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(CIDRAP News) – An outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 cases in Washington state has sickened up to 18 people, most of them children, and triggered renewed warnings about drinking raw milk.

A report in the Portland Oregonian newspaper today said 18 people, including 15 children younger than 13, are believed to have been infected with E coli O157:H7 after drinking raw milk from Dee Creek Farm near Woodland, Wash.

(CIDRAP News) – Laboratory tests in Indonesia indicated that an 8-year-old boy who died Dec 15 had avian influenza, making him potentially the country's 11th victim of the disease, Indonesian officials reported yesterday.

The local test results were awaiting confirmation by a World Health Organization (WHO) reference lab in Hong Kong, Hariadi Wibisono of the Indonesian health ministry told Bloomberg News.

(CIDRAP News) – US customs agents have seized more than 50 shipments of fake oseltamivir (Tamiflu), the antiviral drug being stockpiled in preparation for a possible influenza pandemic, according to reports published yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The US House of Representatives early today approved $3.8 billion in funds for pandemic influenza preparedness, well below the $7.1 billion requested by President George W. Bush in November.

(CIDRAP News) – In a new chapter in a 2-year legal battle over the US military's anthrax vaccination program, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reaffirmed its earlier finding that the anthrax vaccine used by the military is safe and effective for preventing all forms of anthrax.

(CIDRAP News) – A sixth human case of H5N1 avian influenza has been confirmed in China, and two more cases are suspected in Indonesia, according to reports today.

The Chinese Ministry of Health has confirmed H5N1 infection in a 35-year-old man from the southeastern province of Jiangxi, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported. He became ill Dec 4 and is under intensive care in a hospital, the agency said.

(CIDRAP News) – The number of West Nile virus (WNV) cases in the United States rebounded slightly this year after a sharp drop in 2004, signaling that the disease is here to stay, according to figures released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Editor's note: The title and first two paragraphs of this story were revised Dec 16 to correct a statement in the original that gave a more positive reflection of the trial results described below than may be warranted. The original version said that Sanofi Pasteur had described the trial results as "promising," but the company actually said only that the results were "a sign of progress."

(CIDRAP News) – National health officials came to Minnesota today to launch what was billed as the first of 50 state pandemic influenza planning meetings around the nation, emphasizing the key roles of state and local governments as partners with the federal government.

The general theme of the half-day conference was that much, if not most, of the real work of preparing for a pandemic must be done at the local and state levels.

(CIDRAP News) – Exactly 100 of about 38,000 civilians who received smallpox shots in a federal program in 2003 suffered serious adverse events afterward, signaling that the program successfully screened out most people at risk for complications, according to a recent report.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced it has warned nine companies to stop selling unlicensed products advertised as remedies for avian influenza and other kinds of flu.

(CIDRAP News) – A 35-year-old Indonesian man who died in November had H5N1 avian influenza, marking the country's 14th confirmed case and ninth death, Indonesian officials announced today.

Officials made the announcement after receiving test results from a World Health Organization (WHO) reference laboratory in Hong Kong, according to a Bloomberg News report today. The man died in Jakarta.

(CIDRAP News) – Japan has lifted its ban on the importation of American beef, nearly 2 years after the discovery of the first US case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) triggered the boycott.

(CIDRAP News) – Tests of fish and shellfish collected from waters affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita suggest that seafood from the region is safe to eat, federal officials said last week.

Tests of hundreds of samples "showed no reason for concern around consuming seafood from the Gulf region due to the hurricanes," the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a Dec 9 news release.

(CIDRAP News) – Two more human cases of H5N1 avian influenza have been confirmed, one in a Chinese woman who has recovered and the other in a 5-year-old Thai boy who died Dec 7, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

The cases increase the human toll of the virus over the past 2 years to 137 cases, including 70 deaths, according to the WHO. Exposure to poultry is the suspected cause in both of the latest cases.

(CIDRAP News) – Large businesses should examine their sick-leave policies and figure out ways to limit face-to-face contact, among many other steps to prepare for an influenza pandemic, according to a planning checklist released by federal health agencies this week.

Editor's note: This story was revised Dec 8 to correct the erroneous statement that the World Health Organization had confirmed two more deaths from avian influenza (rather than two cases.)

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed two more human cases of avian influenza, one in China and a fatal one in Indonesia, bringing the global total to 135 cases with 69 deaths in nearly 2 years.

(CIDRAP News) – Although thorough cooking ensures that chicken and other poultry are safe to eat, birds from flocks infected with H5N1 avian influenza should be kept out of the food supply, international health and agriculture authorities said this week.

(CIDRAP News) – If public health emergency preparedness were a college class, the federal government would be considered a poor pupil by the nonprofit organization Trust For America's Health (TFAH), which gives the government a D+ in a new report released yesterday.

That grade was based on a survey of 20 leading public health experts, who used 12 criteria to measure preparedness.

(CIDRAP News) – State health officials at a Washington, DC, meeting yesterday expressed frustration over problems with supplies of seasonal flu vaccine, while federal officials promised that the government's pandemic influenza preparedness plan will help clear up those problems.