Epidemics and pandemics

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
- Read more
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
- Read more

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
- Read more
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
- Read more

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
- Read more
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
- Read more

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
- Read more
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
- Read more

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
- Read more
Items in FEMA food kits may contain salmonella-tainted peanut butter
Food kits FEMA distributed to thousands of storm evacuees in Kentucky may contain peanut butter contaminated with salmonella
- Read more

U.S. lawmakers want tighter food inspection system
The list of recalled peanut products in the .S. surpassed 1,000 in an ongoing national salmonella outbreak; the 2007 recall of melamine-tainted pet food eventually grew to 1,179 products; Congress says current system of food inspection is not working
- Read more
Cholera cases exceed 60,000 in Zimbabwe
Robert Mugabe’s war on his people continues: the number of cholera cases in Zimbabwe has exceeded WHO’s nightmare scenario of 60,000; the Mugabe regime’s systematic looting of the country and its destruction of the country’s public services and infrastructure — especially the health care system and water delivery and treatment facilities — may make the epidemic unstoppable
- Read more

Kansas wins $450 million biolab
Kansas State University outlasted four other competitors to win the $450 million DHS National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility
- Read more
More human deaths from avian flu
Avian flu is slowly making its way into the human population; Indonesia reported two more death, bringing Indonesia’s H5N1 total death to 115; China reports three more deaths, bringing that country’s total to 22
- Read more
Novartis awarded $486 million contract to create flu plant
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a $486 million contract to Novartis which will see the company build a plant in North Carolina to produce a flu vaccine
- Read more

More headlines