Anthrax

(CIDRAP News) – A combination of vaccines that included smallpox and anthrax might have contributed to the death of a young Army reservist last April, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Postal Service (USPS) reopened post offices in the Washington, DC, area last week after further tests dismissed a preliminary finding of anthrax at a Navy mail-handling facility in Washington.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Postal Service (USPS) closed 11 post offices and facilities in the Washington, DC, area yesterday after routine air sampling indicated possible anthrax at a mail handling facility at the Anacostia Naval Station in Washington.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the Postal Service has decided to close and test facilities for biohazard contamination," USPS spokesman Azeezaly Jaffer said in a statement yesterday evening.

(CIDRAP News) – To bring coherence to a poorly coordinated national effort, the United States should focus its current bioterrorism preparedness program on four specific threat scenarios involving anthrax, smallpox, botulinum toxin, and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), according to a report by defense consultant and former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig.

(CIDRAP News) – The federal government awarded two contracts totaling more than $150 million this week for further testing and initial production of new anthrax vaccines designed to be safer and require fewer doses than the existing vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials yesterday released a 37-page report that they say demonstrates "tremendous progress" in developing countermeasures for bioterrorism through federally funded research since early 2002.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Health and Human Services yesterday announced $350 million in grants for eight regional centers to lead and coordinate research on defenses against bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases.

(CIDRAP News) – A new study on anthrax in mice indicates that the organism kills its victims by a different mechanism than previously believed, a finding that could change the approach to drug development for anthrax.

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers who compared the reported signs and symptoms of anthrax and of common viral respiratory tract infections have published guidelines that could help clinicians distinguish inhalational anthrax from more benign infections in the aftermath of an anthrax attack.

(CIDRAP News) – A Maryland company says it has received "fast track product" designation from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ABthrax, a drug designed to help prevent and treat anthrax. The FDA grants fast-track status to speed the review process for products that address an "unmet medical need."