News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Increased surveillance in recent years has begun to fill in some of the huge information gaps regarding influenza in Africa, which should eventually make it possible to develop or improve public health interventions, according to a big collection of articles published recently in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (JID).

(CIDRAP News) – Two internationally known health officials yesterday gave their assessment of the global response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, saying good decisions were made based on what was known early in the outbreak but adding that the experience yielded several important lessons, such as the need for more flexible pandemic plans and the need to communicate more clearly about risks.

(CIDRAP News) – Amid media reports that the World Health Organization (WHO) might be on the verge of setting a date to discuss a step-down in the pandemic alert level, the agency said today that it's too early to determine if tropical and Southern Hemisphere countries have transitioned to normal seasonal flu patterns.

– ATLANTA (CIDRAP News) – The vital role of preparedness, from diagnostic testing to stockpiling of antiviral medications, was one of the most important lessons from assessments of the world's response to the H1N1 influenza pandemic, the World Health Organization's (WHO's) top flu expert told an international infectious diseases conference yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – While donor countries and organizations have responded well to the need for pandemic flu vaccine for developing countries, the level of giving for other pandemic response efforts in needy countries so far has fallen short, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a recent report.

(CIDRAP News) – A panel set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) to review its pandemic response spent the last day of its 3-day meeting yesterday hearing from an expert who denied charged that drug companies swayed response activities and said it may be premature to declare that the pandemic is over, according to media reports.

(CIDRAP News) – The current public health advice that Americans should get their seasonal flu shots early this year has prompted some to voice concern that their protection will fade later in the season. But medical literature and disease experts indicate there is no good evidence that immunity conferred by the shots wanes so quickly.

(CIDRAP News) – The Institute of Medicine (IOM) today affirmed existing federal guidance that healthcare workers caring for H1N1 influenza patients should wear fit-tested N95 respirators, not just surgical masks, to protect them from the virus.