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(CIDRAP News) – An analysis of historical records in 43 US cities indicates that the early use of nonpharmaceutical measures, such as isolating the sick and banning public gatherings, saved lives in the influenza pandemic of 1918-19.

(CIDRAP News) – Global health officials have long feared genetic changes that would make the H5N1 avian influenza virus more easily transmissible among humans, but a new report from researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) predicts some of the crucial mutations, which could open the door to preemptive vaccines and treatments.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesian health officials said this week they will continue withholding samples of the H5N1 avian influenza virus at least until a new virus-sharing mechanism is worked out at an international meeting in November.

The statements came in response to criticism earlier this week from a World Health Organization (WHO) official, who said Indonesia was endangering global health by withholding the viruses.

I've always been amazed at how some people use numbers to make their point. For example, I could say that, between the two of us, Barry Bonds and I average 378 career major league home runs. Of course, that doesn't tell you that I account for zero of those dingers, and we all know that such an analysis isn't statistically appropriate. But far too often such calculations seem to become fact if the number is repeated enough.

(CIDRAP News) – Dengue fever is gaining a firmer foothold in southern Texas, putting residents at risk for the most dangerous form of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Vietnamese officials said yesterday that the death of a 15-year-old boy last week was caused by H5N1 avian influenza, according to news services.

The teenager died Aug 3 while being transferred from a hospital in his home province of Thanh Hoa to Hanoi, 95 miles to the north, according to an Associated Press (AP) report.

(CIDRAP News) – A preliminary British government report says the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak discovered last week near London was very probably caused by a leak from a local laboratory.

(CIDRAP News) – A World Health Organization official said yesterday that Indonesia is endangering the world's health by continuing to withhold H5N1 influenza virus samples collected from human patients.

(CIDRAP News) – Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a cattle disease that devastated the British beef industry in 2001, has resurfaced in England, possibly because of a laboratory leak.

(CIDRAP News) – US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach announced this week the postponement of a plan to close about half of the FDA's field laboratories until the agency hears the recommendations of President Bush's import safety working group.

(CIDRAP News) – A Ugandan miner who died in mid-July had Marburg hemorrhagic fever, and another worker at the same mine has a suspected case, the World Health Organization announced today.

The miner, aged 29, became ill on Jul 4, was hospitalized 3 days later, and died Jul 14, the WHO said. He had cared for a 21-year-old coworker who had fallen ill with similar symptoms on Jun 27 and was hospitalized but later recovered.

(CIDRAP News) – Since the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned of a link between four botulism cases and contaminated chili sauce 2 weeks ago, state health departments have confirmed one additional botulism case and reported at least three more suspected cases.

(CIDRAP News) – Representatives from 24 countries are meeting in Singapore this week to propose solutions to virus-sharing problems that threaten to derail global monitoring of the H5N1 avian influenza virus and stall the development of new vaccines and treatments.

(CIDRAP News) – A Mayo Clinic study indicates that many hospitalized influenza patients shed flu virus for at least 7 days after they fall ill, suggesting that the current recommendation to use infection control precautions for 5 days may be inadequate.

(CIDRAP News) – A hospital official in Vietnam today said a 22-year-old woman who was 7 months pregnant died of H5N1 avian influenza 3 days ago, pushing the country's death toll from the disease this year to three.

(CIDRAP News) – Acambis, a British biotechnology company, recently announced the launch of a phase 1 clinical trial of an influenza vaccine designed to provide a stable shield against seasonal and pandemic flu strains and eliminate the need to overhaul the flu vaccine each year.

(CIDRAP News) – The Health Industry Distributors Association (HIDA), a group that includes 600 companies that distribute half of the United States' flu vaccine supply, released a report yesterday to help shed light on the some of the supply chain obstacles have delayed vaccine shipments to doctors' offices.

(CIDRAP News) – The number of West Nile virus (WNV) cases reported so far this season has dramatically outpaced the number reported at about this time last summer, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – A recently published survey of Europeans and Asians showed that, when faced with an influenza pandemic, most would avoid mass transit and limit shopping to essentials, and many would avoid other public places, including restaurants, theaters, and the workplace.

(CIDRAP News) – World health experts have been working under a general assumption that a feared reassortment between human and avian influenza viruses—a scenario that could spark a pandemic—might only occur during a short winter interval, but researchers who recently examined virus circulation patterns warn that time frames for coinfection are wider and sometimes unpredictable.