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For some 2 million Americans registered with 260 embassies or consulates abroad, the US government says its Web site (www.pandemicflu.gov) is designed to provide the latest information on avian and pandemic influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – California scientists report that their analysis of the medical literature has yielded data on more than 600 molecular components of influenza A viruses that trigger immune responses, findings they hope will spur the search for vaccines offering protection against multiple flu strains.

(CIDRAP News) – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently gave preliminary approval for field use of the world's first vaccine to reduce Escherichia coli O157:H7 in cattle and thereby help keep it out of food.

(CIDRAP News) – In a recent update on pandemic influenza preparedness planning, the US government reported meeting more than 90% of a long list of objectives it set for itself about 6 months ago.

The report charts progress on a wide range of preparedness measures, from shoring up laboratory capabilities to planning for distribution of critical medical supplies and preparing checklists for various sectors of the economy.

(CIDRAP News) – A 26-year-old Egyptian man died of H5N1 avian influenza today, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported, bringing to 3 the number of deaths from the disease since Christmas Eve.

A 30-year-old woman died Dec 24, and a 15-year-old girl died Dec 25, several media outlets reported. The three patients become Egypt's 16th, 17th, and 18th cases and the country's 8th, 9th, and 10th deaths.

(CIDRAP News) – Scientists who analyzed mortality records from the 1918 influenza pandemic estimate that a similarly severe pandemic today would kill about 62 million people worldwide, the vast majority of them in the developing world.

(CIDRAP News) – More poultry have died of H5N1 avian influenza in Vietnamese provinces where the virus recently re-emerged, and the disease has spread to another province in South Korea and 3 more Nigerian states, according to news reports.

(CIDRAP News) – Government investigators were unable to determine where Canada's latest cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was born, making it impossible to tell how the animal was exposed to the disease or find other cows that might have been exposed, the Canadian government said this week.

(CIDRAP News) – The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking help from the public in figuring out how to allocate scarce supplies of influenza vaccine in the event of a flu pandemic.

In a Dec 14 Federal Register notice, HHS invited the public to submit comments on which groups should have priority for receiving pre-pandemic and pandemic vaccines and on related issues. The deadline for commenting is Jan 18, 2007.

Has your business taken into account what happens to your water supply when an influenza pandemic begins? 

(CIDRAP News) – The US government yesterday canceled its $877.5 million contract with VaxGen Inc. for a new anthrax vaccine, after problems with the vaccine's stability caused the company to miss a deadline for starting a clinical trial.

(CIDRAP News) – Vietnam's first major outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza since last year struck two poultry farms in the southern Mekong Delta recently, government officials reported yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Though the United States observed the fifth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks this fall, the nation's public health emergency preparedness has improved slowly and remains inadequate, according to a report last week from the nonprofit organization Trust for America's Health (TFAH).

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza vaccination coverage in children between 6 and 23 months old varied widely across the country in the 2005-06 flu season, the second season in which shots were recommended for that age-group, according to federal health officials.

(CIDRAP News) – Just before adjourning on Dec 9, the US Congress passed a bill to establish a new biodefense research and development agency and tune up the nation's public health emergency preparedness programs in a number of other ways.

(CIDRAP New) – The Institute of Medicine (IOM) weighed in with a clear "maybe" this week on whether community interventions such as school closures, quarantine, and respiratory etiquette could help blunt the impact of an influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Two studies reported in today's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine provide additional support for seasonal influenza immunization while shedding some light on questions about vaccination strategies and the efficacy of the vaccines.

(CIDRAP News) – A case-control investigation points to lettuce as the likeliest source of the Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Taco Bell restaurants, federal officials said today.

(CIDRAP News) – The cause of an Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Taco Bell restaurants remained elusive today as the number of cases increased to 67 in 5 states, according to federal officials.