(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) approval yesterday of two more avian influenza (AI) tests for use in a voluntary national poultry health program will improve the protection of US flocks from avian flu, according to USDA officials and animal health experts.
Mar 30, 2009
(CIDRAP News) – Today we are launching a new daily News Scan to help our readers keep up with the full range of current and noteworthy developments in emerging infectious diseases, biosecurity, foodborne diseases, influenza, other public health threats, and relevant policy issues.
(CIDRAP News) Agriculture officials in Hong Kong today confirmed that the avian influenza virus that recently hit a large commercial chicken farm was the lethal H5N1 strain, as authorities vowed to explore potential protection gaps in the poultry vaccine and the possibility that smuggled eggs might be a source of the virus.
(CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today said Kansas State University (KSU) is its preferred site among six candidates for a facility to replace the federal Plum Island Animal Disease Center in New York.
(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a report yesterday detailing the first year of accomplishments in implementing its Food Protection Plan, a road map the agency presented in November 2007 in response to a spate of contamination incidents involving domestic and imported food.
(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said recently it is making a few minor changes in its requirement for advance notice of imported food shipments, which is designed to give the agency time to decide which shipments need inspection for safety reasons.
(CIDRAP News) A group of international donors who met yesterday in the final session of an avian influenza conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, pledged more support for avian and pandemic flu preparedness and prevention, led by $320 million from the United States.
(CIDRAP News) – Aiming to make imports safer, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will open four overseas offices by the end of the year, starting with China and followed by India, Europe, and Latin America, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced recently.
(CIDRAP News) A recent Associated Press (AP) report revealed that, in the name of preventing biological attacks, the United States has rules barring the exportation of vaccines for avian influenza, smallpox, yellow fever, and many other pathogens to five countries classified as sponsors of terrorism.