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(CIDRAP News) – The death last week of a 57-year-old Dutch veterinarian who had worked among chickens infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was apparently due to the same disease.

(CIDRAP News) – The number of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) cases in China soared in the past 2 days with official revelations that Beijing has 448 cases, more than 10 times the number previously reported.

The increase helped push the worldwide cumulative total to 3,861 cases, with 217 deaths, according to today's figures from the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO reported 495 new cases since the previous report on Apr 19.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning blood-collection agencies not to accept blood from people who have been in places hard-hit by SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) until 2 weeks after their return to the United States.

(CIDRAP News) – Preliminary data for 2002 indicate that the nation is making progress against some major foodborne diseases, including Campylobacter and Listeria, but not against others, including Salmonella, one of the most common.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials said today that only 35 people in the United States have "probable" cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a small fraction of the 208 suspected cases under investigation.

(CIDRAP News) – The genetic blueprint of Coxiella burnetii, a category B bioterrorism agent that causes Q fever, has been decoded and analyzed, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced this week.

(CIDRAP News) – A previously unrecognized coronavirus that has been regarded for 3 weeks as the likely cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been confirmed as the pathogen, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Genetic sequencing of the virus believed to cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)—an achievement announced by Canadian and US scientists in the past few days—has set the stage for improving diagnostic tests and developing treatments and vaccines for the disease, according to health officials.

(CIDRAP News) – Congress, acting to remove a major barrier to the government's smallpox vaccination program, has passed a more generous compensation plan for those harmed by the vaccine than the one originally proposed by the Bush administration.

(CIDRAP News) – The head of the World Health Organization's (WHO's) communicable disease programs says severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) may pose a more serious global health threat than any other new disease in the past 20-plus years, with the sole exception of AIDS.

(CIDRAP News) – Exotic Newcastle disease (END) has been found in a backyard chicken flock near El Paso, Tex., prompting a ban on poultry movement in five Texas and New Mexico counties, Texas officials announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – In response to public concern, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will provide some guidelines for dealing with suspected cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in schools and workplaces, CDC Director Julie Gerberding said today.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported three more possible cases of heart inflammation and another heart attack in recent civilian smallpox shot recipients.

(CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization (WHO) official today said the peak of the epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has passed in places other than China and Hong Kong, despite the continuing increase in cases.

(CIDRAP News) – A study focusing on the two plasmids, or extrachromosomal DNA rings, usually found in Bacillus anthracis cells helps explain why different varieties of anthrax differ significantly in virulence.

(CIDRAP News) – Efforts to develop a fast, reliable diagnostic test for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) suffered setbacks in recent days as the disease continued to spread at a brisk pace, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Of three different tests under development, two don't work until relatively late in the course of the illness, and one can be used earlier but is not very reliable, WHO announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the United States and worldwide jumped significantly today, but most patients in the United States have recovered and none have died, according to health officials.

(CIDRAP News) – More than 9 million chickens have been killed and another 2 million are likely to meet the same fate in the battle to contain the month-old epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in the Netherlands, according to reports from there.

(CIDRAP News) – A Republican proposal for compensating healthcare workers harmed by the smallpox vaccine won narrow approval from a Senate committee yesterday, over Democratic objections that the plan is not generous enough.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported three more cases of heart problems in recent smallpox shot recipients, including two cases of heart inflammation and one heart attack. The cases bring the number of civilians who experienced cardiac problems after vaccination to 10 since the immunization program began in January.