Public Health

(CIDRAP News) – Although the estimated annual toll of foodborne illnesses and deaths in the United States was revised sharply downward by federal officials in 2010, foodborne disease still costs the nation up to $77.7 billion a year, according to a new study in the Journal of Food Protection.

(CIDRAP News) – In an unprecedented move, the US government, following an advisory panel's advice, has asked the journals Science and Nature to omit key details of two studies on the transmissibility of dangerous mutant strains of H5N1 influenza viruses in ferrets on grounds that the information could be misused by bioterrorists.

(CIDRAP News) – Public health programs that detect and respond to bioterror events and disease outbreaks are at risk from federal and state budget cuts, a threat that could worsen over the next year if automatic across-the-board cuts kick in, according to an annual preparedness report card released today.

(CIDRAP News) – Though botulism outbreaks in Europe are often traced to home-canned food, three recent outbreaks were linked to commercially distributed food, raising important food safety issues, investigators reported last week.

(CIDRAP News) – A group of health organizations today launched a new international consortium to better prepare the clinical research community to respond to the next pandemic or other emerging health threat.

(CIDRAP News) – Officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today they see promising signs of increased flu vaccine uptake in children and healthcare workers so far this year, adding that they hope to boost less impressive numbers in adults and those with chronic medical conditions.

(CIDRAP News) – New surveillance data in Europe show a steep rise in the percentage of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia, a drug-resistant issue seen as a growing threat in the United States as well.

(CIDRAP News) – A national biosecurity board that monitors "dual use" research is apparently worried about an as-yet-published study in which a mutant form of H5N1 avian influenza virus was found to be easily transmissible in ferrets, which are considered good models for flu in humans.

(CIDRAP News) – Against a backdrop of state, national, and international efforts to raise awareness about appropriate antibiotic use, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a new tracking system to monitor use of the drugs in hospitals.

(CIDRAP News) – An international group of researchers estimates that seasonal flu worldwide causes 90 million acute lower respiratory infections a year in young children, with 1 million of the cases severe enough to require hospitalization.