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(CIDRAP News) – A group of universities and private companies have launched an effort to harness donated computer time from millions of personal computers in the hunt for a drug to treat smallpox.

The Smallpox Research Grid Project will use personal computers around the world to analyze interactions between 35 million potential drug molecules and several smallpox virus proteins, according to United Devices, the company coordinating the effort.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture has announced it will release a draft report this week on the risk of Listeria contamination of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products  and will discuss the report at a public meeting Feb 26 in Washington, DC.

(CIDRAP News) – Exotic Newcastle disease (END) has continued to spread through southern California poultry flocks and has spilled over into Nevada and Arizona in recent weeks, prompting emergency declarations in both states.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials today raised the nation's security threat level from "elevated" to "high" because of intelligence reports indicating an increased risk of Al Qaida attacks on Americans at home or abroad. "High" is the second-highest of the five threat levels, after "severe."

(CIDRAP News) – With about 700 people vaccinated so far in the government's campaign to immunize frontline healthcare workers against smallpox, no adverse events have been reported, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

(CIDRAP News) – Close to 200,000 doses of smallpox vaccine have been shipped to 35 states and two major cities since the vaccination program began Jan 24, but only about 700 healthcare workers have been vaccinated so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) warns in a new report that nations should take steps to defend themselves against food contamination by terrorists and the devastating human and economic damage that could result.

(CIDRAP News) – People who will be receiving their first smallpox shot in coming weeks are getting a small break from the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization practices (ACIP): Instead of 15 pricks of the needle, the ACIP is now recommending only three.

(CIDRAP News) – Only two cases of "noteworthy" complications from smallpox vaccination have occurred among tens of thousands of troops who have received shots since the military vaccination program began in mid-December, according to a Department of Defense (DoD) report released today.

(CIDRAP News) – A case described in this week's New England Journal of Medicine illustrates some practical obstacles to quick diagnosis of illnesses that look like smallpox, including potential problems in sending clinical samples to outside laboratories for analysis.

(CIDRAP News) – Starting next December, importers will have to start notifying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at least a day in advance of every food shipment coming into the United States.

Editor's note: This story was updated Jan 30, 2003, with additional information from the Department of Health and Human Services.

(CIDRAP News) – President Bush yesterday proposed an initiative, called Project Bioshield, to speed the development and production of vaccines and treatments for smallpox, anthrax, botulism, and other diseases that could be spread by terrorists.

(CIDRAP News) – In the years when smallpox vaccine was being used to eradicate the disease, about 50 people out of every million vaccinated suffered life-threatening complications, and another 935 had serious complications. About two thirds of those complications might have been prevented with better screening, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it had shipped 29,800 doses of smallpox vaccine to seven states and one county and had received requests for vaccine from another 23 states as of yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Top federal health officials have turned down a proposal to test the Dryvax smallpox vaccine in small children, but not because of public objections. The trial is no longer needed because the current campaign to vaccinate military personnel and healthcare workers means Dryax won't be available for use in children, officials said.

(CIDRAP News) – As health officials in several states prepared to begin giving smallpox shots to healthcare workers, Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tommy Thompson today signed a declaration that triggers liability protection for those who administer the shots.

(CIDRAP News) Ð Connecticut, Nebraska,Vermont, and Los Angeles County this week became the first jurisdictions in thenation to receive smallpox vaccine under the program to prepare for a possibleterrorist release of the virus, federal health officials announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says it more than tripled the number of cattle it tested for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease, in fiscal year 2002 and is making progress on other regulatory steps to keep BSE out of the country.

(CIDRAP News) – The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has urged the federal government to move slowly and carefully on its pre-event smallpox vaccination program, with a pause after the initial phase to assess the vaccine's safety before moving to a broader inoculation campaign.

(CIDRAP News) – Julie Gerberding, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), says the national smallpox vaccination program for hospital and public health workers must go forward despite the new recommendation from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to proceed slowly and cautiously.