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(CIDRAP News) Government officials and researchers may have underestimated the potential role of pigs as "mixing vessels" for influenza viruses and the importance of swine surveillance for identifying new pandemic threats, veterinary experts from Mexico asserted recently.
Jun 8, 2009
Jun 5, 2009
(CIDRAP News) President Barack Obama this week asked Congress for another $2 billion in supplemental funds to fight the novel H1N1 influenza epidemic, on top of $2 billion requested a month ago, and also proposed to tap federal economic stimulus funds for up to another $3.1 billion for the same purpose.
Meanwhile, public health advocates said even more may be needed if a nationwide H1N1 vaccination campaign is launched in the fall.
(CIDRAP News) A coalition of health policy groups today offered a "good news, bad news" evaluation of the US response to the novel H1N1 influenza epidemic so far.
The good news: The experience has shown that years of pandemic preparation have paid dividends, particularly with regard to coordination, communication, antiviral drugs, and vaccine development.
The irony is hard to miss. Much is being discussed and published about the "lessons learned" from the 2009 pandemic of the novel H1N1 influenza. And I expect the World Health Organization (WHO) will (as I did in my last column) finally call it a pandemic any moment now, based on extensive and growing transmission of the novel influenza virus in Australia and Europe.
(CIDRAP News) In an update on novel influenza developments in Mexico, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today that patterns look like those in the United States and other nations, with cases leveling off nationwide and areas of localized transmission.
Jun 4, 2009
Jun 3, 2009
(CIDRAP News) Australian health officials acknowledged today that the novel H1N1 influenza virus has achieved sustained community transmission in the state of Victoria, where 521 cases were reported today, an increase of 126 since yesterday.
(CIDRAP News) The global novel H1N1 influenza situation is drawing closer to the status of a true pandemic but is not there yet, the World Health Organization's (WHO's) lead spokesman on the issue said today.
"Globally we believe we're in phase 5 but are getting closer to phase 6," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO assistant director-general for health security and the environment, referring to the WHO's pandemic alert phases.
Jun 2, 2009
Jun 1, 2009
May 29, 2008 (CIDRAP News) With summer temperatures settling in across the United States, health authorities are conceding that the novel H1N1 flu virus may continue circulating through the summer, rather than quieting down as seasonal flu strains do.
May 29, 2009
(CIDRAP News) Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., today announced plans to introduce legislation designed to improve the nation's response to foodborne illness outbreaks by promoting use of some of the tools that helped Minnesota officials find the sources of two recent widespread Salmonella outbreaks.
May 28, 2009
