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(CIDRAP News) – An international research team led by the University of Wisconsin at Madison (UW-Madison) has identified a key mutation that would arm the H5N1 avian influenza virus with one of the tools it needs to more easily infect and spread among humans.

(CIDRAP News) – A US House of Representatives committee today explored problems at the nation's biodefense labs, including a lack of coordinated federal oversight and even a lack of knowledge of how many high-containment labs exist.

These concerns have been highlighted recently by aggressive efforts from the Sunshine Project, a watchdog group that monitors biodefense research safety, and by other media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – Two pharmaceutical companies recently announced they received federal biodefense grants totaling $21.5 million to support the development of products that could be used to counter an anthrax attack.

Elusys Therapeutics, based in Pine Brook, N.J, said in a Sep 25 statement that it had been awarded a $12 million contract to continue developing AnthrimTM, the company's late-stage anthrax treatment.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers from Beijing and New York who conducted pathology studies on tissue samples of a man and a pregnant woman who died of H5N1 avian flu infection found that the virus spread beyond the lungs to other organ systems—even to the fetus.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesia's health ministry announced today that a 21-year-old man who lived near Jakarta died of H5N1 avian influenza, according to media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – A New Jersey meat company recently expanded a recall of its ground beef to include 21.7 million pounds of frozen products that have been linked to as many as 25 Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections in eight states.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced the approval of an Australian-made influenza vaccine called Afluria for use in adults, raising the number of US-licensed flu vaccines to six.

The vaccine, made by CSL Limited, based in Parkville, Australia, was approved for protecting people aged 18 and older from type A and B influenza viruses.

(CIDRAP News) – Officials in Bangladesh and Thailand recently reported new H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks on chicken farms, and Canadian authorities today confirmed an outbreak of H7N3 influenza on a commercial poultry farm in Saskatchewan.

The outbreak in Bangladesh occurred in the country's northwestern Bogra district, about 105 miles from Dhaka, the capital, according to a report yesterday from Xinhua, China's state news agency.

(CIDRAP News) – More than 60 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the Republic of Congo since the beginning of this year, raising new concerns about the spread of the disease in humans.

(CIDRAP News) – The federal government has awarded a $400 million contract to Emergent BioSolutions for another 18.75 million doses of anthrax vaccine, with a bonus to be paid if the company wins approval for extending the vaccine's shelf life.

(CIDRAP News) – An Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee that studied issues concerning personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers in an influenza pandemic is calling for renewed efforts to learn how influenza viruses spread, promote proper use of PPE, and improve the equipment itself.

(CIDRAP News) – Eight more cases of Ebola hemorrhagic fever have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), bringing the total to 17, according to news services.

The cases were confirmed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization (WHO) spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in Geneva, according to an Associated Press (AP) report today. She said 6 of the 17 Ebola patients have died.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison (UW-Madison) worked on Ebola virus genetic material in a lab that lacked the required security measures, and federal agencies responsible for monitoring compliance didn't notice the problem, a watchdog group that monitors biodefense research safety reported recently.

(CIDRAP News) – Public health officials looking for ideas and tools to help them prepare for an influenza pandemic can find an online collection of peer-reviewed resources on a Web site that was officially launched today: PandemicPractices.org.

(CIDRAP News) – Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was confirmed on a fifth farm in Surrey in southern England this week, but another feared outbreak near Birmingham in the central part of the country was ruled out.

(CIDRAP News) – A disease outbreak involving Ebola hemorrhagic fever and other illnesses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is continuing to grow and may be spreading beyond the area first affected, according to the latest reports.

In epidemiology we have a saying: What gets counted, gets acted upon.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) approval of FluMist for children aged 2 through 4 years makes a needle-free influenza vaccine available for small children in the United States for the first time.

(CIDRAP News) – BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc, yesterday announced disappointing early results in a phase 2 study of its antiviral drug peramivir, which is seen as a potential new weapon against influenza.

(CIDRAP News) – Predicting that this year's supply of influenza vaccine will be the largest ever, national health officials today called on healthcare professionals and the public to improve the "alarmingly low" vaccination rates of recent years.