News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization has issued an alert over outbreaks of severe respiratory illness, including atypical pneumonia, that it has been investigating since mid-February in Vietnam, Hong Kong, and mainland China.

(CIDRAP News) – State and federal officials this week confirmed the presence of low-pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) at a large poultry farm in eastern Connecticut. Meanwhile, the highly pathogenic form of the disease has led to the killing of 1.4 million birds in the Netherlands in the past 2 weeks.

(CIDRAP News) Ð With perfect timing inview of the current global outbreak of a mysterious respiratory disease, theInstitute of Medicine today released a report calling on the United States totake the lead in addressing infectious disease threats around the world as wellas at home.

(CIDRAP News) – As cases in the global outbreak of "severe acute respiratory syndrome" (SARS) climbed to 264 today, the World Health Organization (WHO) said there is evidence that the illness may be caused by a previously unknown member of the Paramyxovirus family, which causes measles, mumps, and canine distemper.

(CIDRAP News) – Suspected US cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) climbed to 22 today as the global total neared 360, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.

The US total now includes three patients who didn't travel to Southeast Asia, the epicenter of the outbreak, but apparently caught the illness from close contacts who had traveled there, CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said at an afternoon news briefing.

(CIDRAP News) – Tests by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that a previously unrecognized coronavirus—a virus family associated mainly with the common cold—may be the cause of sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), CDC officials announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – An outbreak of atypical pneumonia that began in southern China last fall was probably severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the mysterious flu-like illness that has spread to 13 countries since late February, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

(CIDRAP News) – Global cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have continued to climb rapidly in recent days, reaching 1,485 today, as the World Health Organization (WHO) and various cities and countries stepped up efforts to contain the disease.

(CIDRAP News) – In an effort to slow the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Hong Kong health officials have sealed off a large apartment building where 107 people became infected.

Apr 2 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today took the unusual step of advising against nonessential travel to Hong Kong and the neighboring Guangdong Province of China because of the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) there.