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(CIDRAP News) – Dutch researchers report that they have discovered a new human coronavirus—a close relative of the agent of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)—that causes respiratory illness in infants and immunocompromised adults.

(CIDRAP News) – South Korea today reported its first outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in more than 6 weeks.

News of the Korean outbreak came 2 days after Vietnam reported its 16th human death from H5N1 avian flu and 3 days after international animal health officials again warned Asian countries not to declare victory over the disease too soon.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completed its recommendations for next season's influenza vaccine, calling for inclusion of the A Fujian viral strain that caused most flu cases in the United States this winter.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed today that it has licensed two different rapid screening tests for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) for use in USDA laboratories.

(CIDRAP News) – Two air-purifying respirators (APRs), or gas masks, have been named as the first such devices to be certified under a federal program to test masks for protecting emergency workers from chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) exposures.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) moved a step closer this week to banning the use of a fluoroquinolone antibiotic in poultry on the ground that the drug promotes the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can harm human health.

(CIDRAP News) – Nine out of 250 people who received their first smallpox shots in a recent study reacted with a variety of self-limiting skin rashes, a side effect that could be mistaken for a serious reaction to the vaccine, according to a report in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

(CIDRAP News) – Thailand reported its eighth fatal human case of H5N1 avian influenza today, while China announced it was lifting quarantine orders for the last two of 49 areas affected by the disease, according to news service reports.

Editor's note: Some material was added to this story Mar 16.

(CIDRAP News) – A study in which mice developed antibodies to the SARS coronavirus indicates that efforts to make a SARS vaccine that would trigger the production of antibodies are on the right track, according to federal health officials.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week published guidelines for the development of drugs to treat the side effects of smallpox vaccination, an area in which the federal government is investing substantial research funds.

(CIDRAP News) – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced plans today to buy up to 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine, or enough to inoculate 25 million people.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is inviting another round of comments on a proposal to allow imports of live Canadian cattle, which were halted when a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was found in Alberta last May.

(CIDRAP News) – Asia's battle with avian influenza continued as new outbreaks were reported in Thailand and Taiwan, while the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned countries not to rebuild their flocks prematurely.

(CIDRAP News) – Two studies announced by federal health officials today suggest that modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA), a weakened form of the conventional smallpox vaccine, could provide a safer way to provide smallpox immunity to people at risk for complications from the standard vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – An avian influenza outbreak on a commercial poultry farm in eastern Maryland was confirmed over the weekend by the US Department of Agriculture's National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, jump-starting quarantines, culling, and widespread testing.

(CIDRAP News) – The dengue fever epidemic in Indonesia continues to spread, with almost 400 deaths and more than 26,000 cases since January 1, according to a number of news sources. Dr. Rita Kusriastuti, an official with the Indonesian Ministry of Health, said that more than 390 people had died of the mosquito-borne disease and that at least 30 of 32 provinces had reported cases, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) story today.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week approved use of a spray containing the active ingredient in mouth rinses and throat lozenges as a way of reducing poultry-related foodborne illnesses. The chemical, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), will soon be marketed as a spray under the name Cecure for poultry processing companies to apply to raw poultry.

(CIDRAP News) – A new government-wide effort to sustain the cutting-edge life sciences research for which the United States is known but to also guard against misuse of the knowledge and technologies growing from this research was announced today by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson.

(CIDRAP News) – In the face of a possible risk of birth defects, federal health officials are recommending careful evaluation of infants born to women with a history of West Nile virus (WNV) illness during pregnancy.