(CIDRAP News) A large-scale bioterrorist attack on US agriculture would probably not lead to famine or malnutrition, but it could damage the economy, public health, and public confidence in the food system, according to a report recently released by the National Academies' National Research Council.
(CIDRAP News) In the 1960s, the rate of vaccinia virus transmission from people newly vaccinated against smallpox to nonimmunized people was low, but the rate could be higher today because of medical differences between populations then and now, according to a new analysis by smallpox experts.
(CIDRAP News) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today it is awarding $1.2 million to a group of managed care organizations for a pilot program to monitor millions of patient records for early signs of a terrorist attack.
(CIDRAP News) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today released detailed guidelines to help state and local health departments organize efforts to vaccinate the entire population against smallpox within 10 days in case the disease re-emerges.
(CIDRAP News) In response to a US senator's speculation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says there is no evidence that bioterrorism has played a role in the spread of West Nile virus to and within the United States.
(CIDRAP News) The United States deserves good marks for its efforts to improve core aspects of public health preparedness in the past year, but the nation performed generally poorly in international aid and cooperation to reduce threats to public health, according to the American Public Health Association (APHA).
(CIDRAP News) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says it is taking several steps to improve the monitoring and analysis of adverse events related to food products, dietary supplements, and cosmetics.
The FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) announced it is working on a single adverse event reporting system that will replace separate systems for the three categories of products.
(CIDRAP News) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report will publish electronic reports related to terrorism and other public health emergencies whenever necessary instead of waiting for the usual weekly publication day, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced yesterday.
(CIDRAP News) The Department of Defense's (DoD's) vaccine acquisition program is poorly organized and underfunded, making it difficult for the department to obtain important vaccines and maintain the supply of existing ones, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
(CIDRAP News) – After the Sep 11 attacks in New York City, health officials quickly launched a program of syndromic surveillance—the classification and counting of emergency department cases according to whether or not they initially looked like a disease potentially caused by bioterrorism. The goal was to provide an early warning of any biological attack.
