CIDRAP newsletters options
WHO confirms Vietnam's recent H5N1 deathThe World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the death of a 23-year-old woman from H5N1 avian influenza. Her Feb 21 death raises the country's death toll to 53 among 109 cases, second only to Indonesia, which has 141 WHO-confirmed cases.[Feb 24 WHO statement]
Feb 23, 2009
(CIDRAP News) In a development that could create new tools to prevent and treat seasonal and pandemic influenza, researchers have identified and tested human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that can neutralize influenza A viruses, including lethal H5N1 avian influenza.
(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported a spike in the number of pediatric influenza deaths, an increase that mirrors a continuing rise in flu activity across the nation.
Feb 20, 2009
(CIDRAP News) The National Governors Association (NGA) today issued a report to help states protect their workforce and sustain key government functions such as law enforcement and water treatment during an influenza pandemic.
Editor's note: The item on the Salmonella outbreak was revised Feb 19 to correct information on case numbers for specific states.
(CIDRAP News) A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee today recommended that pharmaceutical companies use one new influenza strain, the B component, in next season's flu vaccine.
(CIDRAP News) From stigmatization of people exposed to the virus to maintaining methadone treatment facilities, public health officials need to plan for a wide spectrum of mental health challenges that would likely emerge during an influenza pandemic, federal officials said today at a US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) live Web seminar (webinar).
Feb 17, 2009
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offered additional evidence today that the Peanut Corp of America (PCA) plant in Blakely, Ga., may not be the only PCA facility that has contributed to the nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked to peanut products.
(CIDRAP News) A news report over the weekend linked six Salmonella cases in Colorado to peanut butter made from peanuts produced by Peanut Corp. of America's (PCA's) plant in Plainview, Tex., but the natural-foods retail chain that made the peanut butter says tests have found no contamination in samples.
Vietnam reports new H5N1 caseA Vietnamese man has tested positive for H5N1 avian influenza, according to an Associated Press (AP) story today. The 35-year-old man from Ninh Binh province in the north developed a fever Feb. 5 after slaughtering and eating several ducks that his family had raised, said a provincial health official. If confirmed by the World Health Organization, his case would be the country's 109th overall and second this year.
(CIDRAP News) Because of a suboptimal match between this year's flu vaccine and circulating influenza B viruses, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended changing one of the three strains used in flu vaccines for the Northern Hemisphere next fall and winter.
(CIDRAP News) With money for pandemic influenza preparedness stripped from a huge economic stimulus bill that appears headed for final congressional approval, public health advocates say they have to look to the regular budgeting process for the next chance to get some pandemic funding.
Feb 12, 2009
(CIDRAP News) A spokesman for Panasonic Corp. said today that the company had no proprietary information about any increased risk of an influenza pandemic in December 2008 when it instructed some of its overseas employees to send their families back to Japan by September.
(CIDRAP News) – In a ruling that aligns with numerous research studies, a special federal court today rejected claims by three sets of parents that vaccines caused their children's autism.
The US Court of Federal Claims ruled against claims that autism was triggered by measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine or by MMR vaccine in combination with vaccines containing thimerosal.
(CDRAP News) Angry Congress members vowed to give federal food safety regulators more power today as executives from the peanut processing company linked to the nationwide Salmonella outbreak refused to answer questions at a committee hearing.
