Recent News

By Category: Public Health

Bio-weapon surveillance system under attack in Beltway

(Fox News) Terrorist organizations continue to call for biological weapons attacks on the U.S., experts warn, yet our early warning system for bioterrorism is under attack in the Beltway. BioWatch, launched in 2003 as the nation’s first early detection and warning system for biological attacks, scans for dangerous pathogens in urban areas and at key Read More »

September 18, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Bioterrorism, Public Health, and Research
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Deadly African Ebola Virus Linked to Bushmeat

(Food Safety News) “There’s a live animal caught in a poacher’s snare!” yelled Isaac Maina as he took off running through the bush to reach it. Maina leads the African Network for Animal Welfare’s monthly “desnaring” operations, removing snares in areas of Kenya where poaching is rampant. Guns are illegal for most people in Kenya, Read More »

September 18, 2012
| Filed under Africa, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, and Public Health
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BioShield report shows growth in biodefense stockpile

(CIDRAP) The recently released annual report for the federal Project BioShield program gives a snapshot of the US arsenal for blunting bioterrorist attacks, showing growth in the supplies of certain countermeasures for anthrax, botulism, and smallpox. The report states, among other things, that the government has decided it doesn’t need the full 200,000 doses of Read More »

September 18, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biological Weapons, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Fresh Fruit Product Recalled for Potential Salmonella Contamination

(Food Safety News) A Minnesota-based company is recalling its fresh cut fruit products because they contain cantaloupes that may be contaminated with Salmonella. Cut Fruit Express, Inc. of Inver Grove Heights, MN issued a voluntary recall of products distributed through September 5, 2012, because they were made with cantaloupes recalled by Fresno, CA-based DFI Marketing Read More »

September 17, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, and Public Health
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Flu antibodys ‘one-handed grab’ may boost effort toward universal vaccine, new therapies

(EurekAlert) Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and Sea Lane Biotechnologies have solved the co-crystal structure of a human antibody that can neutralize influenza viruses in a unique way. The antibody recognizes the crucial structure that flu viruses use to attach to host cells, even though previously this structure had been thought too small for Read More »