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(CIDRAP News) – People who will be receiving their first smallpox shot in coming weeks are getting a small break from the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization practices (ACIP): Instead of 15 pricks of the needle, the ACIP is now recommending only three.

(CIDRAP News) – Only two cases of "noteworthy" complications from smallpox vaccination have occurred among tens of thousands of troops who have received shots since the military vaccination program began in mid-December, according to a Department of Defense (DoD) report released today.

(CIDRAP News) – Starting next December, importers will have to start notifying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at least a day in advance of every food shipment coming into the United States.

Editor's note: This story was updated Jan 30, 2003, with additional information from the Department of Health and Human Services.

(CIDRAP News) – President Bush yesterday proposed an initiative, called Project Bioshield, to speed the development and production of vaccines and treatments for smallpox, anthrax, botulism, and other diseases that could be spread by terrorists.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it had shipped 29,800 doses of smallpox vaccine to seven states and one county and had received requests for vaccine from another 23 states as of yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – In the years when smallpox vaccine was being used to eradicate the disease, about 50 people out of every million vaccinated suffered life-threatening complications, and another 935 had serious complications. About two thirds of those complications might have been prevented with better screening, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – Top federal health officials have turned down a proposal to test the Dryvax smallpox vaccine in small children, but not because of public objections. The trial is no longer needed because the current campaign to vaccinate military personnel and healthcare workers means Dryax won't be available for use in children, officials said.

(CIDRAP News) – As health officials in several states prepared to begin giving smallpox shots to healthcare workers, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tommy Thompson today signed a declaration that triggers liability protection for those who administer the shots.

(CIDRAP News) Ð Connecticut, Nebraska,Vermont, and Los Angeles County this week became the first jurisdictions in thenation to receive smallpox vaccine under the program to prepare for a possibleterrorist release of the virus, federal health officials announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says it more than tripled the number of cattle it tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, in fiscal year 2002 and is making progress on other regulatory steps to keep BSE out of the country.

(CIDRAP News) – The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has urged the federal government to move slowly and carefully on its pre-event smallpox vaccination program, with a pause after the initial phase to assess the vaccine's safety before moving to a broader inoculation campaign.

(CIDRAP News) – Julie Gerberding, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says the national smallpox vaccination program for hospital and public health workers must go forward despite the new recommendation from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to proceed slowly and cautiously.

(CIDRAP News) – A researcher's report of missing vials of the bacteria that causes plague led to a full-scale alert and investigation at Texas Tech University in Lubbock this week, but the alarm was called off when the researcher revealed he had previously destroyed the vials.

(CIDRAP News) – As the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) prepares to offer irradiated ground beef to schools for their lunch programs, Minnesota state officials are planning a USDA-financed pilot project in three school districts to assess attitudes and test educational materials about irradiated beef.

(CIDRAP News) Ð The Food and DrugAdministration will hold a public meeting, broadcast via satellite link, Jan 29to discuss proposed rules to help prevent deliberate contamination of foodssold in the United States.

(CIDRAP News) Ð The federal AdvisoryCommittee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) affirmed yesterday that it's safefor people who live with a baby less than 1 year old to get a smallpox shot,though the shots are contraindicated for babies themselves.

(CIDRAP News) – Beef industry leaders attending a "summit" meeting on Escherichia coli O157:H7 this week announced plans to standardize meat safety testing at packing and processing plants and take other industry-wide steps to reduce E coli contamination in beef.

(CIDRAP News) – The London arrests Sunday (Jan 5) of six men and yesterday of a seventh in connection with discovery of the highly toxic material ricin have British physicians on the alert for signs of poisoning and citizens being reminded by officials to be "alert but not alarmed." The situation has heightened interest elsewhere, as ricin is among the agents considered as likely agents of bioterrorism.

(CIDRAP News) – Exotic Newcastle disease (END) has struck commercial poultry flocks in Southern California, causing quarantines in six counties and temporary Canadian and Mexican bans on poultry and poultry product imports from the area. Poultry is a $3 billion industry in California, and more than half the state's 12 million egg-producing hens are in the quarantine zone.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) heard various suggestions for improving its product recall procedures at a recent meeting, but there was no great push to give the USDA authority to order recalls of contaminated foods, according to a Minnesota official who attended.