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By Category: International

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 »

May 17, 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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Pitt scholar: Destroy stockpiled strains of smallpox

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW — Three decades after leading the worldwide effort to eradicate smallpox, Dr. D.A.Henderson at the University of Pittsburgh said on Monday the final stockpiled strains of the virus should be destroyed. No known cases of the disease have been reported since 1978, but the United States and Russia keep hundreds of strains for Read More »

May 17, 2011
| Filed under Europe, North America, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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Verdict on Smallpox Cache Near

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL — Global health officials are expected to decide this week whether to grant a stay of execution to the last known stocks of smallpox, a move the U.S. argues is critical for the development of medicines to counter a potential bioterrorist attack. The decision, to be made at an annual meeting Read More »

May 16, 2011
| Filed under North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Decades After Eradicating Smallpox, Countries Mull Whether To Destroy Last Remaining Viruses

WASHINGTON POST — (London) – Smallpox, one of the world’s deadliest diseases, eradicated three decades ago, is kept alive under tight security today in just two places — the United States and Russia. Many other countries say the world would be safer if those stockpiles of the virus were destroyed. Now for the fifth time, Read More »

May 16, 2011
| Filed under Europe, North America, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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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.