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By Category: International

Biosecurity staff find skulls and maggots

(3News) Biosecurity staff were left scratching their heads after discovering a box of wild animal skulls crawling with maggots in the post. Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) staff in Auckland uncovered an unusual biosecurity threat when they opened a box containing what is thought to be zebra and wildebeest skulls. The skulls, which were still Read More »

March 18, 2014
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Biosafety, and International
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Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV)

(WHO) On 14 March 2014, the Ministry of Health of Saudi Arabia announced an additional five laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Globally, from September 2012 to date, WHO has been informed of a total of 196 laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with MERS-CoV, including 83 deaths.

March 18, 2014
| Filed under Middle East, Agents & Toxins, International, and Public Health
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Poliovirus in Cameroon

(WHO) In Cameroon, three additional wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases have been reported with onset of paralysis on 6, 25, and 31 January 2014 from three new regions (North West, Adamaoua, and Centre) confirming continued WPV transmission and geographic expansion of infected areas following detection of four cases in October 2013. In total, seven Read More »

March 18, 2014
| Filed under Africa, Agents & Toxins, International, and Public Health
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The Only Thing Scarier Than Bio-Warfare is the Antidote

(Newsweek) It was spring 1979 in Sverdlovsk, Russia, a large industrial city straddling the border of Europe and Asia in what was then the Soviet Union. Without warning, 96 residents became ill, with symptoms similar to a severe flu: fever and chills, sore throat and headaches, with some nausea and vomiting. Just the usual one-week Read More »

March 13, 2014
| Filed under Europe, Agents & Toxins, Biosafety, Bioterrorism, and International
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The chilling implications of an ancient virus dug up in Siberia

(Mail Online) At first, oil worker David Smith thought he had something like the flu. He wasn’t that surprised, as he normally caught some sort of bug after the flight from Moscow. He spent the first day back home in Manchester in bed, head and muscles aching. He felt wretched, although he had enough strength Read More »