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(CIDRAP News) – The spring decline of US influenza activity picked up speed last week, when only four states still reported widespread flu activity, down from 13 a week earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

Apr 10, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – To streamline foodborne illness investigations, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has partnered with six states to form rapid response teams, an FDA official said today.

Vietnam yesterday received a $7.3 million pledge from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to support two avian influenza projects, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported today. The funds will be used to gather information for a transitional H5N1 vaccination strategy and to help Vietnam prepare for outbreaks.

(CIDRAP News) – Foodborne disease rates in 2008 stayed about the same as in the previous 3 years, underlining the need for renewed efforts to improve food safety, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – The recent series of H5N1 avian influenza cases in Egyptian children yet very few in adults has raised concern that some Egyptians may be getting infected without getting sick, according to a Reuters news report published today.

(CIDRAP News) – US Marshals today executed an inspection warrant at a New Jersey fruit and nut company after it refused to give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) access to its distribution records related to peanut products received from Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), a Virginia-based company linked to the recent national Salmonella outbreak.

Apr 8, 2009

Apr 7, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently revised its recommendations about personal equipment for protecting first responders from airborne pathogens in potential bioterrorism situations.

Editor's note: This story was revised on Apr 9 to correct details about recalled pistachios.

(CIDRAP News) –Federal and state investigators have detected Salmonella at a California company at the center of a national pistachio recall, as state health departments search for any illness related to the contamination findings.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed yesterday to delay by another 2 months a long-planned ban on the use of certain cattle materials in any animal feed, a measure designed to prevent the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. The ban would take effect Jun 26 instead of Apr 27.

Editor's Note: CIDRAP's Public Health Practices online database showcases peer-reviewed practices, including useful tools to help others with their planning. This article is one of a series exploring the development of these practices. We hope that describing the process and context of these practices enhances pandemic planning.

Apr 6, 2009

Apr 3, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) approval yesterday of two more avian influenza (AI) tests for use in a voluntary national poultry health program will improve the protection of US flocks from avian flu, according to USDA officials and animal health experts.

(CIDRAP News) – The world lost some ground last year in its 20-year push to eradicate polio, mainly because the disease has spread to new parts of Nigeria and because conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan have made it difficult to get vaccines to children, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

Apr 2, 2009

Apr 1, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – Scientists report that H5N1 avian influenza viruses may be adapting to pigs, as evidenced by the finding that H5N1 viruses isolated from pigs in Indonesia were less harmful to mice than were H5N1 viruses from chickens.