Recent News

By Region: North America

Few children and young adults with autoimmune diseases are receiving the HPV vaccination

(ScienceDaily) The number of children and young adults with autoimmune diseases receiving the HPV vaccination is profoundly low despite studies showing the vaccine to be safe and effective, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting in San Diego. Given the increased incidence of HPV in people with autoimmune Read More »

October 28, 2013
| Filed under North America, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Policing the New Scientific Frontier of Synthetic Biology

(ForeignAffairs) Ongoing research and discoveries in the life sciences — the latest and most promising involving synthetic biology — have led to extraordinary advances that will benefit society. But criminals and terrorists could manipulate such advances to disrupt public safety and national security. Since its founding in 1923, Interpol has learned that the most effective Read More »

October 28, 2013
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, Biosafety, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Guinea Worm Moves Toward Eradication

(NPR) The world has eradicated just one human disease: smallpox. But another illness is getting tantalizingly close to elimination. No, we’re not talking about polio; that virus also has its back against a wall. But a report Thursday puts a parasitic worm ahead of polio in the race to extinction. The world recorded just 89 Read More »

October 25, 2013
| Filed under Africa, North America, International, and Public Health
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Fighting a Deadly Dengue Fever Outbreak in Honduras

(DoctorsWithoutBorders) An epidemic of hemorrhagic dengue fever is spreading through San Pedro Sula, Honduras’s second largest city, with more than three times as many cases as last year. This form of dengue can be deadly, with children most at risk. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have launched an emergency response to bring down Read More »

October 25, 2013
| Filed under North America, South America, Countermeasures, International, and Public Health
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Deadly gaps persist in new drug development for neglected diseases

(EurekaAlert) In a study published today in the open-access journal The Lancet Global Health, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and other researchers report a persistent deficiency in truly new therapeutics for neglected diseases, despite nominal progress and an acceleration in research and development (R&D) efforts. This continued ‘fatal imbalance’ in medical R&D points Read More »