Recent News

By Category: Public Health

US cell-based flu vaccine plant open for business

(Nature News Blog) Americans may soon be getting flu jabs made with cells and not eggs. The drug company Novartis opened a first-of-its kind facility in the US to produce influenza vaccines using mammalian cells, Novartis and US government officials announced 13 December. The approach is an alternative to conventional vaccine manufacturing, which relies on Read More »

December 16, 2011
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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City gets high-tech research lab for testing of airborne diseases

(Hindustan Times) Last week, a laboratory – Biosafety Lab Level 3 – at the Haffkine Institute at Parel was certified by an independent agency, signaling the start of research work commissioned to understand organisms responsible for diseases such as swine flu, …

December 13, 2011
| Filed under South Asia, Biosafety, Public Health, and Research
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World Bank funds health project into second phase

(Scoop.co.nz) The World Bank has granted Massey University $5m in funding to extend its education programme strengthening Asian public health and veterinary capacity to combat zoonotic diseases. In the first phase of the programme that has just completed, 67 health professionals from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal were trained in One Health Read More »

December 9, 2011
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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A new map of “the other” malaria

The malarial parasite, Plasmodium vivax, is something of a forgotten step sister to the more prevalent, more deadly Plasmodium falciparum. Global and local programmes looking to eradicate malaria may need to pay it more attention say several health experts presenting at this year’s annual meeting for the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Read More »

December 8, 2011
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, North America, South America, South Asia, and Public Health
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Canberra Vaccine Expert Urges Censorship on Bird Flu Strain Mutant Research

(International Business Times AU) A vaccine expert from Canberra’s National Centre for Biosecurity (NCB) wants the formula used by virologists to mutate the bird flu virus into a strain capable of killing humans to be omitted in the published version of their experiment for security reason. The censorship would prevent others from genetically engineering the Read More »