Epidemics and pandemics

Turning water fountains into infection control units
Toronto’s Farrow Partnership Architects sees future in infection-control units
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Most U.S. businesses can not handle flu outbreak
One-fifth of the businesses surveyed said they could avoid problems for one month with half their employees out
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Swedish MP says bowing could slow swine flu spread
A Swedish member of parliament, who is also a doctor, says that bowing rather than shaking hands as a form of greeting would slow to spread of the H1N1 virus
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Hawaii H1N1 preparedness test disburses medicine
Hawaii tests emergency response to swine flu outbreak; supplies were distributed to more than 40 locations statewide in about seven hours; said incident commander for the exercise: “We consider that a great success”
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Ohio to train EMTs to give flu vaccine
Ohio has about 41,000 EMTs and paramedics; the state wants them trained in giving swine flu shots if needed
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Mandatory automated tracing of food stuffs nears
There indications the the FDA may soon require food companies to maintain lot and batch information records electronically better to facilitate forward and backward traceability
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H1N1 remains relatively mild as vaccine production advances
CDC says most U.S. children who died ad pre-existing conditions; WHO pressures companies to donate 10% of their swine flu vaccine production to the developing world
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Pennsylvania bio-terror laboratory fails inspection
Pennsylvania-based BSL-3 BioLab fails, yet again, a safety inspection; the facility was finished in 2007 but has been beset by an assortment of delays, poor construction, and breakdowns
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New business model for researching, producing vaccines
Relying on venture capital-funded biotech research is problematic when it comes to vaccines for pandemics and bioterrorism; an expert proposes a private-public partnership within the HHS Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority
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U.S. pays $31 million for development of smallpox treatment
Florida company awarded $31 million to to produce an inhaled version of an existing smallpox drug; Danish company in negotiations with the U.S. to develop a freeze-dried form of its smallpox vaccine
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Swine flu still poses a deadly threat
While H1N1 mostly causes mild disease, some people — estimates suggest fewer than 1 percent — become deathly ill, very fast; experts warned that these cases could overwhelm hospitals
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Better immune defense against anthrax
Scientists discover a gene in anthrax-causing bacteria may help defend against this form of bio-warfare
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The state of public health and biodefense
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Scientists closer to a safer anthrax vaccine
The currently available, 40-year-old anthrax vaccine, can prevent disease, but it has significant drawbacks: Immunity is temporary, and five injections over the course of eighteen months are needed to sustain it; one in five vaccine recipients develop redness, swelling, or pain at the injection site, and a small number develop severe allergic reactions; researchers offer a better vaccine
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Google analyzes flu Web searches to create early warning system
Google’s public Flu Trends system, for example, is designed to pick up early clues by tracking and analyzing Internet searches for flu information
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