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By Region: South Asia

Row at WHO meeting over smallpox – News24

Geneva – The World Health Organisation on Monday held a stormy discussion over the future of smallpox virus samples, which Russia and the US are seeking to preserve while others want them destroyed. The question surrounding the destruction of the last …

Fate of last smallpox virus samples to be determined today

The World Health Organization officially declared in 1979 that smallpox has been eradicated; in the three decades since the WHO declaration, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, and a Russian government laboratory near Novosibirsk have been the last two places to keep samples of the smallpox virus; during this time,  Read More »

World Health Assembly opens 64th session in Geneva

CIDRAP — Delegates from 193 countries met today in Geneva at the start of the World Health Assembly (WHA), which will address several infectious disease topics, including a report from an independent pandemic review committee, a virus-sharing agreement, and the fate of the world’s remaining smallpox virus stocks. The WHA is the decision-making body of  Read More »

LeT trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction with help from Qaida

TIMES OF INDIA — NEW DELHI: One of LeT’s most important leaders who was indicted by the US treasury department for the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, Arif Qasmani, is helping the India-centric terror group acquire biological weapons and anthrax through his al-Qaida links.

Plugging Holes Over Bioweapons

This December, the picturesque city of Geneva will host the Seventh Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). The BWC, which 163 countries are state parties to, prohibits the use, development, production and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. In advance of the Review Conference, international delegates to the Convention met from April 13  Read More »