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Vietnamese woman dies of H5N1 infectionVietnam's health ministry announced today that a 23-year-old woman from the northern part of the country died on Apr 22 from an H5N1 avian influenza infection, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Officials said they haven't determined the source of her infection. If the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms her illness and death, it will bring the country's official H5N1 toll to 111 cases and 56 deaths.

In yesterday's Special Edition, we reported on two potentially alarming developments: a novel swine flu outbreak in California and Texas that had infected seven people, who all recovered; and a much more severe respiratory disease outbreak in Mexico, with 120 reported cases, including 13 deaths.

(CIDRAP News) – Five more cases of an unusual swine influenza virus infection have surfaced, officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today, bringing the total to seven and raising more concerns about human-to-human transmission.

Apr 23, 2009

Reports are emerging rapidly about a new strain of influenza that has infected seven adults and children in the southwest region of the United States. This swine influenza strain of H1N1 is different from the human strain of H1N1, and the current human vaccine would likely offer little protection.

(CIDRAP News) – Swine influenza viruses have never been documented as the cause of a human influenza pandemic, but in 1976 they generated pandemic fears strong enough to trigger a nationwide vaccination campaign.

The reporting of swine flu cases in two California children this week stirred memories of the 1976 episode, which caused major embarrassment for public health authorities when the pandemic never materialized.

Apr 22, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – Two California children who had not had contact with pigs recently recovered from infections with "unique" swine influenza viruses, raising concern about possible human-to-human transmission and putting health authorities on alert, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

Apr 21, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – Health officials in the Washington, DC, area today said they were working to identify people who may have been exposed to a patient with measles, as officials in other states, including Virginia, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, were responding to three other recent measles exposures.

(CIDRAP News) - Egypt's state media reported two new H5N1 avian influenza infections within 2 days of each other, in a 25-year-old woman and an 18-month girl.

The state-run paper Al Ahram, quoting the country's health ministry, reported on Apr 17 that the woman is from Qalubia governorate and was hospitalized in critical condition, according to report from Agence France-Presse.

Apr 20, 2009

Apr 17, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – Part of the answer to the nation's food safety troubles lies in strengthening state and local food safety efforts and better integrating them with federal activities, according to a new report prepared by academic experts in collaboration with state and local public health groups.

(CIDRAP News) – As polio eradication efforts lost ground in 2008, 15 African countries bore the brunt of the spread of the disease with multiple importations of wild poliovirus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its global health partners reported today.

Apr 16, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified the Salmonella strain found in early April at Setton Farms' California processing facility and said its genetic fingerprint matches the strain in at least one illness, in a child who suffered gastroenteritis after reportedly eating the firm's pistachios.

Apr 15, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – Minnesota health officials said today that they are investigating the death last month of a Minnesotan who was infected with a polio virus strain found in the oral polio vaccine (OPV).

Apr 14, 2009