Recent News

By Region: Asia/Pacific

How Far Are We From a Super-Pandemic?

(DiscoveryNews) Fall is flu season and this year, as usual, federal health officials are asking the public to get their annual flu vaccine shot. But scientists say there are much more deadly bugs lurking out there that could someday make the jump from local outbreak to a worldwide super pandemic that could wipe out people Read More »

September 20, 2013
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, and Public Health
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Bird flu viruses could re-emerge in upcoming flu season

(FAO) FAO has issued a new warning to the international community that the H7N9 and H5N1 avian influenza viruses continue to pose serious threats to human and animal health, especially in view of the upcoming flu season. “The world is more prepared than ever before to respond to bird flu viruses in light of a Read More »

September 16, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, International, and Public Health
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CDC warns of complacency on global health issues

(WashingtonTimes) America is facing a “perfect storm of vulnerability” for exposure to infectious diseases, making public health efforts more important than ever, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday. “There is in some quarters a sense that public health is less and less relevant,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said Read More »

September 11, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, and Public Health
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Vanderbilt advances bird flu research using controversial sequences

(TheTennesseean) Researchers at Vanderbilt University have determined that an existing, experimental vaccine would work should a deadly bird flu virus mutate to the point it becomes contagious between people. Controversial data on how to build the deadly virus published in scientific journals enabled researchers to show that human antibodies can kill it. Their findings on Read More »

September 11, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, and Research
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The US is building a bioweapons lab in Kazakhstan

(Salon) In 1992, Dr. Kanatjan Alibekov, a biologist from the Soviet Union, boarded a flight in Almaty, then Kazakhstan’s capital, for New York. When Dr. Alibekov—now known as Ken Alibek—sat down with the CIA, he had a terrifying secret to reveal: that bio weapons program the Soviet Union stopped in the 1980′s hadn’t actually stopped Read More »