CIDRAP newsletters options
(CIDRAP News) In an experiment designed to mimic events that could launch an influenza pandemic, a synthetic influenza virus made by combining an H5N1 avian flu virus with a human flu virus turned out to be no more contagious in an animal model than the natural H5N1 virus, US scientists are reporting this week.
(CIDRAP News) A Thai province is culling 300,000 chickens after a laboratory test confirmed an avian influenza outbreak, and the country's health ministry is monitoring 80 patients who are suspected of having avian flu.
(CIDRAP News) Laos has reported its first major outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in more than 2 years, on a poultry farm in an area bordering part of Thailand that has recently been hit by the disease.
(CIDRAP News) Researchers who studied Iowa duck hunters and wildlife workers have reported the first laboratory evidence of transmission of an avian influenza virus from wild birds to humans, though not the deadly H5N1 strain.
(CIDRAP News) – Washington state health officials said yesterday that 60 people have become ill after eating raw oysters from the state's coastal waters in recent weeks, well above the normal reported total for a whole year.
(CIDRAP News) An H5N1 avian influenza vaccine made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) triggered a good immune response in human volunteers at a much lower dose than other H5N1 vaccines reported so far, which means that hundreds of millions of doses could be produced by next year, the company announced today.
(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed today that a 17-year-old boy who died on Jul 24 in the Phichit province of northern Thailand had H5N1 avian influenza, marking the country's first case this year.
The WHO statement said the case was confirmed by Thailand's Ministry of Health. The country had not recorded a human H5N1 case since December; its toll now stands at 23 cases with 15 deaths.
(CIDRAP News) Three international health agencies announced yesterday the launch of a joint early warning system to allow a quicker response to animal diseases that can spread to humans (zoonoses).
(CIDRAP News) Pharmaceutical maker Roche has drawn sharp criticism for promoting the sale of its antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to businesses while governments stockpiling the drug for defense against a possible flu pandemic wait to receive their own supplies, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.
(CIDRAP News) Thailand is facing its first outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in birds in 8 months, along with flu-like illnesses in a number of people in areas with sick birds, according to news services.
(CIDRAP News) In the wake of two outbreaks of Salmonella infection involving 29 cases, Minnesota health officials are warning the public to be careful when cooking frozen, pre-browned chicken entrees.
The outbreaks prompted state health and agriculture officials yesterday to "strongly advise" people not to cook stuffed chicken entrees in microwave ovens because of the risk of uneven and incomplete cooking.
(CIDRAP News) The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday announced a contract with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) that will allow states to add the influenza drug zanamivir (Relenza) to their federally subsidized antiviral stockpiles.
(CIDRAP News) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a new position that involves directing the evaluation of products for emerging and pandemic disease threats and has named veteran staff member Mark Goldberger, MD, MPH, to fill it.
Goldberger has been appointed "medical director for emerging and pandemic disease threats" in the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), the agency announced yesterday.
(CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization (WHO) reference laboratory confirmed today that a 44-year-old man who died on Jul 12 near Jakarta had H5N1 avian influenza.
The WHO announcement brings Indonesia’s official avian flu toll to 54 cases with 42 deaths. The country is now tied with Vietnam for the most deaths.
(CIDRAP News) The US government's expanded testing program for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) will be cut back soon, having shown that the nation has "no significant BSE problem," Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said today.
(CIDRAP News) The role of state officials in an influenza pandemic has been hazy, but the focus became clearer yesterday when the National Governors Association (NGA) released a guide that spells out key planning issues for top state officials.
(CIDRAP News) A US Senate committee today approved a bill packed with a wide variety of provisions designed to improve the nation's ability to handle public health emergencies, including pandemic influenza.
(CIDRAP News) The federal government on Jun 30 announced a subsidy to help states buy the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to build stockpiles in preparation for a potential influenza pandemic, but so far, few states have said they intend to use the program.
(CIDRAP News) Novartis, the Swiss-based drug manufacturer, today announced plans to build what it says will be the first US plant to make cell-culture-based influenza vaccines.
The facility will be built in Holly Springs, N.C., at a total cost of about $600 million, the company said in a news release. It will be able to produce about 50 million doses of seasonal trivalent (three-strain) flu vaccine annually.
(CIDRAP News) – A man is being treated for cutaneous (skin) anthrax and 36 farms are under quarantine because of livestock deaths in what has been called the largest anthrax outbreak in the history of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
The disease has killed 149 animals on the quarantined farms in northeastern Saskatchewan, according to today's update from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
