High-containment labs across the US government, including the CDC, have safety gaps, the GAO says.
Exceptional Ebola surveillance and swift responses to outbreaks will be the key to taking advantage of the availability of Ebola vaccines, say three experts who offered their thoughts on the future use of such vaccines in a new article from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The next step in the deliberations is a 2-day National Academies of Science symposium in March.
Some topics: weighing risks and benefits, ethical issues, and global involvement.
The analysis is a key part of a federal review of controversial studies on H5N1 and other pathogens.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has replaced its longtime head of national lab regulation after a series of key lab safety breaches involving bioterror pathogens like Bacillus anthracis—which causes anthrax—and H5N1 avian flu viruses, USA Today reported yesterday.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) today recommended in a report that the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) BioWatch program not pursue any upgrades to its second-generation (Gen-2) technology for monitoring the country for potential bioterror attacks until it can provide better efficacy data.
The plan includes ways to improve safety and security at US labs that conduct infectious disease research.
Recommendations include executive-level management that spells out a national plan, pulls together a policy council, and unifies the biodefense budget.
Health plans in general are doing a poor job at raising human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination levels in adolescent girls, according to researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and their collaborators at Princeton University. The team published its findings in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
