CIDRAP newsletters options
(CIDRAP News) A new study suggests that the reason the H5N1 avian influenza virus infects humans relatively rarely and does not spread from person to person is that it lacks the right key to unlock many cells in the upper respiratory tract.
(CIDRAP News) Worldwide cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, have declined about 50% per year over the last three years, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today.
(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a new draft of its plan for spotting and stopping a budding influenza pandemic.
(CIDRAP News) – An outbreak of apparent botulism associated with home-preserved bamboo shoots has sickened more than 150 people following a festival in northern Thailand, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
(CIDRAP News) Israel and Pakistan are the latest countries to join the lengthening list of nations dealing with outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza in birds, while officials in Russia and Malaysia are worried about growing numbers of outbreaks, according to news services.
(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed seven human cases of H5N1 avian influenza in Azerbaijan, making it the eighth country with officially recognized human illnesses.
A WHO reference laboratory in Britain confirmed the infection in samples from 7 of 11 patients tested, ranging in age from 10 to 21 years, the WHO said. Five of those patients, ranging from 16 to 21 years old, died of the illness.
(CIDRAP News) – Veterinarians could not give poultry the same antiviral drugs being stockpiled the world over to battle a human influenza pandemic, under a rule proposed yesterday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
(CIDRAP News) Egyptian authorities have reported that a 30-year-old Egyptian woman died of H5N1 avian influenza and a young man is recovering from the same infection, signaling what may be the first known human cases in Africa.
Both patients were exposed to sick poultry, and samples from both tested positive at a US Navy laboratory in Cairo, according to reports from Agence France-Presse (AFP).
(CIDRAP News) The chiefs of three federal agencies, predicting that the H5N1 avian influenza virus will enter the United States, today unveiled their joint plan for quickly detecting the virus.
(CIDRAP News) Drug manufacturer Roche said today it is increasing its production capacity for the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) by a third this year and is keeping ahead of the demand from governments stockpiling the drug in preparation for a possible influenza pandemic.
(CIDRAP News) Afghanistan and Myanmar have joined the company of countries hit by H5N1 avian influenza with the confirmation today of the virus in chickens in both countries, according to news service reports.
(CIDRAP News) The avian influenza spotlight shifted to Scandinavia today as Denmark reported finding an H5 virus in a wild bird and Sweden confirmed suspicions that wild ducks were infected with H5N1 virus, according to news agencies.
(CIDRAP News) Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt, reporting this week on preparations for a possible influenza pandemic, promised to act soon to boost US flu vaccine production capacity and promote cell-based vaccine technology.
(CIDRAP News) Authorities in Azerbaijan have reported that three people who died of suspected avian influenza were infected with an H5 virus, and further tests very likely will confirm it to be H5N1, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.
(CIDRAP News) An Alabama cow has tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), Chief Veterinary Officer John Clifford of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today.
(CIDRAP News) Three new countries are reporting avian influenza in birds, although confirmation as H5N1 is awaited, according to news service reports today.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has identified H5N1 in its own laboratories. A Reuters story indicates that UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official Dr. Tang Zhengping says samples have been sent to labs in Australia and Thailand for confirmation.
(CIDRAP News) The H5N1 avian influenza again demonstrated its adaptability by infecting a weasel-like mammal in Germany called a stone marten, according to reports from Germany yesterday.
The marten was found alive but sick Mar 2 on the Baltic island of Ruegen, where three domestic cats were previously found infected with the virus, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) statement.
(CIDRAP News) The human toll of H5N1 avian influenza mounted again today with reports of the deaths of two young Indonesian patients, while authorities in Azerbaijan were investigating a cluster of 10 suspected human cases in one village.
The World Health Organization (WHO) listed one of the Indonesian victims as a 4-year-old boy from Semarang in central Java who fell ill on Feb 10 and died Feb 28.
(CIDRAP News) Pregnant women who come down with West Nile virus (WNV) infection probably run a fairly small risk of major birth defects in their babies, according to the first analysis of data collected in 16 states.
(CIDRAP News) Albania today became the latest European country to confront H5N1 avian influenza in birds, while US officials reported plans to greatly expand testing of wild birds for the virus in Alaska and on the West Coast this spring.
