Recent News

By Region: Asia/Pacific

Polio Can Be Beaten If U.S. Protects Worldwide Vaccination Efforts

Smallpox, which claimed 2 million lives in 1967, was stamped out by 1980 through an enormous vaccine campaign. Today the world has a shot at a second such triumph, this time over polio. It will take more than good medicine to succeed. …

July 29, 2011
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Singapore Pursues Ricin Countermeasure

Singaporean government researchers have uncovered genetic material considered critical to ricin’s toxicity, offering a potential pathway to a countermeasure for the lethal biological agent, AsiaOne News reported on Sunday. The ERGIC2 host gene is central to the threat posed both by ricin and another toxin known to strike hospitalized individuals with immune system deficiencies, said Read More »

July 27, 2011
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Agents & Toxins, and Countermeasures
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Global bioterrorism threat analyzed for world animal health office – AgriLife Today

COLLEGE STATION – Around the globe, many nations are realizing that the potential for bioterrorism isn’t just about the U.S., officials say. And because an intentional introduction of bacteria, a virus or a toxin could happen anywhere, the World Organization for Animal Health is issuing a paper aimed at prevention. “Any emerging country that is Read More »

July 26, 2011
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, and Agriculture
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Mideast WMD-Free Zone Inches Forward Amid Gripes About U.S. Role

WASHINGTON — An international meeting in Belgium this month to discuss prospects for banning weapons of mass destruction from the Middle East showed some glimmers of progress, but complaints are mounting that the United States is falling short in its leadership role (see GSN, July 12). (Jul. 22) – Annalisa Giannella, the European Union’s personal Read More »

July 25, 2011
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, and Research
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A*Star scientists discover how to combat hospital-acquired infections and life-threatening toxins

(Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore) A team of scientists from A*STAR’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology has discovered the secret recipe for ‘antidotes’ that could neutralize the deadly plant toxin Ricin, widely feared for its bioterrorism potential, as well as the Pseudomonas exotoxin responsible for the tens of thousands of hospital-acquired Read More »