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(CIDRAP News) Seasonal influenza activity in the United States slowed last week for the second week in a row, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in a surveillance update today.
Widespread activity was reported in 47 statestwo fewer than the previous week. Regional activity was reported in Massachusetts, Mississippi, and New Mexico. The District of Columbia reported only local activity.
(CIDRAP News) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced the appointment of two committees to help address public worries about the safety of a biodefense laboratory under construction in Boston, 3 months after the National Research Council (NRC) sharply criticized an NIH risk assessment of the project.
(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO) today reported that an 11-year-old Egyptian boy is hospitalized in critical condition with an H5N1 avian influenza infection, a day after the agency announced the death of a 25-year-old Egyptian woman from the virus.
(CIDRAP News) Starting next fall, how will the healthcare system get influenza vaccine into the arms (or noses) of tens of millions of additional children each year, given that the vaccination season is limited and many children don't have regular medical checkups?
Editor's note: This story was revised Mar 6 to include a clarification about the frequency of mutations in influenza viruses.
(CIDRAP News) Indonesia's health ministry said today that H5N1 avian influenza virus samples it sent to a World Health Organization (WHO) laboratory in the United States in February showed no signs of dangerous mutations, according to a Reuters report.
(CIDRAP News) A Las Vegas man remained unconscious today with suspected ricin poisoning after the deadly toxin derived from castor beans was found in his Las Vegas motel room last week, according to news services.
(CIDRAP News) Health officials in Egypt announced on Mar 1 that a 25-year-old woman who is hospitalized with severe respiratory symptoms has an H5N1 avian influenza infection.
(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced interim measures to verify and assess humane handling procedures at federally inspected slaughtering facilities as it continues investigating charges of animal cruelty involving "downer" cattle at a California company.
(CIDRAP News) A federal district judge has dismissed a lawsuit aiming to stop the Pentagon's mandatory anthrax vaccination program for troops serving in some areas overseas, the Associated Press (AP) reported today.
Judge Rosemary M. Collyer in Washington, DC, said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acted appropriately when it determined the vaccine was safe and approved its use, according to the AP.
(CIDRAP News ) This year's influenza epidemic showed signs of tapering off last week, but flu was still widespread in every state except Florida, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.
At the same time, the CDC issued a notice aiming to remind clinicians to consider prescribing the antiviral drugs known as neuraminidase inhibitors to treat or prevent flu.
(CIDRAP News) India scored a commendable success in stamping out its worst-ever H5N1 avian influenza outbreak, which occurred over the past 2 months in West Bengal state, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said yesterday, but it warned that outbreaks will recur unless the country stays on guard.
(CIDRAP News) The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) today recommended influenza vaccination for all school-age children, boosting the number of children targeted for flu shots by about 30 million.
The ACIP, whose recommendations are routinely adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said children from ages 5 through 18 should get flu shots, the CDC announced in a news release.
(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO), in a survey released yesterday, said the global number of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) cases rose to a new high and is particularly worrisome in China and in former Soviet Union countries.
(CIDRAP News) Officials from California and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a final report on a 2006 Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with iceberg lettuce from Taco John's restaurants in Iowa and Minnesota, revealing that wastewater from nearby dairy operations might have contaminated irrigation water.
(CIDRAP News) Deaths from H5N1 avian influenza were reported today in two women, one from southern China and the other from Vietnam, as officials in Egypt announced that a 4-year-old girl has been hospitalized with an H5N1 infection.
(CIDRAP News) Agriculture officials in China announced today that the H5N1 avian influenza virus has struck poultry in the southwestern part of the country, a day after new outbreaks were reported in Pakistan, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.
(CIDRAP News) An official from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is a collaborating laboratory for the World Health Organization (WHO), today said Indonesia's health ministry is sending 15 H5N1 influenza samples for virus characterization, the first the country has shared since last year.
(CIDRAP News) Influenza activity was widespread in 49 US states by the end of last week, up from 44 states a week earlier, but the epidemic's growth was not as dramatic as it was the previous week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.
(CIDRAP News) With many of the influenza viruses now infecting people not matched well by this year's flu vaccine, a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee recommended yesterday that producers use three new flu strains in next season's vaccine, replacing all three components of this year's version.
(CIDRAP News) Officials at Texas A&M University announced yesterday that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has accepted the school's offer to pay a $1 million fine in connection with a 2007 report on several safety violations at its biodefense laboratory.
