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(CIDRAP News) – Vietnamese officials have reported an isolated avian flu outbreak in a southern province, more than a month after the country declared itself free of the disease, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – Almost 5 years ago, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the US Public Health Service joined in calling for removal of the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal from vaccines. By 2001, all the vaccines recommended for children under age 7 were available without thimerosal or with only trace amounts.

(CIDRAP News) – Neither of two researchers who apparently contracted SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) in a virology laboratory in Beijing worked directly with the SARS virus, which complicates the problem of determining how they acquired it, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday it had traced the rendered remains of a Texas cow that should have been tested last week for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and would make sure they are not fed to cattle.

(CIDRAP News) – Chinese authorities have upgraded three more suspected SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) cases in China to confirmed status, signaling that all nine cases in the current outbreak have been verified.

(CIDRAP News) – US Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors at a slaughter plant in Texas neglected to test a cow for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) after the cow showed suspicious signs, the USDA said yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week announced it would spend $18.8 million to begin a three-stage process for setting up a national animal identification system to help contain animal disease outbreaks.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said the goal of the effort is a system to identify farms and other sites exposed to foreign animal diseases.

(CIDRAP News) – It's official: federal health authorities say that from now on, all children between the ages of 6 months and 23 months should receive an annual influenza shot.

(CIDRAP News) – Chinese authorities have confirmed that a woman who died Apr 19 had SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), marking her as the world's first victim of the disease this year.

(CIDRAP News) – The incidence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections dropped 36% from 2002 to 2003, and long-term declines in the rates of several other common foodborne illnesses continued in 2003, the CDC reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Chinese officials today upgraded two cases of suspected SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) to confirmed status, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the current outbreak to four, according to news service reports.

A total of nine cases have been reported in China since Apr 22, the World Health organization (WHO) said yesterday. One of the patients died Apr 19, and the other eight were hospitalized, the agency said.

(CIDRAP News) – The Bush administration today released a long catalog of what it considers the nation's biodefense and public health preparedness gains over the last 3 years and promised more improvements to come.

(CIDRAP News) – The University of Minnesota and Texas A&M University will receive a total of $33 million to set up centers to research food contamination threats and foreign animal diseases, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today.

Editor's note: This article was revised a few hours after publication to include additional information from the World Health Organization.

(CIDRAP News) – Close to 500 people have been quarantined in China's new outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), but so far the disease has not spread beyond people connected with a student who apparently was infected in a government laboratory, according to news service reports.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) yesterday announced the opening of a new high-security food safety laboratory in Athens, Ga.

The $1.65 million lab is designated as biosafety level 3 (BSL-3), the second highest of four biological security ratings, the USDA said in a news release. It will be operated by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

(CIDRAP News) – Chinese authorities today reported one new confirmed case of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and two new suspected cases, including one death, all of which may be linked to a laboratory at China's Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) in Beijing.

(CIDRAP News) – A 20-year-old nurse in Beijing has a suspected case of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), according to Chinese news reports. If confirmed, the case would be the first in the Chinese capital since last year and the first in China or anywhere since January.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) yesterday launched a new Web site designed to make it easier for the public to find safety information about meat and poultry.

(CIDRAP News) – Foxes and cats have joined civets on the list of animals in southern China that may carry the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus, according to recent Chinese news reports.

(CIDRAP News) – Disease experts recently determined that a Yonkers, N.Y., man had H7N2 avian influenza last fall, but they have not been able to discern how he contracted it, according to a report in today's New York Times.