Panel finds overall response was thorough, but notes policy gaps and some missteps after the samples were found.
Though the technology isn't likely within reach of do-it-yourselfers, it could already be in use by rogue governments, experts say.
Pigs and llamas appear prone to infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), according to researchers who experimentally infected four animal species and reported their findings yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Besides leading smallpox eradication, Henderson is also known for his role in shaping public health education and for instilling passion for solving infectious disease problems.
Only a few new yellow fever cases have been reported in Angola in the past week, but the mostly urban epidemic is still a big concern because of persistent transmission in seven provinces and expansion to new ones, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its weekly update today.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) saw localized pockets of high flu activity last week, but for the nation as a whole, the levels rose only slightly again, according to today's weekly update.
The percentage of respiratory specimens that tested positive for flu registered a modest bump, increasing from 6.8% to 9.1% last week, with the 2009 H1N1 virus holding onto its spot as the predominant strain.
Provincial officials in China have reported two new cases of H7N9 avian flu, according to reports yesterday and today.
The first case is in Ningbo city in Zhejiang province in east central China, according to a China News story yesterday translated and posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board. The patient—whose age and sex were not specified—had contact with live poultry and is hospitalized.
Federal regulators have privately threatened to revoke permits to study select agents (potential bioterror pathogens) from at least six labs for safety and security violations, including at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, the University of Hawaii-Manoa (UHM), and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), USA Today reported late last week in its continuing probe of US lab biosecurity
The World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva set ambitious goals of reducing the global malaria burden 40% by 2020 and at least 90% by 2030, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.
The WHA, the annual meeting of the WHO's member countries, also established a goal of eliminating malaria in at least 35 more countries by 2030, the WHO said in a news release.
Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH), which reported 9 MERS-CoV cases on May 11, has added 3 more in the past 3 days and reported 2 deaths in previously reported cases as it is apparently grappling with a Web site failure, switching to a new—and detail-limited—reporting system, or both.
