Public Health

(CIDRAP News) – Governmental plans for an influenza pandemic are missing an important opportunity to improve US preparedness, according to two new reports: They are not reaching out to communities and grass-roots groups that could refine plan details and increase public support.

(CIDRAP News) – In a major effort to track influenza viruses in nature and learn more about how they interact with the human body, the federal government this week announced a $23-million-a-year program to fund research centers at six institutions around the country.

(CIDRAP News) – Social control measures such as closing schools and banning public gatherings played a significant role in slowing the advance of the 1918 influenza pandemic in a number of US cities, but their success depended on how soon the measures were deployed and how slowly they were lifted, two teams of researchers reported yesterday.

March 30, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – Genetic elements that confer multidrug resistance (MDR) in both plague and foodborne bacteria have a common origin and may represent a significant public health threat, according to a study published Mar 20 in the journal PLoS One (Public Library of Science One).

(CIDRAP News) - Indonesia's health minister today announced her country would immediately resume sharing its H5N1 avian influenza virus samples with the World Health Organization (WHO), apparently ending a months-old impasse, say reports from Jakarta.

(CIDRAP News) – Indications today are that Thailand will continue to share H5N1 avian influenza viruses with the World Health Organization (WHO), contrary to a news report yesterday.

Bloomberg News reported yesterday that Thailand would restrict access to its H5N1 viruses, and CIDRAP News passed along that report. But a senior Thai health official said Thailand had no plans to withhold samples, according to a Reuters report published yesterday.

Editor's note: Contrary to this story, information obtained Mar 23 from the World Health Organization and from another news report indicated that Thailand had no plans to withhold H5N1 virus samples. See link at end of story for more information.

(CIDRAP News) – Thailand today announced that it was joining Indonesia's boycott on sharing its H5N1 avian flu virus samples with vaccine developers and the international health community.

Editor's note: Contrary to this story, information obtained Mar 23 from the World Health Organization and from another news report indicated that Thailand had no plans to withhold H5N1 virus samples. See link at end of story for more information.

(CIDRAP News) –Indonesia vowed today not to share H5N1 avian influenza virus samples with the World Health Organization (WHO) until it has a "legally binding" guarantee that the samples won't be used to develop vaccines that the country can't afford, according to news services.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed two cases of H5N1 avian influenza, one in Egypt and one in China, while stating that a disagreement with Indonesia about sharing H5N1 virus samples has not yet been fully resolved.