(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO) today recognized 15 H5N1 avian influenza cases from Indonesia dating back to late January, a few weeks after the country stopped sending H5N1 virus samples to the WHO as a protest against developing nations' lack of equal access to pandemic vaccines.
(CIDRAP News) – The city of Edmonton, Alta., recently announced that it was stockpiling an herbal supplement in the hope of boosting the immunity of police, firefighters, and other essential workers during an influenza pandemic.
By buying a ginseng product from CV Technologies, Inc., a company based in Edmonton, the city has become the first in North America to add an herbal supplement to its pandemic stockpile, according to media reports.
(CIDRAP News) The European Union (EU) this week approved a "mock-up" influenza vaccine made by Novartis to permit a faster start on vaccine production in the event of a flu pandemic.
(CIDRAP News) The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday cleared the way for two N-95 respirator models to be marketed as devices that can reduce a user's risk of becoming ill during an influenza pandemic or other public health emergency.
(CIDRAP News) Though there is little scientific evidence to go on, wearing a surgical face mask may make sense for people who have to go into crowded public places during an influenza pandemic, federal health officials said today.
(CIDRAP News) A new report from Congress' Government Accountability Office (GAO) says key organizations that are the backbone of the US financial industry need to do more to prepare for an influenza pandemic and urges federal regulators to set deadlines for them to complete pandemic plans.
(CIDRAP News) A hypothetical but not unlikely scenario: Amid an influenza pandemic, a small hospital has three patients who need mechanical ventilation. One has terminal cancer, another has severe chronic lung disease, and a third has a severe case of flu. With only one ventilator available, which patient will get it?
(CIDRAP News) – A committee that reviews medical product applications for the European Union (EU) yesterday recommended approval of a cell-based seasonal influenza vaccine made by Novartis, improving the company's chance of becoming the first to market a flu vaccine grown in cell culture instead of in eggs.
(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO) says nations and vaccine manufacturers agreed yesterday that it may be feasible to set up a world stockpile of H5N1 influenza vaccine and find a way to ensure that developing countries could access pandemic flu vaccine supplies.
(CIDRAP News) – The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche announced today it is scaling back production of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) because of waning demand, and simultaneously questioned whether countries stockpiling the drug are buying enough to protect their citizens in the event of an influenza pandemic.
