All News

(CIDRAP News) – The dengue fever epidemic in Indonesia continues to spread, with almost 400 deaths and more than 26,000 cases since January 1, according to a number of news sources. Dr. Rita Kusriastuti, an official with the Indonesian Ministry of Health, said that more than 390 people had died of the mosquito-borne disease and that at least 30 of 32 provinces had reported cases, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) story today.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week approved use of a spray containing the active ingredient in mouth rinses and throat lozenges as a way of reducing poultry-related foodborne illnesses. The chemical, cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), will soon be marketed as a spray under the name Cecure for poultry processing companies to apply to raw poultry.

(CIDRAP News) – A new government-wide effort to sustain the cutting-edge life sciences research for which the United States is known but to also guard against misuse of the knowledge and technologies growing from this research was announced today by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson.

(CIDRAP News) – More birds have died or been sacrificed in the current avian influenza outbreaks in Asia than in the five largest previous outbreaks of avian flu, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – In the face of a possible risk of birth defects, federal health officials are recommending careful evaluation of infants born to women with a history of West Nile virus (WNV) illness during pregnancy.

(CIDRAP News) – A Kansas meat company is proposing to revive its beef exports to Japan by testing all cattle for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)—a proposal that has put the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the spot.

(CIDRAP News) – Animal disease outbreaks and concerns, including avian influenza and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), are currently reducing global meat and animal exports by about one third, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – United Nations officials at a conference in Bangkok predicted it will take a year or more and cost at least $500 million to eradicate H5N1 avian influenza and rebuild the poultry industry in Asia, according to news service reports.

(CIDRAP News) – Dr. Garry L. McKee is leaving his post as administrator of the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to take a position at the FSIS Technical Service Center in Omaha, Neb., USDA officials announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Indonesia has been hit by an unusually large dengue fever epidemic this year, with more than 300 deaths among more than 17,000 cases so far, according to news service reports.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today reported Thailand's 10th confirmed human case of H5N1 avian influenza, marking the first new case confirmation anywhere since Feb 23.

The case involved a 47-year-old woman who has already recovered, the WHO said. She became ill Feb 3 after exposure to diseased and dead chickens at her home and was discharged from a hospital Feb 25, the agency said.

(CIDRAP News) – A pair of recent studies on variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) raises warning flags about the risk of spreading the disease through blood given by people who are carrying the illness but have no symptoms.

(CIDRAP News) – A detailed report on 10 Vietnamese patients who had H5N1 avian influenza, including eight who died, suggests that no currently available drugs are very effective against the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – The FBI this week released a photo of a letter addressed to the White House last fall that contained ricin and threatened to "turn D.C. into a ghost town" if new trucking regulations went into effect.

The letter stated, "If you change the hours of service on January 4, 2004 I will turn D.C. into a ghost town. The powder on the letter is RICIN have a nice day Fallen Angel."

(CIDRAP News) – The inspector general of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investigating allegations that the nation's first cow with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was not a "downer" when it arrived at a slaughter plant in December.

(CIDRAP News) – An unusual intestinal infection that is often mistaken for appendicitis has been traced to a specific food source, iceberg lettuce, for the first time, according to a report in the Mar 1 Journal of Infectious Diseases (JID).

(CIDRAP News) – Genetic analysis has shown that an avian influenza outbreak at a poultry farm in Texas involves a highly pathogenic H5N2 virus, but it poses little risk to humans, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – A US Department of Agriculture (USDA) advisory committee says it needs help resolving different assessments of the nation's risk for more cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) before it can complete its recommendations for further steps to prevent the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – The H5N1 avian influenza virus has killed two house cats in Thailand, but the event probably does not signal an increased threat to human health, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Under a plan currently being discussed, a major bioterrorist attack could trigger use of the mail system to deliver antibiotics from a national stockpile to homes, the US Postal Service (USPS) announced this week.