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(CIDRAP News) – Researchers at Rockefeller University report that they have isolated an enzyme from a bacteriophage that shows promise as a tool to quickly detect and kill Bacillus anthracis, the anthrax bacterium.

(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.

Aug 23 (CIDRAP News) – An outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection has been linked with visits to a Pennsylvania dairy and petting farm that allowed public access to animals. Findings of the extensive scientific investigation of the outbreak are reported in the Aug 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The article highlights the need to consider zoonotic transmission during searches for the source of such outbreaks.

(CIDRAP News) - Fresh produce is not generally considered a common source of foodborne illness but, in fact, the incidence of this problem is on the upswing, according to results of a survey published in the August issue of the Journal of Food Protection. In recent years, the number of cases of illness linked with eating fruits and vegetables has risen from 2% to about 8% of reported cases.

(CIDRAP News) – When epidemiologists at Miami–Dade County Health Department noted an unusual rise in the incidence of typhoid fever during the winter of 1998-99, they faced a mystery. According to a report by Dolores J. Katz and associates in the Jul 15 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, the clues to the source of the outbreak represented a new arena for public health surveillance.

(CIDRAP News) – An outbreak of Salmonella infections linked to tomatoes affected at least 141 people, including 48 organ transplant recipients, who attended the US Transplant Games in Florida in late June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – A Saskatchewan man who died earlier this summer was Canada's first victim of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), but he probably acquired the disease in the United Kingdom, Canadian health officials announced yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – Restaurant food that was contaminated, probably deliberately, with a pesticide made 107 people sick and puzzled epidemiologic investigators for 4 months in 1998 and 1999, according to a report in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assocation.

(CIDRAP News) – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning of a possible risk of tularemia transmission from pet prairie dogs because of an outbreak at a Texas company that distributes the animals nationwide and internationally.

(CIDRAP News) – The Escherichia coli O157:H7 outbreak linked with ground beef from ConAgra Beef in Greeley, Colo., has grown to 34 cases and claimed the life of an elderly woman, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – At least 32 people suffered Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections in a July outbreak that was linked to romaine lettuce distributed in the Spokane, Wash., area, according to local and federal health officials.

(CIDRAP News) – Foodborne disease outbreaks that occurred in schools between 1973 and 1997 made nearly 50,000 students sick and sent 1,514 to hospitals, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

(CIDRAP News) – The outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections linked with ground beef from a ConAgra packing plant in Greeley, Colo., has reached 28 cases in seven states, federal health officials said today in discussing their investigation of the outbreak.

(CIDRAP News) – Garry L. McKee, PhD, MPH, director of the Wyoming Department of Health, has been named administrator of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

(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) – Three more cases of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection have been linked with ground beef recalled by a ConAgra plant in Greeley, Colo., bringing the total to 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said yesterday.

(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) – ConAgra Foods is voluntarily recalling 18 million pounds of ground beef from a plant in Greeley, Colo., as a result of 16 cases of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infection linked with meat from the plant, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials announced today.

The action, one of the largest ground beef recalls on record, is an expansion of a 354,000-pound voluntary recall that USDA announced Jun 30.

(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.

Note: This article was updated on Jul 16, 2002, with comments from a senior health economist at CDC on the study discussed.