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(CIDRAP News) –Wild game meat, especially bear meat, has replaced pork as the leading source of Trichinella infections in humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – Following up on an announcement made last week, the Canadian government yesterday published new regulations designed to keep materials potentially contaminated with the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) agent out of the food supply.

(CIDRAP News) – In the first regulatory change triggered by Canada's recent case of mad cow disease, the Canadian government announced last week that certain high-risk parts of cattle, including the brain and spinal cord, will have to be removed from carcasses at the time of slaughter.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today cited a new $5 million fund for food security research and a five-fold increase in food import inspections as the latest examples of its efforts to improve the security of the nation's food supply.

The agency made the announcement as it released an 18-page progress report on its food security efforts since Sep 11, 2001.

(CIDRAP News) – Two women in their 50s suffered dilated cardiomyopathy—enlargement of the heart—within 3 months after receiving smallpox shots, but it was unclear whether the shots caused the condition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported recently.

(CIDRAP News) –Exotic Newcastle disease (END) is disappearing from southern California's poultry flocks after a 9-month battle, but quarantines on the affected counties will probably remain for several more months, according to an official with the state's END Task Force.

(CIDRAP News) – Six months after President Bush proposed the idea, the US House this week overwhelmingly passed "Project Bioshield," a plan to promote the development of drugs and vaccines needed to defend the nation against attacks with biological and other unconventional weapons.

(CIDRAP News) – Because of a change in the case definition for SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), the United States has had only half as many suspected and probable cases of the illness as previously reported, federal health officials said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers at Vanderbilt University will study three different types of bandages for smallpox shot sites to compare their ability to prevent spread of the vaccinia virus and their effects on healing time, the university announced.

(CIDRAP News) – People vaccinated for smallpox in the distant past can be successfully revaccinated with diluted vaccine and have fewer side effects than people receiving the vaccine for the first time, according to a randomized, single-blind study reported by Sharon E. Frey, MD, and colleagues in the Jun 25 Journal of the American Medical Association.

(CIDRAP News) – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a new requirement for water systems that it says could prevent up to a million illnesses a year by reducing Cryptosporidium contamination in drinking water.

Jul 15 (CIDRAP NEWS) – The United Nations' food standards body announced last week that it would allow higher kiloGray (kGy) doses for irradiating food.

(CIDRAP NEWS) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has, as of Jul 11,  lifted its SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) travel alert for Beijing, China. Beijing was dropped from the list after 30 days—three times the incubation period—had elapsed since the onset of symptoms for the last reported case. Taiwan is now the only area on the CDC's SARS travel alert list. 

Editor's Note: A correction was made to paragraph 5 on July 14.

(CIDRAP News) – A feed plant in Tacoma, Wash., has admitted violating regulations intended to prevent the spread of mad cow disease and has promised to correct the problem, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – The number of possible human monkeypox cases dropped in the past week as investigators ruled out 11 cases while confirming three, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – The Bush administration has announced plans to expand and strengthen the Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps, the nation's uniformed force of health professionals who can be mobilized to respond to health emergencies around the country.

(CIDRAP News) – An influenza virus—especially one genetically manipulated for increased virulence—would be an attractive weapon for bioterrorists, according to physicians writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

(CIDRAP News) – The five federal agencies most involved in biodefense face a talent shortage that could keep them from responding effectively to a major bioterrorist attack, according to a new report by a nonprofit group that works on civil service issues.

(CIDRAP News) – SARS is no longer spreading in Taiwan and therefore appears to be contained worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Jul 5.

The last probable SARS case in Taiwan and, for now, the world, was detected and isolated Jun 15, WHO officials said. After 20 days with no new cases in Taiwan, the WHO determined that the country was free of recent local transmission.