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(CIDRAP News) – New details emerged today about breaks in the Salmonella investigation that led to the identification of the outbreak strain in a jalapeno pepper, as the number of cases in the nationwide outbreak rose to 1,284.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials today released their official guidance on allocating vaccine during an influenza pandemic, with few changes from a previous draft that put military personnel, critical health and emergency workers, pregnant women, and small children at the head of the line.

(CIDRAP News) – The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to adopt new automated equipment that will be able to detect dangerous airborne pathogens in major US cities in as little as 4 hours, with a goal of starting deployment in the fall of 2010, DHS officials told Congress last week.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal authorities announced today that investigators working at a Texas produce facility found Salmonella that genetically matches the nationwide outbreak strain on a jalapeno pepper.

(CIDRAP News) – In the history of infectious diseases, coincidence plays an extraordinary role. In 1706, Cotton Mather purchased a slave named Onesimus who happened to come from a tribe that practiced variolation, and so smallpox prevention was introduced to North America.

(CIDRAP News) – Texas and North Carolina officials yesterday announced recalls of avocadoes and jalapeno and Serrano peppers after some samples tested positive for Salmonella. But Texas officials said they did not find the Salmonella strain involved in the current nationwide outbreak, while the strain in the North Carolina produce was not yet known.

(CIDRAP News) – A 38-year-old Indonesian man from a town near Jakarta recently died of H5N1 avian influenza, according to an Associated Press (AP) report citing his family and health workers.

(CIDRAP News) – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report examining the results several developed nations and the European Union achieved when they consolidated oversight of food safety in a single agency, a step often advocated in the United State for solving some of the problems linked to contaminated imported and domestic food.

(CIDRAP News) – Recent reports from Indonesian health officials tie the high fatality rate in human H5N1 influenza cases there to the difficulty of diagnosing the disease, late treatment with antiviral drugs, and a shortage of well-equipped hospitals.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials today lifted warnings against eating certain tomatoes and said new clues in the ongoing nationwide Salmonella outbreak have led investigators from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to explore a Mexican packinghouse that handles jalapeno and Serrano peppers.

Editor's note: The original version of this story listed 44 E coli cases in five states. The story was updated shortly after publication to include new information about another case from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today that the number of cases in a nationwide Salmonella outbreak that might be linked to contaminated tomatoes and hot peppers has climbed to 1,167 and that new illnesses are still being reported.

(CIDRAP News) – In a recent medical journal article, Indonesian officials detailed the rationale for their refusal to share H5N1 influenza virus samples with the World Health Organization (WHO), asserting that it was in part a response to violations of the WHO's own guidelines by scientists and laboratories.

(CIDRAP News) – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a status report yesterday on progress states have made toward preparing for a flood of people needing medical care in the wake of an event such as a terrorist attack or an influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – A Dutch woman who fell ill with Marburg hemorrhagic fever after visiting a bat-infested cave in Uganda has died, Dutch authorities announced today.

Authorities said the 40-year-old woman, who was not identified, died overnight at Leiden University Medical Centre, according to reports from Reuters and Agence France-Presse (AFP). The woman's illness was first announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – A Japanese health ministry official said today that a government-supported study has found no evidence that the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) causes abnormal behavior in young people, according to a Reuters report.

(CIDRAP News) – To help consumers figure out whether they have bought potentially contaminated food, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today it will name retail stores that received meat and poultry products involved in high-risk product recalls.

(CIDRAP News) – A poultry vaccine designed to protect chickens in Hong Kong from H5 avian influenza has lost effectiveness over the past 7 years of use, an expert told the Chinese media recently.

(CIDRAP News) – European officials today reported a rare case of the often-deadly Marburg hemorrhagic fever on European soil, in a Dutch woman who recently was exposed to bats while visiting caves in Uganda.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal official today advised people in high-risk categories to avoid eating raw jalapeno and Serrano peppers in light of new clues that suggest they might be associated with a nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked to tomatoes that has so far sickened 1,017 people.