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By Category: Public Health

Handling of Capitol threat bashed

(Indianapolis Star) A day after a mysterious white powder spilled from an envelope opened on the Iowa House floor, public safety officials and lawmakers said it appears the potential threat was not handled properly. Gov. Terry Branstad and others said on Wednesday that even though it was later determined the powder posed no threat, the Read More »

April 6, 2012
| Filed under North America, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, and Public Health
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Censoring flu data could raise bioterror threat

(New Scientist) Efforts to keep science secret by “redacting” scientific papers might cause the very problems it is supposed to prevent. That was the warning from leading cyber-security specialist Bruce Schneier to a meeting of flu and security experts this week at the Royal Society in London in the wake of the decision by the Read More »

April 6, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Animal Studies OK for Plague Indication, FDA Panel Says

(MedPage Today) An FDA advisory panel has voted unanimously that an indication for pneumonic plague can be given to two already-approved antibiotics — ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin — based on effectiveness testing done only in animals. Although human infection with plague is rare, the bacteria involved, Yersinia pestis, could be used in a bioterrorism attack, according Read More »

April 6, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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Censorship of Flu Research

(BBC News – Audio) Claudia Hammond discusses the issue of censoring science with the author of one of the papers, Ron Fouchier from Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Professor Paul Keim, the acting chair of the National Science Advisory Board in Biosecurity, the US organisation with the power to decide on Read More »

April 6, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Lead Researchers Tout Value of Bird Flu Studies

(Global Security Newswire) The top scientists behind a pair of widely debated avian influenza studies touted the valuable data generated by their activities while insisting they produced no extremely lethal strain of the agent, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. A U.S. biodefense panel last week dropped an earlier call for the restriction of certain Read More »