Recent News

By Category: Public Health

Anthrax, anthrax, everywhere…

(Scientific American) This past week brought news about another successful bioterrorism response drill, effectively delivering hypothetical medicines to protect the citizens of Baltimore from a hypothetical anthrax attack. Frankly, I always shake my head in dismay when I read of such preparedness exercises.

May 23, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Indifferent reporting of notifiable diseases

(Canadian Medical Association Journal) As a signatory to the International Health Regulations, Canada has an obligation to report cases if yellow fever, plague, cholera and all other diseases that might be considered to potentially cause a “public health emergency of international concern.” It is a truism that Canadian physicians and other health workers are legally Read More »

May 23, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, International, and Public Health
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Pandemic 2009 H1N1 vaccination produces antibodies against multiple flu strains

(Emory University) The pandemic 2009 H1N1 vaccine can generate antibodies in vaccinated individuals not only against the H1N1 virus, but also against other influenza virus strains including H5N1 and H3N2. This discovery adds an important new dimension to the finding last year that people infected with pandemic 2009 H1N1 virus produced high levels of antibodies Read More »

May 23, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, and Public Health
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Carl Zimmer: Curing our Influenza Amnesia

(World Science Festival) Our brains are not the only places where we can store memories. Each time a new pathogen invades our bodies, our immune cells have an opportunity to recognize it by some feature, usually some distinctive cleft or spike of a protein on its surface. After our bodies defeat the infection, some immune Read More »

May 22, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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City’s Smallpox History Inspires New Exhibit

(NY1) Smallpox is the only disease that’s been completely wiped out across the globe but remains one of the most feared. Now, its unique connection to the city is on display at the New York Historical Society. NY1’s Kafi Drexel filed the following report. If there’s any doubt about what vaccination can do to protect Read More »