(CIDRAP News) Large-scale quarantine of potentially exposed people is not likely to be the optimal strategy for containing a disease outbreak resulting from bioterrorism in most circumstances, according to public health experts writing in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
(CIDRAP News) About 19% of more than 3,000 postal workers who took ciprofloxacin to prevent anthrax from the recent bioterrorist attacks reported having "severe" gastrointestinal side effects, but only 2% sought medical attention for them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Officials described the findings as being in line with other reports on ciprofloxacin.
Nov 21, 2001 (CIDRAP News)—A cluster of three unexplained deaths after routine knee surgeries in Minnesota has prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to hunt for similar cases nationwide and caused Minnesota health officials to call a 1-week moratorium on elective knee surgeries.
(CIDRAP News) The nation's fifth recent death due to inhalational anthraxthat of a 94-year-old Connecticut womanwas announced today as public health officials were explaining that they don't know how the patient contracted anthrax but don't think it was from a naturally occurring source.
Nov 16, 2001 (CIDRAP News) In the current investigation of anthrax cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will try to determine if some parts of the country have a normal background level of anthrax spores that poses no threat to humans and, if so, what that level is, CDC officials said today.
(CIDRAP News) Pregnant and lactating women who may have been exposed to anthrax should be treated prophylactically with amoxicillin rather than ciprofloxacin when the anthrax strain is found to be penicillin-sensitive, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends.
Nov 12 (CIDRAP News) Improved survival among victims of the recent anthrax attacks, as compared with past anthrax cases, is probably a result of better antibiotic regimens, early recognition and treatment, and improved supportive care, among other factors, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials.
(CIDRAP News) As part of its response to the recent anthrax attacks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is holding daily media briefings on its anthrax investigation and related activities and posting transcripts of the briefings on its Web site.
(CIDRAP News) Donald A. Henderson, MD, public health expert and director of the successful campaign to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s, has been appointed to coordinate the national response to public health emergencies. Tommy G. Thompson, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), named Henderson last week as director of the newly created Office of Public Health Preparedness.
(CIDRAP New) Officials from the Mayo Clinic and Roche Molecular Biochemicals today announced the development of a DNA test that they say can accurately detect anthrax bacteria in human and environmental samples in less than an hour, far faster than currently available tests. They said they will begin making the test available free to public health laboratories this week to help combat the current spate of anthrax attacks.
