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(CIDRAP News) China's agriculture ministry said yesterday that it hasn't detected any poultry outbreaks in the provinces where recent human cases were reported, an apparent response to speculation that the country isn't reporting outbreaks and to suspicion about possible gaps in the surveillance system.
(CIDRAP News) – Today we are launching a new daily News Scan to help our readers keep up with the full range of current and noteworthy developments in emerging infectious diseases, biosecurity, foodborne diseases, influenza, other public health threats, and relevant policy issues.
(CIDRAP News) – Veterinary officials in Vietnam and Egypt have found more H5N1 avian influenza in poultry, and officials in Hong Kong are investigating the source of infected poultry that have washed up on island beaches.
In Vietnam, animal health officials confirmed the virus in sick ducks in Soc Trang province, in the Mekong Delta region, Voice of Vietnam (VOV), the country's national radio station, reported today.
(CIDRAP News) – Egypt's health ministry reported today that a 2-year-old boy from the northeastern part of the country has been hospitalized in stable condition with an H5N1 avian influenza infection, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) statement.
(CIDRAP News) – A woman whose 7-year-old son became severely ill after eating tainted peanut butter crackers told a Senate committee today that the nation needs an electronic registry of foodborne disease cases to help public health agencies recognize outbreaks and find their causes faster.
(CIDRAP News) Animal health authorities in Canada yesterday announced that an H5N2 avian influenza virus was responsible for a recent mild illness outbreak on a commercial turkey farm in British Columbia's Fraser Valley.
(CIDRAP News) The case count in the nationwide Salmonella outbreak tied to peanut butter climbed to 550 yesterday, as federal officials announced an effort to use "social media" such as podcasts and YouTube videos to keep consumers abreast of product recalls and other developments in the outbreak.
(CIDRAP News) A case of the often deadly Marburg hemorrhagic fever was retrospectively identified in an American who fell ill after a trip to Uganda in January 2008 and eventually recovered, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported recently.
The case appears to be the first Marburg infection reported in the United States.
(CIDRAP News) – At an Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) symposium in Washington, DC, today on seasonal and pandemic influenza, a group of experts fielded questions from reporters on some of the new trends and emerging issues, including prepandemic strategies for H5N1 avian influenza vaccines, now that some countries are stockpiling them.
(CIDRAP News) China's health ministry recently revealed that a 21-year-old woman from Hunan province is hospitalized with an H5N1 avian influenza infection, the country's seventh case so far this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.
CIDRAP News President Barack Obama called today for a "complete review" of the operations of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the wake of the ongoing outbreak of Salmonella in peanuts and peanut butter.
(CIDRAP News) Animal health officials in Vietnam reported a new H5N1 avian influenza outbreak today in a duck flock in the southern part of the country, as veterinary workers in India and Bangladesh took measures to stop the virus's spread following new outbreaks in both countries.
(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration said today it is starting a criminal investigation of Peanut Corp. of America (PCA), the company whose peanut processing plant in Georgia has been linked with a Salmonella outbreak involving more than 500 cases nationwide.
The FDA announcement came amid a flurry of other developments related to the outbreak:
(CIDRAP News) Minnesota health groups today unveiled two preliminary guidance reports designed to help the state make and implement difficult decisions about allocating scare resources such as antivirals, respirators, ventilators, and vaccines during a severe influenza pandemic.
(CIDRAP News) Yesterday the US House of Representatives passed an $819 billion economic stimulus bill that included funding for pandemic influenza and bioterrorism countermeasures, and now the Senate will debate its version of the measure, which also includes spending on some of the same items.
(CIDRAP News) The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today released its inspection findings on the Georgia peanut butter plant that has been linked to a nationwide Salmonella outbreak, saying the company shipped products that had initially tested positive for Salmonella and citing various other questionable practices.
(CIDRAP News) Richard E. Besser, MD, who formerly directed terrorism preparedness and emergency response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was named last week as the agency's acting director.
Besser replaces Julie L. Gerberding, MD, MPH, who had led the agency since July 2002 and stepped down as President Barack Obama took office last week.
(CIDRAP News) Health officials in the Philippines recently announced that a worker who had contact with sick pigs tested positive for antibodies to the Ebola Reston virus, a pathogen that was discovered about a month ago for the first time in pigs.
Eric Tayag, head of the National Epidemiology Centre, said the case represent the first known pig-to-human Ebola Reston virus transmission, according to a Jan 24 Associated Press (AP) report.
(CIDRAP News) – Canadian authorities have confirmed that an H5 avian influenza virus, probably low-pathogenic, has surfaced on a turkey farm in southern British Columbia.
Canadian news agencies said authorities were preparing to cull up to 60,000 turkeys on the farm near Abbotsford, southeast of Vancouver in the Fraser Valley.
(CIDRAP News) Health ministries in China and Egypt reported four new human H5N1 avian influenza cases over the past few days, including three from different parts of China, two of which were fatal.
Today's World Health Organization (WHO) confirmation of a case in a 2-year-old Egyptian girl pushed the global H5N1 case count to 400. If the WHO confirms all of the new cases and deaths, the total will rise to 403 cases, 254 of them fatal.
