(CIDRAP News) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) have announced a global campaign to control foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), a highly contagious livestock disease that does not threaten humans but can be economically devastating.
(CIDRAP News) – Mexican veterinary authorities are intensifying avian influenza control efforts in a region that houses several large commercial farms after further tests determined that the strain responsible for more than 200,000 bird deaths at three farms is the highly pathogenic H7N3 subtype.
The events represent the first highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in Mexican flocks since the country battled H5N2 in the mid 1990s.
Jun 26, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – A study showing that it takes as few as five mutations to turn the H5N1 avian influenza virus into an airborne spreader in mammals—and that launched a historic debate on scientific accountability and transparency—was released today in Science, spilling the full experimental details that many experts had sought to suppress out of concern that publishing them could lead to the unleashing of a dangerous virus.
Jun 15, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes to hold a meeting late this fall to discuss "dual-use" research issues raised in the controversy over publication of two studies involving lab-modified H5N1 viruses with increased transmissibility, a WHO official said today.
May 14, 2012
(CIDRAP News) – A bill headed for the floor of the US House calls for appointing a special White House advisor to lead and coordinate biodefense activities, including developing a national biodefense plan and a biosurveillance strategy.
