Anthrax

(CIDRAP News) – More US troops and civilian defense workers serving overseas will be getting smallpox and anthrax vaccinations in coming months, the US Department of Defense (DoD) announced yesterday.

Editor's Note: The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), where the research described was accomplished, was inadvertently omitted from the list of author affiliations in the 4th paragraph below; the article was updated Jul 1, 2004, to include this information.

(CIDRAP News) – The possibility of a smallpox outbreak highlights a key threat to America's public health system: What if a person needs a vaccine but there is no nurse to give the shot?

America's growing shortage of qualified public health workers could undermine terrorism preparedness, according to a recent report from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO).

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week approved the first generic versions of ciprofloxacin (Cipro), the antibiotic that drew national attention when it was used after the mail-borne anthrax attacks in 2001.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published a guidebook to help medical examiners and coroners detect and respond to bioterrorism.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Postal Service (USPS) has begun installing anthrax-detection systems in major mail-processing centers and hopes to have the equipment in 100 facilities by the end of this year.

After testing the Biohazard Detection System (BDS) for nearly 2 years in Baltimore, the USPS began installing the system in major processing and distribution centers in March, said Bob Anderson, a USPS spokesman in Washington, DC.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new and faster blood test to help confirm a diagnosis of anthrax infection, federal health officials announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Senate yesterday overwhelmingly passed "Project BioShield," a 10-year, $5.6 billion program to promote rapid development and use of drugs and vaccines to counter biological and chemical weapons.

(CIDRAP News) – Businesses that install systems to detect airborne anthrax should have detailed plans to follow in case the pathogen turns up, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said recently.