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– ATLANTA (CIDRAP News) – Serious microbial threats, including drug-resistant influenza and foodborne pathogens, remain stubbornly persistent even as unpredictable new threats are emerging, researchers said this week at the leading international conference on new and resurgent infectious diseases.

(CIDRAP News) – An 11-year-old boy in northern Vietnam died recently of H5N1 avian influenza amid an ongoing spate of bird outbreaks in the country, according to news services and the World Health Organization (WHO).

– ATLANTA (CIDRAP News) – More than 10 years after the first appearance of avian influenza H5N1, it is time to acknowledge that the virus has become entrenched in many areas and to begin grappling with its social and economic effects, leading researchers said at a scientific meeting.

(CIDRAP News) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today warned that H5N1 avian influenza levels in Indonesia's poultry are so high that conditions may be ripe for the type of viral mutation that could spark an influenza pandemic.

– ATLANTA (CIDRAP News) – An Indonesian teenager has been brought forward as a case of simultaneous infection with seasonal and avian strains of influenza—a possibility that health planners have long warned could give rise to a pandemic flu strain.

(CIDRAP News) – In the early stages of an influenza pandemic, cases are spreading among migrant workers in Michigan. The state's health department has a supply of antiviral drugs from the federal stockpile and is using them to treat the sick, but, concerned about breaking federal rules, is withholding them from others exposed to the virus—thereby missing a chance to help contain it.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) unveiled a comprehensive pandemic influenza guidance document for states yesterday with the first of three live Web seminars (webinars) designed to assist state officials with planning activities.

(CIDRAP News) – Hong Kong school officials made an abrupt decision yesterday to close all primary schools for 2 weeks, starting today, in an effort to block a rising wave of seasonal influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – An investigation by acongressional oversight committee into the US Food and Drug Administration's(FDA's) inspection of fresh spinach revealed lax enforcement at facilities thathad violations.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers from Michigan State University have shown that genetic differences in Escherichia coli O157:H7 strains relate to virulence, confirming suspicions public health experts have had and shedding light on why patients in recent outbreaks seem to have had more severe symptoms.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers who specialize in geography and environmental risk recently assessed the vulnerability of the nation's major urban areas to terrorism events and found that the highest risk areas were broadly located across the eastern and southern seaboards.

(CIDRAP News) – Animal health officials in India reported that H5N1 avian influenza has resurfaced in West Bengal state, as officials in Vietnam said the virus has struck poultry in another province as well as a farm near Hanoi.

(CIDRAP News) – Friday's announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that influenza appears to be slowing down has left medical personnel relieved for the imminent end of a harsh flu season.

But it has also left them worried over weaknesses that the season exposed in public health's ability to anticipate flu's behavior, and over doubts raised among their patients by the flu vaccine's diminished effectiveness.

(CIDRAP News) – Egypt's health ministry announced recently that an 8-year-old boy has been hospitalized with an H5N1 avian influenza infection, the country's second such illness in a child in less than a week.

Editor's Note: CIDRAP's Public Health Practices online database showcases peer-reviewed practices, including useful tools to help others with their planning. This article is one of a biweekly series exploring the development of these practices. We hope that describing the process and context of these practices enhances pandemic planning.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials recently announced plans to get rid of their last remaining stocks of the decades-old smallpox vaccine Dryvax, as a newer vaccine takes its place in the national stockpile of emergency medical supplies.

(CIDRAP News) – Seasonal influenza activity in the United States slowed last week for the second week in a row, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in a surveillance update today.

Widespread activity was reported in 47 states—two fewer than the previous week. Regional activity was reported in Massachusetts, Mississippi, and New Mexico. The District of Columbia reported only local activity.

(CIDRAP News) – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced the appointment of two committees to help address public worries about the safety of a biodefense laboratory under construction in Boston, 3 months after the National Research Council (NRC) sharply criticized an NIH risk assessment of the project.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today reported that an 11-year-old Egyptian boy is hospitalized in critical condition with an H5N1 avian influenza infection, a day after the agency announced the death of a 25-year-old Egyptian woman from the virus.

(CIDRAP News) – Starting next fall, how will the healthcare system get influenza vaccine into the arms (or noses) of tens of millions of additional children each year, given that the vaccination season is limited and many children don't have regular medical checkups?