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(CIDRAP News) – Contaminated dry dog food contributed to a Salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 70 people in 19 states in 2006 and 2007, many of them babies, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – A Salmonella outbreak connected to puffed rice and puffed wheat cereals made by Malt-O-Meal, based in Minneapolis, has crept upward to 28 cases in 15 states, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on May 13.

(CIDRAP News) – Certain mutations that make the H5N1 influenza virus resistant to the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) leave it susceptible to zanamivir (Relenza), a finding that suggests nations should not rely on oseltamivir alone in preparing for a flu pandemic, according to a report published by British scientists this week.

– ATLANTA (CIDRAP News) – The drive to increase the number of Americans who get vaccinated against influenza may stumble on disagreements within medicine and public health over where vaccination should take place.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Labor (DOL) yesterday released proposed guidance on stockpiling respirators and facemasks in the workplace, which encourages employers to stockpile the items because of the likelihood that they will run short during an influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Anticipating that a terrorist attack, influenza pandemic, or natural disaster will someday exhaust regional or national critical care systems, an expert task force recently issued a comprehensive series of reports that takes stock of current capabilities and recommends a surge framework that would care for as many patients as possible but would necessarily exclude some.

– ATLANTA (CIDRAP News) – Manufacturers of influenza vaccine are poised to deliver record quantities of flu shots for the coming season. But unless medicine and public health officials find new methods and venues for getting those shots into the arms of Americans, another record may also fall: the number of influenza-vaccine doses that go unused.

(CIDRAP News) – South Korea's agriculture ministry yesterday confirmed a second outbreak of the H5N1 virus in the capital city of Seoul, which prompted the culling of all poultry within the city.

Kim Yoon-kyo, a city government official, said today that 15,000 chickens, ducks, pheasants, and turkeys that are raised at farms, restaurants, schools, and homes were destroyed, the Associated Press (AP) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Authorities in India's West Bengal state today confirmed a new H5N1 virus outbreak in the Darjeeling district, as agriculture officials in South Korea reported that the virus had struck birds in the eastern part of the country, pushing the number of recent outbreaks to 35.

(CIDRAP News) – An antiviral drug being developed to provide protection against smallpox and related viruses performed well in the first test of its safety and activity in humans, according to a report in the May issue of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

(CIDRAP News) – VaxGen Inc. announced this week the sale of its experimental anthrax vaccine—which the US government pulled the plug on in 2006—to Emergent BioSolutions, maker of the only US-licensed anthrax vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – World Health Organization (WHO) officials today kicked off a 4-day meeting in Geneva to begin revising pandemic preparedness guidance for countries, amid warnings that the risk of an influenza pandemic has not waned since the last update.

(CIDRAP News) – After a 2-year study of the effects of large-scale farm animal production, a panel of experts has called for phasing out the nontherapeutic use of antimicrobials in farm animals in order to maintain the effectiveness of antibiotics in humans.

(CIDRAP News) – Agriculture officials in South Korea said H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks have been reported in six of the country's nine provinces, while authorities in Japan announced today that wild swans at a two more sites have tested positive for the virus.

Editor's Note: CIDRAP's Public Health Practices online database showcases peer-reviewed practices, including useful tools to help others with their planning. This article is one of a series exploring the development of these practices. We hope that describing the process and context of these practices enhances pandemic planning.

(CIDRAP News) – Technical barriers have prevented the widespread use of human monoclonal antibodies as potent diagnostic and treatment tools, but scientists now say they have found a way to produce antibodies against seasonal influenza much faster than was previously possible.

(CIDRAP News) – An H5N1 influenza vaccine based on a weakened adenovirus was tested successfully in mice and may offer advantages as a tool for combating a human flu pandemic, according to researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Purdue University.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) yesterday held a live Web seminar (webinar) to provide guidance on and field questions about school closures as a social distancing tool that could be used in an influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Calling the US food safety system antiquated and disjointed, a public health advocacy group today urged a major overhaul to make the system stronger, more coherent, and better attuned to today's major threats.

(CIDRAP News) – Toronto's city council yesterday approved a $1.5 million plan to treat nearly half of the municipal employee workforce with antiviral medication in the event of a pandemic scenario, making it the first major Canadian city to stockpile the drugs.