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(CIDRAP News) – A cheap new vaccine for bacterial meningitis debuted today with the launching of an immunization drive in the West African country of Burkina Faso, in the first stage of an effort that could rid sub-Saharan Africa of the primary cause of meningitis, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced.

Dec 3, 2010

– Uptake of seasonal flu vaccine has been encouraging so far, and with plenty of vaccine still available and most of the flu season still to come, the nation is in good position to boost immunization rates, officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – The role of aerosols in the transmission of flu viruses has been unclear and controversial, but a new study that analyzed the size and content of particles from the coughs of flu patients found that particles small enough to remain airborne can contain detectable flu virus.

Dec 2, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – The chances for final passage of the broad food safety bill just approved by the US Senate appeared to dim today with the report that fees included in the bill flout a constitutional requirement that all tax measures must originate in the House.

Dec 1, 2010

Nov 30, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today cleared Wright County Egg to resume shipping eggs directly to consumers, now that the company has corrected conditions in two of its egg-laying houses and addressed possible sources of Salmonella contamination.

(CIDRAP News) – Ending months of delay, a large bipartisan majority in the US Senate today passed a bill that aims to make the nation's food supply safer by giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) more authority over food producers and requiring large producers and processors to develop detailed food safety plans.

Nov 29, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – Demonstrations and violence surrounding a national election in Haiti have disrupted some parts of the cholera outbreak response, as international aid groups issued pleas for more medical volunteers to staff treatment centers.

(CIDRAP News) – Doubts about flu vaccine effectiveness in children younger than 2 years have kept some countries from recommending immunization for them, but Finnish researchers presented promising data yesterday that they say might prompt some to reconsider.

(CIDRAP News) – More than 15,000 Canadians were hospitalized with pandemic influenza last year, thousands more than in a typical year, which prompted hospitals to cope by employing such steps as reducing the number of planned admissions, according to a report from a government-funded research institute.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) guidance on antiviral treatment for influenza focuses mainly on treating patients who are seriously ill or at risk for flu complications, but the CDC is not telling clinicians to refrain from using the drugs in uncomplicated cases, a CDC expert emphasized today.

Nov 23, 2010