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May 8

Healthcare system not ready for attack with hemorrhagic fever viruses

GAO reports increased foodborne disease in schools, urges more safety steps

(CIDRAP News) Foodborne disease outbreaks in public schools increased about 10% per year and made 16,000 students sick in the 1990s, according to the US General Accounting Office (GAO). The agency recommends the creation of a single federal food safety agency with increased authority as one of several steps to improve food safety in the schools.

May 7

Jerome Hauer to succeed D. A. Henderson in public health preparedness post

Donald A. Henderson, MD, is leaving his position as director of the federal Office of Public Health Preparedness, to be succeeded by Jerome M. Hauer, former emergency management director for New York City.

May 6

Camelpox and smallpox viruses called very close relatives

The close kinship between camelpox and smallpox viruses suggests that camelpox could become a threat to humans through natural processes or genetic engineering, according to researchers who sequenced the virus.

May 3

Drug-resistant Salmonella infections linked with higher mortality

In a Danish study, patients who had infections with a common drug-resistant type of Salmonella enterica were more than twice as likely to die within 2 years as patients infected with drug-susceptible variants of the same strain.

May 2

Single gene change enabled plague bacterium to ride in fleas

A single gene change enabled a recent ancestor of Yersinia pestis to use fleas as its transmission vehicle, launching the transformation of a relatively benign microbe into the agent that causes plague.

May 1

Factors governing infectiousness of anthrax still mysterious, experts say

(CIDRAP News) A lengthy report by an expert panel on anthrax generally echoes treatment and prevention recommendations made by federal health officials last fall while highlighting how little is known about the epidemiology of the disease, especially how many spores it takes to cause infection.

Robert Roos

Apr. 30

Researchers: Restrict farm use of antibiotics before, but not after, human bugs become resistant

Study using a new mathematical model suggests that continued farm use of antibiotics has little further effect once a resistant strain is established in humans.

Apr. 26

Additional anthrax spores found at USAMRIID didn't escape lab

Nonpathogenic anthrax spores that were found in environmental sampling at USAMRIID last weekend were in a contained laboratory, not a noncontained area as indicated previously, an Army spokesman said.

Mass smallpox vaccination in US could cause 285 deaths

Study from the University of Michigan in the current issue of Effective Clinical Practice gives estimates of what would happen if the general population got the vaccine.

USDA says Salmonella in meat and poultry is declining; further control steps planned

(CIDRAP News) Salmonella contamination of raw meat and poultry has dropped substantially since the inspection system known as Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (PR/HACCP) debuted in 1998, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Robert Roos

Apr. 23

FDA says pufferfish caught off Florida may contain neurotoxin

The FDA has warned against eating pufferfish caught near Titusville, Fla., in the wake of 10 cases of neurologic illness that have been linked with the fish since January.

Anthrax escapes lab room at USAMRIID; one worker exposed

Rundown on an incident that has led to enhanced environmental and occupational health procedures at the facility.

Robert Roos

FDA says pufferfish caught off Florida may contain neurotoxin

The FDA has warned against eating pufferfish caught near Titusville, Fla., in the wake of 10 cases of neurologic illness that have been linked with the fish since January.

Robert Roos

Apr. 19

British woman living in Florida has probable case of vCJD

(CIDRAP News) A British woman living in Florida has what appears to be the first case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) reported in a US resident, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Foodborne bacterial disease rates dropped 23% from 1996 to 2001, CDC says

The incidence of seven commmon foodborne bacterial diseases dropped 23% between 1996 and 2001, at least in part because of new meat-processing safety rules and other federal food safety efforts in the last few years, according to the CDC.

Robert Roos

Apr. 18

FDA approves cosmetic use of botulinum toxin

(CIDRAP News) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week endorsed a widespread cosmetic procedure by approving the use of botulinum toxin type A to temporarily smooth frown lines between the eyebrows.

Apr. 17

FDA ruling on enrofloxacin use in poultry is more than a year away

A ruling by the Food and Drug Administration on whether to stop the use of enrofloxacin in poultry because of concern about antimicrobial resistance is more than a year away, according to a hearing schedule laid out by an FDA official.

Robert Roos

Apr. 15

FDA warns of infection risk in powdered infant formulas

(CIDRAP News) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), citing a risk of serious infections with Enterobacter sakazakii, has recommended that milk-based powdered infant formulas not be used in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) unless there is no alternative.

Apr. 12