News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Supporters of irradiation as a tool for preventing foodborne disease are dismayed by a generally negative evaluation of irradiated meat in the August issue of Consumer Reports.

(CIDRAP News) – The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is calling the US government's stockpile of antiviral drugs "totally inadequate" in the face of a potential influenza pandemic.

(CIDRAP News) – Pandemic influenza could kill 540,000 Americans and sicken up to 66.9 million, according to a recent report by the nonprofit organization Trust for America's Health (TFAH).

(CIDRAP News) – Researchers relying on mathematical modeling claim that early containment of pandemic influenza, an eventuality widely accepted as not an "if" but a "when," may well be attainable through targeted public health strategies. A leading public health expert, however, cautions against viewing these study results as fodder for relaxed planning efforts, stressing the myriad variables that would come into play.

Editor's note: This is the second in a seven-part series investigating the prospects for development of vaccines to head off the threat of an influenza pandemic posed by the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The series puts promising advances in vaccine technology in perspective by illuminating the formidable barriers to producing large amounts of an effective and widely usable vaccine in a short time frame.

Maryn McKennaContributing Writer

(CIDRAP News) – This in-depth article investigates the prospects for development of vaccines to head off the threat of an influenza pandemic posed by the H5N1 avian influenza virus. Its seven parts put advances in vaccine technology in perspective by illuminating the formidable barriers to producing an effective and widely usable vaccine in a short time frame.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials today lifted warnings against eating certain tomatoes and said new clues in the ongoing nationwide Salmonella outbreak have led investigators from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to explore a Mexican packinghouse that handles jalapeno and Serrano peppers.

(CIDRAP News) – Experts and industry leaders speaking at congressional hearings this week on the nationwide Salmonella outbreak said federal agencies should take cues from state programs if they want to improve the traceability of fresh produce and the success of foodborne disease outbreak investigations.

(CIDRAP News) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI's) recently revealed conclusion that the late anthrax researcher Dr. Bruce Ivins committed the anthrax letter attacks of 2001 has been greeted with skepticism by many in the scientific community.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today released its inspection findings on the Georgia peanut butter plant that has been linked to a nationwide Salmonella outbreak, saying the company shipped products that had initially tested positive for Salmonella and citing various other questionable practices.