Recent News

By Category: Public Health

Flu surveillance lacking

(Nature.com) When researchers created strains of the H5N1 avian influenza virus that could spread easily between mammals, they argued that their work would aid in surveillance, by identifying mutations to watch for in the wild. But an analysis by Nature paints a dire picture of how animal flu viruses are being monitored. In 2010, the Read More »

March 30, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, Agents & Toxins, Agriculture, International, and Public Health
Share

H5N1 surveillance: Shift expertise to where it matters

(Nature.com) Tools and training for responding to diseases such as avian flu must relocate to countries where infections are most likely to emerge, says Jeremy Farrar. Every day on my way to the hospital, I pass streets lined with poultry. The birds disappeared a few years ago, but have gradually returned. This would be of Read More »

March 29, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, Agriculture, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
Share

H5N1: How to track a flu virus

(Nature.com) Four experts pinpoint ways to improve monitoring of H5N1 avian influenza in the field. The H5N1 influenza outbreak in Asia is unprecedented: never before has a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus prevailed for so long, spread to so many countries or generated so many genetic variants. Why? Partly because of its persistence in …

March 29, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, Agriculture, Countermeasures, International, and Public Health
Share

Bird flu claims sixth victim this year in Indonesia

(AsiaOne) “A laboratory result confirmed that he tested positive for the bird flu virus,” Rita Kusriastuti told AFP, adding that the man contracted the H5N1 virus from poultry living around his house. “Some ducks and chickens in his neighbourhood died of the …

March 28, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific and Public Health
Share

Simulated disaster drill conducted at CWC Monday tested Public Health Response …

(County 10) The premise of Monday’s drill was a mock release of anthrax. The Fremont County Public Health Department’s mobile emergency response trailer, equipped with two fully equipped nursing stations, was put into action and various stations were set up inside the college’s gym where potential victims were screened and then directed to several medication Read More »