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By Region: South Asia

Smallpox-Destruction Deadline Delayed for 3 Years

WSJ – Global health officials agreed Tuesday to delay setting a deadline for destroying the last known stocks of smallpox for at least three years, in a compromise through which scientists will continue research to develop medicines to combat a potential bioterror attack. The consensus reached in Geneva by the World Health Assembly, the decision-making  Read More »

Global vet shortage threatens food security

PARIS – Low numbers of veterinarians in both the private and public sectors of many countries pose a threat to world food security and safety since they play a pivotal role in all stages of the food chain. One-hundred-eight member countries of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) participated in a study titled “The  Read More »

Farming breakthrough: Cattle plague bites the dust – AsiaOne

PARIS, FRANCE – In a moment that is being compared to the eradication of smallpox among humans, farming monitors on Wednesday will declare an ancient, devastating cattle disease has been stamped out after a nearly nine-decade effort. Rinderpest, a highly contagious and usually fatal viral disease also known as cattle plague, has been a curse  Read More »

Iran at odds with US, Russia on smallpox stocks

GENEVA, May 23 (Reuters) – Iran spearheaded opposition on Monday to a U.S. and Russian-backed plan to postpone fixing a date to destroy the world’s last known stocks of live smallpox virus. A debate over when to destroy stocks held in the United States and Russia has rumbled on for 25 years and resurfaced late  Read More »

Smallpox virus destruction talks falter at WHA – CIDRAP

A World Health Assembly (WHA) committee that took up a resolution to destroy the remaining stocks of smallpox virus failed to reach an agreement today, despite a working group's attempts to find an acceptable solution. …