Recent News

By Category: Public Health

Canada should ban off-label antibiotic use in agriculture

(Canadian Medical Association Journal) Canada should ban off-label use of antibiotics in farm animals because it contributes significantly to antibiotic resistance in humans, states an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). Off-label use means using antibiotics for purposes other than those indicated on the label.

June 5, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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ARS Highlights Alternatives to Antibiotics for Animal Agriculture

(Food Safety News) As concerns grow about antibiotic-resistant pathogens in our food, environment, and hospitals, the Agricultural Research Service is trying to figure out the best alternatives for food animal producers, who have long relied on these miracle drugs for combating diseases and boosting feed efficiency. Though antibiotic resistance is a known consequence of antibiotic Read More »

June 5, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Hong Kong H5 infection raises alert level

(CIDRAP News) Hong Kong health officials raised the pandemic influenza response level from alert to serious today after one of the local hospitals confirmed an H5 infection in a boy from China’s Guandong province. In a statement, Hong Kong’s Center for Health Protection (CHP) said the 2-year-old boy came down with a fever and runny Read More »

June 4, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Agents & Toxins, and Public Health
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Stockpile Vaccines Against Anthrax and Small Pox: Bio-terrorism is a Real Threat

(Huffington Post Blog) My husband and I are both New Yorkers; he is a Lieutenant serving as a proud member of New York’s Finest. We were here in New York City when the Towers came down on 9/11, memories of which are indelibly etched into our consciousness. In fact, during that time, my husband, was Read More »

June 1, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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WHO hopes for meeting on dual-use research in late fall

(CIDRAP News) The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes to hold a meeting late this fall to discuss “dual-use” research issues raised in the controversy over publication of two studies involving lab-modified H5N1 viruses with increased transmissibility, a WHO official said today. “We hope to hold a second meeting to discuss the broader concerns related to Read More »