(CIDRAP News) Ð The Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC) is much better prepared to deal with a terroristattack now than it was a year ago, before Sep 11 and the subsequent anthraxattacks, CDC officials said this week.
(CIDRAP News) Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy G. Thompson has named the 21 members of his Council on Public Health Preparedness, which will advise HHS on dealing with public health emergencies, including bioterrorism.
(CIDRAP News) Federal officials say that devices for quickly detecting Bacillus anthracis spores in the environment are not reliable and should not be used in assessing possible bioterrorism threats.
(CIDRAP News) The House of Representatives' version of a bill to set up a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would keep the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in control of public health programs for dealing with bioterrorism, according to an official of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM).
(CIDRAP News) President Bush's National Strategy for Homeland Security, released this week, lays out a lengthy agenda for defending the country against bioterrorism as well as other kinds of terrorist attacks.
(CIDRAP News) Though two top federal health officials recently were quoted as saying that half a million healthcare workers may be vaccinated against smallpox, the official word from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is that the scope of the vaccination program has not yet been decided.
July 9, 2002 (CIDRAP News) - Several national public health organizations are urging Congress and the Bush administration not to shift federal bioterrorism preparedness programs from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the proposed Department of Homeland Security.
(CIDRAP News) Confirming earlier unofficial reports, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson today named infectious disease expert Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, as the new permanent director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She becomes the first woman to lead the agency.
(CIDRAP News) Caught between the unknown risk of a smallpox attack and concern about adverse vaccine reactions, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) yesterday recommended that only healthcare workers assigned to deal directly with a smallpox outbreak be vaccinated against smallpox.
(CIDRAP News) President George W. Bush yesterday signed a far-reaching bioterrorism bill designed to strengthen the public health system, tighten controls on dangerous pathogens, and protect the nations food and water supplies.
