Recent News

By Category: Public Health

H5N1: Why Open the Stable Door?

(Practical Ethics) Professor Paul Keim, who chairs the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, recently recommended the censoring of research that described the mutations which led to the transformation of the H5N1 bird-flu virus into a form that can be …

February 13, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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Undetected H5N1 cases seem few, but questions persist

(CIDRAP News) The fatality rate for officially confirmed human cases of H5N1 avian influenza infection is a stunningly high 59% (345 deaths in 584 cases). But the current controversy over publishing data about transmissible H5N1 viruses has revived a debate about whether the virus is as lethal as those numbers say. Some proponents of publishing Read More »

February 10, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, South Asia, Agents & Toxins, Public Health, and Research
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Bureau Reviews: BioSecurity in the UK

(Bureau of Investigative Journalism) The radio documentary explored the state of biosecurity in the UK, throwing a disturbing light on the potential for mass outbreaks. Over the course of 40 minutes reporter Gerry Northam navigates the listener through a world of dangerous substances, possible leaks and failures in planning. The story begins with an anthrax Read More »

February 10, 2012
| Filed under Europe, Agents & Toxins, Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Experts: Dual-use H5N1 studies may not hasten pandemic response

(CIDRAP News) International experts say that, while experiments on H5N1 avian flu transmission in mammals are important, publishing full details of such “dual-use” studies likely will not speed up the vaccine response in a pandemic, according to a news report and editorial in Nature today. “I think the research is important, but not for vaccine Read More »

February 10, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Biosafety, Public Health, and Research
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Doomsday flu decision time: The story so far

(New Scientist) Last year, two flu research groups created what could be extremely dangerous viruses through their research into bird flu. Both studies will be censored when they are published, and all similar work has been put on hold – unprecedented actions in biomedical research. Ahead of a World Health Organization meeting to plot a Read More »