News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Papayas imported from Mexico are the likely source of a Salmonella outbreak involving 97 cases in 23 states, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza activity in the United States continued to fade last week, but the lingering signs included reports of four more flu-related deaths in children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization's latest global update said flu was generally low and decreasing worldwide, but there were a few patches of activity in the tropics.

(CIDRAP News) – More signals suggest the Southern Hemisphere's flu season is winding down, while activity is low at the start of the Northern Hemisphere's flu season, except in China, which is seeing moderate H3N2 circulation.

(CIDRAP News) – Despite a rapidly launched range of studies, investigators in Canada are still unable to say—or to rule out—whether receiving a seasonal flu vaccination in the 2008-09 season made it more likely that Canadians would become ill from 2009 pandemic H1N1 flu.

(CIDRAP News) – A collection of new studies is demonstrating once again the ability of the pandemic H1N1 virus to make some people desperately sick and is raising questions about the potential strain on critical-care resources this fall and winter.

(CIDRAP News) – After delaying action for weeks as the novel H1N1 influenza virus took hold in far-flung parts of the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) today declared a full-fledged pandemic, formally recognizing that the virus is becoming a global contagion.