a radioisotope-labeled antibody has shown enough promise for early diagnosis of anthrax infection to gain the Food and Drug Administration's approval for a clinical trial, according to a recent report in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

(CIDRAP News) – Experience suggests that public health authorities should treat the public as a key partner in responding to bioterrorist attacks, rather than as a potential source of panic and chaos, say two commentators writing in the Jan 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Jan 2, 2001 (CIDRAP News) – Aside from Capitol Hill staff members, only 52 of more than 3,500 people who have been offered the anthrax vaccine because of the recent mail attacks have decided to take it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed a new inspection of BioPort Corp., the only US manufacturer of the anthrax vaccine, and a company official is predicting approval of the facility after a few remaining concerns are ironed out.

(CIDRAP News) – In a flurry of pre-adjournment activity yesterday, Congress appropriated about $2.5 billion for bioterrorism preparedness, including $1 billion for state and local efforts, according to an aide to Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

Dec 4, 2003 (CIDRAP News) – Thousands of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers will help the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspect imported food under an agreement signed yesterday, according to the FDA.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will continue to test meat for Salmonella to confirm that meat processors' food safety systems are adequate, despite a court ruling that Salmonella tests can't be used to shut down a plant, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced this week.

(CIDRAP News) – Because of a small theoretical risk that anthrax spores can hide in the lungs for up to 100 days and grow after antibiotic treatment is stopped, the anthrax vaccine and an extension of antibiotic treatment will be offered to people who may have been exposed in the recent anthrax attacks, federal health officials announced yesterday afternoon.