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(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) vaccine advisory group today voted to follow the World Health Organization's (WHO's) lead in keeping the current three strains for 2011-12 seasonal flu vaccine.

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee helps guide pharmaceutical companies that will be making seasonal flu vaccine for the US market.

Two human plague cases reported in OregonTwo cases of human plague, the first in Oregon since 1995 and the only US cases in 2010, were reported by the Oregon Health Authority in September 2010, according to an article in today's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). The patients, ages 17 and 42, lived in the same household and had symptoms at the same time. Both had high fever and multiple bilateral inguinal buboes.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza activity edged upward in the United States last week, with more states reporting widespread cases and more clinic visits attributed to influenza-like illness (ILI), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

Forty-four states reported widespread flu activity in the week that ended Feb 19, compared with 37 states the week before. Four states had regional activity, versus 10 a week earlier.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced approval of what it calls the first test for preliminary identification of norovirus, intended for use in outbreaks in which there is a likely transmission pathway.

Feb 24, 2011

Feb 23, 2011

(CIDRAP News) – In their ongoing investigation of febrile seizures in young children who were vaccinated against flu this season, experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that they have detected a small excess risk of the condition in those who received the vaccine alongside the new pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – In the wake of a bad year for pertussis (whooping cough) in 2010, the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended today that healthcare personnel (HCP) get vaccinated against the disease and that employers should foot the bill.

Feb 22, 2011

(CIDRAP News) – The US Supreme Court today upheld a federal shield law for vaccine makers in its ruling against a Pennsylvania family who claim that a Wyeth vaccine is responsible for their daughter's seizure disorder.

Feb 21, 2011

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza activity persists at medium to high levels in most European Union countries but is showing signs of decreasing, according to the latest report from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity in the United States remains at high levels, with all areas of the country now reporting that doctor's visits for flu-like illnesses are above regional baselines, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

Thirty-seven states reported widespread flu activity last week, the same as the previous week's total. Ten states reported regional activity, up one from the previous week.

Feb 18, 2011

(CIDRAP News) – A cell-culture-derived influenza vaccine made by Baxter Bioscience provided about 71% protection against confirmed flu cases in young adults who participated in a large US clinical trial, a level similar to what has been seen with traditional egg-based vaccines, according to a report in The Lancet.

(CIDRAP News) – Signaling that the current flu strains are likely to persist over the next several months, the World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended sticking with the current trio of vaccine strains for the Northern Hemisphere's next influenza season.

The WHO's vaccine strain advisory committee met on Feb 15 and 16 and released its recommendation on the WHO's Web site. The group recommends the following for next season's vaccine:

Feb 17, 2011

(CIDRAP News) – The National Research Council's (NRC's) report on the FBI's anthrax investigation amounts to a general endorsement of the agency's scientific approach, even though the NRC found that the purely scientific evidence on the source of the anthrax used in the 2001 attacks was not conclusive, a leading anthrax expert said today.

(CIDRAP News) – A federal vaccine advisory group meeting in Washington, DC, today unveiled a new national vaccination strategy for the next decade and reviewed the latest information on influenza vaccination in the first year of a new universal recommendation.