Recent News

By Category: Public Health

WHO Official Seeks Flu Data Release in Months

(Global Security Newswire) The release of data from two scientific studies that increased the transmissibility of the avian flu virus should take place prior to a second World Health Organization gathering planned within months to address the research, WHO Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda said in remarks reported by the Canadian Press last week.

March 22, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, International, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Pathogen Detection System Takes a Cue from Fireflies

(Food Safety News) Biology researchers in the United Kingdom have developed a device that can detect foodborne pathogens using a variant of a simple, seemingly unlikely chemical: Firefly luciferase, the enzyme that makes fireflies’ abdomens light up. The device, called “Bioluminescent Assay in Real-Time” (BART), pinpoints harmful bacteria such as Salmonella and Listeria on food Read More »

March 22, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Biotechnology, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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IOM Report Provides Framework and Tools to Deliver Health Care Effectively During Catastrophic Disasters

(Institute of Medicine) While most areas of the country have systems in place to handle conventional disasters, such as a plane crash or building collapse, the infrastructure and systems to deliver health care during or following catastrophic situations, such as a widespread disease outbreak or a devastating earthquake, are rudimentary at best, says a new Read More »

March 22, 2012
| Filed under North America, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Integrated action, community participation urged

(The News International) Later, CADD Secretary Imtiaz Inayat Elahi told participants that in light of high disease burden, seasonal epidemics, including dengue, swine flu, bird flu, diarrhoeal disorders and Congo hemorrhagic fever, were a cause of huge strain on health resources. He said the situation called for coordinated efforts to prevent, control and manage epidemics Read More »

March 21, 2012
| Filed under South Asia, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Military advances battle against flu

(UPI) FORT BELVOIR, VA — U.S. drug-development company MediVector has been given a military contract to further develop a therapeutic against multiple influenza viruses. The broad-based therapeutic is Favipiravir (T-705). It could be effective against the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus and drug-resistant influenza strains as well as common influenza.