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(CIDRAP News) – Three vaccine makers are making label changes to their seasonal flu vaccine doses for the US market, warning healthcare providers that the tip caps on syringes may contain natural rubber latex, an allergen to sensitive individuals. This development will slightly reduce the number of doses and delay delivery of some doses by 2 or 3 weeks.

Aug 31, 2010

Editor's note: This story was revised Sep 1 to reflect a recent change in the Infectious Diseases Society of America's position on mandatory flu vaccination for healthcare workers.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded a contract to a San Francisco company to further the development of a new broad-spectrum antibiotic for treating plague, tularemia, and various resistant infections.

Aug 30, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials today released their initial inspection reports of the two Iowa companies linked to the nation's biggest egg recall, which reveal multiple biosecurity breaches, such as rodent infestation, wild birds in poultry barns, and instances in which chicken manure could have contaminated egg-laying areas.

(CIDRAP News) – The US House Committee on Energy and Commerce yesterday announced that it will hold a hearing on Sep 14 to address the safety of the nation's food supply in the wake of a recent Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak linked to two Iowa farms.

(CIDRAP News) – A West Nile virus (WNV) seroprevalence study of Italian organ donors revealed that 1.2% of 1,248 serum samples were positive and that some of the donors who had been exposed to the virus were from regions where infection wasn't thought to be a risk.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials today announced that samples from two chicken farms, chicken feed, and feed components at Wright County Egg, one of the two Iowa companies implicated in a nationwide Salmonella outbreak, match the outbreak strain found in sick patients.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new death estimates for seasonal flu today that are designed to move away from a single number and instead take into account the disease's unpredictability and the extra toll inflicted when influenza A H3N2 is the dominant strain.

Aug 26, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – Agriculture officials in Michigan said yesterday that eggs connected to the national Salmonella-related recall have been distributed in the state, though it wasn't mentioned in recall notices by the two Iowa companies at the center of the investigation, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms.

Aug 25, 2010

Aug 24, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers studying facial personal protective equipment (PPE) data at three Vancouver hospitals found that use of surgical masks and N-95 respirators during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic was seven times greater than earlier supply estimates and tested the plans hospitals had in place.

Aug 23, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – With the number of recalled eggs reaching 500 million, federal officials said they have received reports of 40 more illnesses and that investigators are exploring shared links that the two Iowa companies had for their feed and chicks.

Aug 20, 2010

(CIDRAP News) – The recently reported factor that can make gram-negative bacteria resistant to nearly all antibiotics is a serious concern but does not necessarily top the list of resistance worries for healthcare in the United States, say two antimicrobial resistance experts who discussed the threat this week.