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(CIDRAP News) Thailand is facing its first outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza in birds in 8 months, along with flu-like illnesses in a number of people in areas with sick birds, according to news services.
(CIDRAP News) In the wake of two outbreaks of Salmonella infection involving 29 cases, Minnesota health officials are warning the public to be careful when cooking frozen, pre-browned chicken entrees.
The outbreaks prompted state health and agriculture officials yesterday to "strongly advise" people not to cook stuffed chicken entrees in microwave ovens because of the risk of uneven and incomplete cooking.
(CIDRAP News) The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday announced a contract with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) that will allow states to add the influenza drug zanamivir (Relenza) to their federally subsidized antiviral stockpiles.
(CIDRAP News) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created a new position that involves directing the evaluation of products for emerging and pandemic disease threats and has named veteran staff member Mark Goldberger, MD, MPH, to fill it.
Goldberger has been appointed "medical director for emerging and pandemic disease threats" in the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), the agency announced yesterday.
(CIDRAP News) The US government's expanded testing program for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) will be cut back soon, having shown that the nation has "no significant BSE problem," Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said today.
(CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization (WHO) reference laboratory confirmed today that a 44-year-old man who died on Jul 12 near Jakarta had H5N1 avian influenza.
The WHO announcement brings Indonesia’s official avian flu toll to 54 cases with 42 deaths. The country is now tied with Vietnam for the most deaths.
(CIDRAP News) The role of state officials in an influenza pandemic has been hazy, but the focus became clearer yesterday when the National Governors Association (NGA) released a guide that spells out key planning issues for top state officials.
(CIDRAP News) A US Senate committee today approved a bill packed with a wide variety of provisions designed to improve the nation's ability to handle public health emergencies, including pandemic influenza.
(CIDRAP News) The federal government on Jun 30 announced a subsidy to help states buy the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to build stockpiles in preparation for a potential influenza pandemic, but so far, few states have said they intend to use the program.
(CIDRAP News) Novartis, the Swiss-based drug manufacturer, today announced plans to build what it says will be the first US plant to make cell-culture-based influenza vaccines.
The facility will be built in Holly Springs, N.C., at a total cost of about $600 million, the company said in a news release. It will be able to produce about 50 million doses of seasonal trivalent (three-strain) flu vaccine annually.
(CIDRAP News) – A man is being treated for cutaneous (skin) anthrax and 36 farms are under quarantine because of livestock deaths in what has been called the largest anthrax outbreak in the history of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
The disease has killed 149 animals on the quarantined farms in northeastern Saskatchewan, according to today's update from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
(CIDRAP News) Indonesian health officials are reporting that a 44-year-old man who died last week tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus, according to news services.
If the man's lab results are confirmed by a World Health Organization (WHO) accredited laboratory in Hong Kong, he will be Indonesias 42nd avian flu fatality and 54th confirmed case. Also, Indonesia will be tied with Vietnam for the highest avian flu death toll.
(CIDRAP News) Canada yesterday confirmed its seventh case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, the second case verified this month.
(CIDRAP News) The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today that a new animal disease crisis management center will begin operating in late July at FAO headquarters in Rome, with an initial focus on H5N1 avian influenza.
(CIDRAP News) A 3-year-old girl who died on Jul 6 near Jakarta had Indonesia's 53rd case of H5N1 avian influenza, according to test results announced today by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Meanwhile, Bloomberg news reported last night that the only survivor of a recent family cluster of avian flu cases in Indonesia is being treated for brain abscesses.
(CIDRAP News) A chemical sanitizer now used in contact lens solutions and toothpaste may help solve the problem of keeping pathogens like Salmonella and Escherichia coli out of edible sprouts, according to a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Food Protection.
(CIDRAP News) State agriculture and health officials in Michigan are searching Chinese restaurants and Asian grocery stores for frozen poultry products smuggled from China in violation of an import ban sparked by avian influenza.
(CIDRAP News) Genetic studies show that the H5N1 avian influenza virus mutated multiple times as it spread through an Indonesia family in May, but the significance of the changes is uncertain, according to a news report today in Nature.
(CIDRAP News) The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released a guide to helps farmers protect crops and animals from security threats.
The guide, titled "Pre-Harvest Security Guidelines and Checklist 2006," offers voluntary, practical measures to help farmers protect crops and animals from natural disasters and naturally or intentionally introduced pathogens.
Editor's note: This story was expanded Jul 13 to include additional information on how the HHS funds can be used and when they will be awarded.
(CIDRAP News) The federal government today announced plans to distribute $225 million to states for pandemic influenza preparedness, the second round of grants for that purpose this year.
