Epidemics and pandemics

Roche takes over Genentech for $47 billion
Swiss drug giant pays $95 per share for 44 percent of Genetech (Roche already owns 56 percent); the combined company would be the seventh-largest U.S. pharmaceutical company in terms of market share and would generate about $17 billion in annual revenues with a payroll of around 17,500 employees in the U.S. pharmaceuticals business alone
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Deadly avian flu virus found in wild duck in Germany
German authorities discovered the virus in a wild duck shot during a hunt near Starnberg, in Bavaria; this is the first case of a virus found in a wild bird for over a year
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Human vaccine against bird flu a reality with new discovery
Aussie researchers added a compound, known to increase immunity, to the flu vaccine in an animal model; the addition of this compound promoted significant generation of potent killer T cell immunity and provided protection from infection
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Innovative pandemic flu vaccine effective against H5N1 in mice
The current method of growing seasonal influenza vaccines in chicken eggs is slow and inefficient; Emory University scientists have developed an alternative: virus-like particles, empty shells that look like viruses but do not replicate
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Salmonella contamination found at Texas peanut plant
Salmonella found in ground peanuts in a Plainview, Texas plant which received peanuts from the now-bankrupt Georgia peanut processing company; contaminated products from the Plainview company were found in Colorado
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More and more nations are food-insecure
Globalization, life style changes, and fierce competition among food producers make developing nations food-insecure; “Epidemics are a disastrous but unavoidable consequence that we can only hope to limit,” one expert says
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Houseplant pest offers clues to potential new anthrax treatment
A humble bacterium with a long name — Pectobacterium chrysanthemi (Dickya dadantii) — attacks, and often kills, the popular African violet, which is found in many urban and suburban back yards; it does so by competing with its host — the violet — for iron; Warwick University researchers find that the bacteria’s chemical pathway could be blocked or inhibited to prevent the bacterium from harvesting iron, essentially starving it; this work has major implications for the treatment of several virulent and even deadly mammalian infections including Anthrax
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Monoclonal antibodies effective against bird flu, seasonal flu
Worldwide, more than 250,000 deaths from seasonal influenza occur annually; if a breakout of avian flu occurs, the number of deaths is incalculable; scientists identify human monoclonal antibodies effective against bird and seasonal flu viruses
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Woman dies of bird flu in Vietnam
The World Health Organization reports that H5N1 has killed 254 people across the world since 2003; the latest victim is a Vietnamese woman, bringing the death toll from avian flu in Vietnam to 53 since the end of 2003 — the highest in the world
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Food safety is in farm worker's hands -- literally
Food safety experts says that the health and hygienic habits of migrant farms workers are an often-overlooked source of food borne illness
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Food poisoning strike 25 percent of Americans each year
Food poisoning affects an estimated 25 percent of Americans every year; calculations say there are 87 million cases every year, with 371,000 requiring hospitalizations and 5,700 dying
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NASA study predicted outbreak of deadly virus
Predictive tool is a blend of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration measurements of sea surface temperatures, precipitation, and vegetation cover to predict when and where an outbreak would occur
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China reports bird flu cases in which humans are infected, but not birds
China’s Ministry of Health said it was puzzled by eight human cases of bird flu in January which appeared independent of any known case in birds; five Chinese died from H5N1 in January in far-flung regions without any reported presence of the virus in birds on the mainland
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Former top MI6 official says bird flu more of a threat than terrorism
Former assistant chief of U.K.’s MI6 says pandemics posed more of threat to the U.K. population than terrorism; he also says that privacy worries about the international counterterrorist databases are exaggerated
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First ever U.S. case of Marburg fever confirmed in Colorado
Marburg hemorrhagic fever is extremely rare — and deadly; the disease is caused by a virus indigenous to Africa, and was brought to the United States by a researcher who traveled to Uganda
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