Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) has been confirmed in 220 patients in 31 states and the District of Columbia, up 45 cases and 5 states in the past 2 days, according to an update today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, Rhode Island confirmed the first reported US case this year in an adult.
A new federal contract awarded to a Pennsylvania company calls for the development of a "portable, low-cost, user-friendly" ventilator designed for use in public health emergencies, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has done a poor job of managing supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) and antiviral medications to protect its workforce during an influenza pandemic, the department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found.
GSK, Canada's largest flu vaccine supplier, said today it won't be able to fill about 30% of its Canadian order for the upcoming flu season because of problems at its Ste. Foy, Que., plant, the Canadian Press reported today.
It's unclear how the deficit will affect GSK doses in the United States, a GSK spokesman told CIDRAP News.
The neuraminidase inhibitor laninamivir, made by Biota Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Alpharetta, Ga., failed to perform better than a placebo at alleviating influenza symptoms in a phase 2 trial, the company said in a press release today, adding that it will no longer develop the drug.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said this week that the safety of gain-of-function (GOF) studies like a recent one involving the generation of a 1918-like influenza virus merits more public discussion, given the obligation of researchers to "first do no harm."
A 34-year-old Egyptian man whose H5N1 avian flu case was announced in late June has died, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in a statement.
UW calls a recent UK newspaper story biased and largely wrong.
Overall funding for fiscal year 2014 will be $840 million — a $76 million cut.
Thomas Jeffries, PhD, said the studies increase, rather than lower, the risk of a pandemic.
