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(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released detailed guidelines to help state and local health departments organize efforts to vaccinate the entire population against smallpox within 10 days in case the disease re-emerges.

(CIDRAP News) – The smallpox vaccine being produced by Acambis plc for the US government worked well in its second trial, generating a characteristic vaccinia lesion in all recipients and causing no serious adverse events, the company said this week.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials are trying to identify the source of a listeriosis outbreak that has involved at least 26 cases, with four deaths, in Pennsylvania and neighboring states in recent weeks.

(CIDRAP News) – In response to a US senator's speculation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there is no evidence that bioterrorism has played a role in the spread of West Nile virus to and within the United States.

(CIDRAP News) – The United States deserves good marks for its efforts to improve core aspects of public health preparedness in the past year, but the nation performed generally poorly in international aid and cooperation to reduce threats to public health, according to the American Public Health Association (APHA).

(CIDRAP News) – The current high prevalence of eczema, or atopic dermatitis (AD), suggests that a large share of the population could be at risk for the serious side effect of eczema vaccinatum (EV) if they underwent smallpox vaccination, according to specialists writing in the September Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is inviting public comments on a new draft report on how to control microbial pathogens in juices.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is taking several steps to improve the monitoring and analysis of adverse events related to food products, dietary supplements, and cosmetics.

The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) announced it is working on a single adverse event reporting system that will replace separate systems for the three categories of products.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers report they have discovered the probable strategy that anthrax uses to kill macrophages, a step that may allow the pathogen to escape detection by the innate immune system.

(CIDRAP News) – The Department of Defense's (DoD's) vaccine acquisition program is poorly organized and underfunded, making it difficult for the department to obtain important vaccines and maintain the supply of existing ones, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

(CIDRAP News) – Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report will publish electronic reports related to terrorism and other public health emergencies whenever necessary instead of waiting for the usual weekly publication day, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – After the Sep 11 attacks in New York City, health officials quickly launched a program of syndromic surveillance—the classification and counting of emergency department cases according to whether or not they initially looked like a disease potentially caused by bioterrorism. The goal was to provide an early warning of any biological attack.

(CIDRAP News) – Workers who decontaminate buildings tainted with anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) spores should be vaccinated against the disease or receive preventive antibiotic treatment, according to new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – A recent meta-analysis does not support the idea that antibiotic treatment increases the risk of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in patients with Escherichia coli O157:H7 enteritis, but the authors say the question isn't settled yet.

(CIDRAP News) Ð The smallpox vaccine being produced by Acambis plc for the US government as part of the nation's bioterrorism preparedness program worked well in a Phase I trial, Acambis officials announced this week.

The vaccine, called ACAM1000, generated a characteristic skin lesion or "take" in all those vaccinated, and there were no serious or unusual side effects, the company reported in a Sep 3 news release.

(CIDRAP News) – The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently sent a recommendation on smallpox vaccination policy to President Bush, but HHS officials still are not confirming reports that it calls for vaccinating as many as 500,000 healthcare workers.

"I can't confirm anything other than that the recommendation went to the White House," Bill Pierce, an HHS spokesman in Washington, DC, told CIDRAP News today.

(CIDRAP News) – As foodborne diseases increase, innovations for improving food safety are sure to follow. And, in fact, such practices are already showing up in grocery stores and at food science institutions around the country.

(CIDRAP News) – The results of a small study reported this week suggest that the immunity induced by smallpox vaccination may last 35 years or longer—considerably longer than experts have generally believed.

(CIDRAP News) Ð The Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC) is much better prepared to deal with a terroristattack now than it was a year ago, before Sep 11 and the subsequent anthraxattacks, CDC officials said this week.

(CIDRAP News) Ð Low levels ofchloramphenicol, a potentially harmful antibiotic that cannot legally be addedto food, have been found in honey imported from China, federal officialsannounced yesterday.