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Editor's note: Because of a technical problem, this story was not published until Mar 27.
(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) opened a meeting with Asian health officials in Jakarta today to hear their concerns about access to H5N1 influenza vaccines and discuss solutions that might allow researchers to regain unrestricted access to H5N1 samples.
(CIDRAP News) A diagnosis of H5N1 avian influenza in a 3-year-old Egyptian girl yesterday marked Egypt's 27th case overall and the ninth this year, according to news services.
(CIDRAP News) Agriculture officials in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have confirmed outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza in birds, a first for each country.
The outbreak in Bangladesh struck chickens at a state-run poultry farm in Savar, near the capital, Dhaka, the Associated Press (AP) reported today. Government sources said farm workers had recently culled all 30,000 chickens at the farm after many of them died mysteriously, the AP said.
(CIDRAP News) Indications today are that Thailand will continue to share H5N1 avian influenza viruses with the World Health Organization (WHO), contrary to a news report yesterday.
Bloomberg News reported yesterday that Thailand would restrict access to its H5N1 viruses, and CIDRAP News passed along that report. But a senior Thai health official said Thailand had no plans to withhold samples, according to a Reuters report published yesterday.
(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and California officials released a final report today on last fall's nationwide Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to fresh spinach, tracing the pathogen to a specific farm and identifying a handful of possible contamination sources.
The outbreak, which occurred in early fall, sickened 205 people and caused three deaths.
(CIDRAP News) An influenza pandemic as severe as the great flu of 1918 could cost the United States $683 billion and plunge the American economy into the second-deepest recession since World War II, a nonprofit health advocacy group warned today.
Most people think about possible future pandemicswhen they think about them at allwith a good deal of ambivalence. To communicate with ambivalent people, you need to understand the 'risk communication seesaw.'
Several large, influential food companies and organizations contacted by Weekly Briefing had little or nothing to say about their pandemic preparedness plans.
Editor's note: Contrary to this story, information obtained Mar 23 from the World Health Organization and from another news report indicated that Thailand had no plans to withhold H5N1 virus samples. See link at end of story for more information.
(CIDRAP News) Thailand today announced that it was joining Indonesia's boycott on sharing its H5N1 avian flu virus samples with vaccine developers and the international health community.
(CIDRAP News) World Health Organization (WHO) officials will propose new ideas about producing H5N1 avian influenza vaccines to Asian health ministers next week in Jakarta in the hope of resolving an impasse with Indonesia over sharing of virus samples, according to press reports.
(CIDRAP News) Japan's health ministry today ordered the country's importer of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) to warn doctors against prescribing the drug to teens, because of continuing concerns that psychiatric symptoms might be linked to the influenza medication, according to news services.
(CIDRAP News) Hong Kong officials have reported that a 9-month-old girl is infected with the strain of avian influenza known as A/H9N2, which has caused mild human illness in the city three times before and is considered capable of evolving into a pandemic strain.
(CIDRAP News) – Interpol's top official said yesterday that evidence collected from terrorists suggests that international law enforcement agencies should be ready to respond to chemical and biological attacks.
(CIDRAP News) Health experts gathered today at a World Health Organization (WHO) conference in southern Turkey to discuss findings in patients who have H5N1 infections and identify areas for future research on treatment, according to news services.
(CIDRAP News) – A 2-year-old Indiana boy is in critical condition in a Chicago hospital with eczema vaccinatum, a rare type of vaccinia virus skin infection that he contracted through contact with his father, a soldier who recently had a smallpox shot.
(CIDRAP News) Indonesia recently announced two new H5N1 avian influenza deaths, and Egypt today said a 2-year-old boy tested positive for the disease, as the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed two other cases: a Laotian woman who died and a 10-year-old Egyptian girl who is recovering.
(CIDRAP News) Egyptian authorities reported a case of H5N1 avian influenza in a 10-year-old girl yesterday, marking the country's seventh case this year and 25th overall.
The girl was admitted to a hospital in Aswan, 450 kilometers south of Cairo, Mar 13, with fever and muscle pains, according to a Reuters report based on information from MENA, the state news agency.
Exercises—whether simple or complex—can greatly help a business prepare, regardless of its stage of pandemic planning.
(CIDRAP News) The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said yesterday it would step up its antismuggling efforts and monitoring of live bird markets this year to protect the country from H5N1 avian influenza.
The agency plans to more than double the number of special operations to seize banned poultry products and will expand the monitoring of live bird markets from 12 states to 29 or 30, officials said at a press briefing yesterday afternoon.
