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(CIDRAP News) – Wildlife officials in Rhode Island recently announced that during routine surveillance they detected the low-pathogenic form of H7N3 avian influenza in wild mute swans.

The virus was detected in 4 of 11 swans collected from the Seekonk River, near the Swan Point Cemetery, about 4 miles northeast of Providence, according to an Aug 21 press release from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM).

(CIDRAP News) – It was secondary bacterial pneumonia—not the influenza virus by itself—that killed most of the millions who perished in the 1918 flu pandemic, which suggests that current pandemic preparations should include stockpiling of antibiotics and bacterial vaccines, influenza researchers reported this week.

(CIDRAP News) – Two national nonprofit health groups are offering local public health departments a shot in the arm for fall influenza vaccination efforts by helping them organize immunization clinics at or near polling places.

(CIDRAP News) – A nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked mainly to fresh hot peppers from Mexico is ending, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday, amid reports that contaminated shipments had been turned back at the US border well before the outbreak and that some restaurants and grocery stores are still buying the imported peppers.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved the use of irradiation to kill pathogens in fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce, which were linked to Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreaks that sickened hundreds of people in the fall of 2006.

(CIDRAP News) – In the largest study so far on long-term outcomes for patients with West Nile virus (WNV) infections, Canadian researchers have found that prognosis is good, though recovery was slightly longer for those with neuroinvasive disease.

(CIDRAP News) – The FBI, seeking to counter scientific skepticism on its investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks, insisted this week that the anthrax powder could have been made by one person and contained no "intentional additives" to make it more dispersible.

(CIDRAP News) – A study of the blood of older people who survived the 1918 influenza pandemic reveals that antibodies to the strain have lasted a lifetime and can perhaps be engineered to protect future generations against similar strains.

(CIDRAP News) – Public health officials from Indonesia recently published an analysis of nearly all of the country's H5N1 avian influenza cases, revealing that death was more likely in those who received antiviral treatment late, were not part of a cluster, and lived in an urban area.

(CIDRAP News) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) recently revealed conclusion that the late anthrax researcher Dr. Bruce Ivins committed the anthrax letter attacks of 2001 has been greeted with skepticism by many in the scientific community.

(CIDRAP News) – Scientists have warned it's impossible to predict which avian influenza virus will spark the next pandemic, and while most of the attention has been on highly pathogenic H5N1, one research group is reporting new findings that raise concerns about the threat from the low-pathogenic H9N2 virus.

(CIDRAP News) – In an online statement posted yesterday, the Indonesian government said 12 villagers from North Sumatra who were hospitalized for suspected avian influenza symptoms had tested negative for the disease, dampening speculation about a possible case cluster.

(CIDRAP News) – Two Maryland pharmaceutical companies recently announced that they have submitted proposals to produce and deliver at least 25 million doses of a next-generation anthrax vaccine to the nation's Strategic National Stockpile.

(CIDRAP News) – Nebraska Beef, Ltd., a processor based in Omaha, has recalled 1.2 million pounds of its beef after federal and state officials linked its products to a second multistate Escherichia coli O157H7 outbreak that has so far sickened 31 people in 12 states and Canada.

(CIDRAP News) – The global H5N1 avian influenza situation in birds improved in the first half of this year, but an H5N1 strain not previously seen in Africa recently cropped up in Nigeria, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

(CIDRAP News) – A new report from the British government ranks pandemic influenza very high on the list of major security threats to the United Kingdom.

(CIDRAP News) – Studies designed to tease out the benefits of seasonal influenza vaccines for elderly people have yielded conflicting results over the past few years, and now new findings suggest that the vaccine's ability to reduce the risk of pneumonia may be less than expected.

(CIDRAP News) – An Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak at a Boy Scout camp in Virginia has been linked to ground beef from a California company, prompting the firm to recall 153,630 pounds of beef, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported today.

Editor's note: This story was updated Aug 7 to include information about the start of influenza vaccine shipments by Novartis.

(CIDRAP News) – The six companies that make influenza vaccine for the US market have won federal approval for their version of this year's vaccine, in which all three flu strains used in last year's product have been replaced, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Massachusetts officials announced yesterday that they were investigating six Escherichia coli O157:H7 illnesses that are linked to a multistate outbreak, while Virginia officials report that E coli has sickened as many as 73 Boy Scouts at a camp.