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(CIDRAP News) – Two leading voices on the potential threat of lab-modified H5N1 viruses laid out their arguments about the human H5N1 fatality rate and undetected cases today and yesterday, with one group claiming "millions" likely have been infected and the other group saying current World Health Organization (WHO) fatality-rate estimates are about right.
(CIDRAP News) – Just why the US influenza season has been so tame thus far is uncertain, but the possible reasons include mild weather, vaccination, and high population immunity owing to a fairly stable set of circulating viruses, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official said today.
Feb 24, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – A coalition of 51 medical and health groups is urging congressional leaders to act within the next few months to boost the development of new antibiotics, saying the ongoing loss of effective ones due to bacterial resistance is becoming a crisis.
(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended changing two of the three strains in next season's influenza vaccine for the Northern Hemisphere, ending a couple of years of stability in the vaccine's makeup.
The WHO's flu experts called for changing the A/H3N2 and B components of the vaccine but continuing to use a strain of the pandemic 2009 virus for the A/H1N1 component.
Feb 22, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – Federal vaccine advisors today simplified their pertussis immunization recommendation for adults by advising that all those over age 19—including seniors 65 and older—should receive one dose of tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccine if they haven't received it already.
(CIDRAP News) – Pending the outcome of a review of lab safety issues, two disputed studies involving H5N1 viruses with increased transmissibility in mammals should be published in full, the editors of Nature say in an editorial published today.
The editors assert that the human health risks of not publishing the full papers seem greater than the biosecurity risks posed by publishing them.
(CIDRAP News) – The chair of the US biosecurity advisory board that recommended withholding details of two studies on H5N1 virus transmissibility today expressed a mixed reaction to last week's international meeting in which scientists and officials involved in the controversy called for eventually publishing the full studies.
(CIDRAP News) – The incidence of dairy-related foodborne illness outbreaks is 150 times higher in raw milk and is greater in states where the products are legal, researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.
Their 13-year review, coming amid one of the nation's largest outbreaks ever linked to raw milk, also found that patients affected by raw milk outbreaks are more likely to be sicker and younger.
Feb 21, 2012
Feb 20, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity in the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe continues to increase, but for the most part, levels of both mild and severe illness are low compared with past flu seasons, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.
Activity appears to have peaked in a few Northern Hemisphere locations, such as some countries in Western Europe, North Africa, and northern China, according to the WHO.
(CIDRAP News) – Flu and public health experts meeting at the World Health Organization (WHO) on issues surrounding two controversial H5N1 transmission studies today agreed on a plan to extend a voluntary research moratorium but publish the full results at a later date.
The temporary moratorium applies to new lab-modified H5N1 viruses, though the group agreed the research on naturally occurring H5N1 viruses must continue to protect public health.
Feb 17, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – Some experts involved in the controversy over two H5N1 transmission papers have called the pause in research and discussions over the dual-use nature of the work an "Asilomar moment," referring to a scientific meeting held in the 1970s to discuss the potential dangers of recombinant DNA research.
Feb 16, 2012
