A study indicates that the existing smallpox vaccine remains effective after being diluted five-fold and ten-fold, suggesting that the 15-million dose US stockpile can be stretched much further.
(CIDRAP News) The French-basedpharmaceutical company Aventis Pasteur has a previously unreported cache of 70million to 90 million doses of frozen smallpox vaccine, the Washington Post reported today. If made available to the federal government,the supply would vastly expand the current US stockpile of 15.4 million doses.
(CIDRAP News) It is 13 days since the emergence of a hypothetical smallpox epidemic caused by the release of virus in three US shopping malls. Some 16,000 cases have been reported, 1,000 people have died, and the nation is running out of vaccine. Hospitals are overflowing, and federal and state officials are at odds over how to contain the epidemic.
(CIDRAP News) The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has released a 68-page report on its plan for expanding research on "Category A" bioterrorism agents: anthrax, smallpox, plague, tularemia, viral hemorrhagic fevers, and botulism.
(CIDRAP News) Jeffrey P. Koplan, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since 1998, has announced he will leave the position March 31.
(CIDRAP News) A report that paved the way for the World Health Organization's (WHO's) recent recommendation to keep intact the two known collections of smallpox virus cites a wide range of ongoing research on smallpox, including genome sequencing, molecular diagnostic techniques, antiviral drugs, and new vaccines.
(CIDRAP News) The proposed 2003 budget for the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) features a 45% increase in spending for bioterrorism preparedness, with research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) accounting for much of the increase.
(CIDRAP News) In view of the specter of bioterrorism, it's time to overhaul the hodgepodge of outdated, little-known, inconsistent state laws dealing with public health emergencies in the United States, an expert on the subject told a conference audience in Minneapolis yesterday.
