Recent News

By Category: Public Health

Mandatory flu vaccine for health care workers to protect patients

(EurekAlert) All health care workers in health care institutions should be vaccinated with the annual influenza vaccine to protect patients, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). “Each season, 20% of health care workers get influenza, and 28% of young healthy adults who get it have asymptomatic or subclinical infections,” writes Dr. Ken Read More »

October 30, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, and Public Health
Share

River Watcher: A look at the invisible world of viruses

(OrovilleMR) Carolus Linnaeus, “the father of classification,” may not have been thinking of viruses when he said, “Nature is most wonderful in the smallest things.” Super microscopic virus cells have caused havoc from strep throat, smallpox, polio, measles, influenza, HIV, to swollen plant deformities … to havoc on the computer. The computer virus, called a Read More »

October 30, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Public Health, and Research
Share

US Increases Funding to Combat Influenza and Emerging Disease Threats

(All Africa) FAO’s commitment to fight emerging disease threats in “hotspot” regions worldwide is getting a boost with new funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UN agency said today. The funding, totalling more than $20 million, will support the ongoing US-FAO partnership against H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and Read More »

October 30, 2012
| Filed under Africa, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
Share

Another Illness in North Carolina E. coli Outbreak

(Food Safety News) Another E. coli O157:H7 case has been added to the outbreak connected with the Cleveland County fair in North Carolina, bringing the total number of known cases to 101, according to the the North Carolina Department of Health. “Preliminary findings suggest animal exposure may be the source of this outbreak,” said health Read More »

October 29, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Agriculture, and Public Health
Share

Better poultry biosecurity needed to eliminate avian flu virus

(Deccan Chronicle) The recent bird flu alert at the Central Poultry Development Organisation (CDPO) at Hesarghatta has yet again brought the focus back on the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI-H5N1) which has the potential to cause significant economic loss and high mortality. Small farmers and the rural poor, who depend on these livestock, are the Read More »