Recent News

By Category: Public Health

Virus ‘barcodes’ offer rapid detection of mutated strains

(University of Leeds) Dr Julian Hiscox and Dr John Barr of the University’s Faculty of Biological Sciences are working with the Health Protection Agency Porton (HPA) to build a bank of molecular signatures that will help identify the severity of virus infection from characteristic changes seen in cells. Currently the team is barcoding different strains Read More »

May 14, 2012
| Filed under Europe, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
Share

Reps. Markey, Slaughter Press FDA on Antibiotic Use in Ethanol Production

(Food Safety News) Congressional query follows IATP report on distillers grains fed to animals. With growing concern over antibiotic resistance, public health advocates have long pushed for more responsible use antibiotics — both in human medicine and animal agriculture — but there is one piece of the puzzle that has not received as much attention: Read More »

May 14, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Public Health
Share

Hamilton lab to manufacture Ebola vaccine

(Guelph Mercury) An Ebola vaccine will soon be manufactured in Hamilton as researchers prepare to test it in humans. The vaccine to protect against the severe and often deadly viral hemorrhagic fever was created at Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory, which has the highest security in Canada.

May 14, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
Share

South Korea Announces Biodefense Exercise

(Global Security Newswire) South Korea said on Friday it would collaborate with the United States in an exercise next week aimed at assessing their capacity to respond to intentional or natural disease outbreaks, Kyodo News reported. Roughly 190 individuals representing 50 U.S. and South Korean government organizations are due to participate in the four-day “Able Read More »

May 11, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, North America, Biological Weapons, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
Share

The WHO must reform for its own health

(Nature Medicine) The World Health Organization (WHO) is facing an unprecedented crisis that threatens its position as the premier international health agency. To ensure its leading role, it must rethink its internal governance and revamp its financing mechanisms. The World Health Organization was born in the bifurcated Cold War world in 1948, and every aspect Read More »