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(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.
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) 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.
(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 statestwo 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?
Editor's note: This story was revised Mar 6 to include a clarification about the frequency of mutations in influenza viruses.
(CIDRAP News) Indonesia's health ministry said today that H5N1 avian influenza virus samples it sent to a World Health Organization (WHO) laboratory in the United States in February showed no signs of dangerous mutations, according to a Reuters report.
(CIDRAP News) A Las Vegas man remained unconscious today with suspected ricin poisoning after the deadly toxin derived from castor beans was found in his Las Vegas motel room last week, according to news services.
(CIDRAP News) Health officials in Egypt announced on Mar 1 that a 25-year-old woman who is hospitalized with severe respiratory symptoms has an H5N1 avian influenza infection.
(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced interim measures to verify and assess humane handling procedures at federally inspected slaughtering facilities as it continues investigating charges of animal cruelty involving "downer" cattle at a California company.
(CIDRAP News) A federal district judge has dismissed a lawsuit aiming to stop the Pentagon's mandatory anthrax vaccination program for troops serving in some areas overseas, the Associated Press (AP) reported today.
Judge Rosemary M. Collyer in Washington, DC, said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acted appropriately when it determined the vaccine was safe and approved its use, according to the AP.
(CIDRAP News ) This year's influenza epidemic showed signs of tapering off last week, but flu was still widespread in every state except Florida, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.
At the same time, the CDC issued a notice aiming to remind clinicians to consider prescribing the antiviral drugs known as neuraminidase inhibitors to treat or prevent flu.
(CIDRAP News) India scored a commendable success in stamping out its worst-ever H5N1 avian influenza outbreak, which occurred over the past 2 months in West Bengal state, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said yesterday, but it warned that outbreaks will recur unless the country stays on guard.
(CIDRAP News) The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) today recommended influenza vaccination for all school-age children, boosting the number of children targeted for flu shots by about 30 million.
The ACIP, whose recommendations are routinely adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said children from ages 5 through 18 should get flu shots, the CDC announced in a news release.
(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO), in a survey released yesterday, said the global number of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) cases rose to a new high and is particularly worrisome in China and in former Soviet Union countries.
(CIDRAP News) Officials from California and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a final report on a 2006 Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with iceberg lettuce from Taco John's restaurants in Iowa and Minnesota, revealing that wastewater from nearby dairy operations might have contaminated irrigation water.
