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Uganda to conduct Marburg and Ebola vaccine trials
Ebola and Marburg are viral infections that have a high mortality, killing 90 percent of victims; no effective treatment exists for these highly infectious diseases, which cause extensive internal bleeding and rapid death
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FDA awards 83 grants in FY2009 totaling $17.5 million
The Food and Drug Administration awarded $17.5 in grants to improve food safety by emphasizing improved response, intervention, innovation, and prevention
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The Top 10 foods most likely to make you sick
Some of the healthiest foods are also the most dangerous, causing most food-borne disease in the United States; the leading illness-carrying foods: leafy greens, eggs, and tuna
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IBM's wants to make food smarter
Big Blue offers systems for tracing the raw materials of food products through “an increasingly complex global supply chain”
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Victims of food-poisoning on Hill in support of S. 510
Food safety debate intensifies as food-borne illness victims lobby for stronger food laws; new bill, S. 510s would increase FDA inspections of food processing plants, especially of high-risk facilities, require imports to meet U.S. safety standards, establish science-based minimum safety standards for growing fresh produce, and give the agency mandatory recall authority
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Congress allocates funds for planning Kansas biolab
Congress allocates $32 million for planning and design of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas; the money for construction of the 520,000-square-foot lab and the transferring of research equipment from Plum Island, New York — about $915 million — will be released only if security concerns are satisfactorily addressed
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Trust for America's Health calls on Senate to reform U.S. food safety
Approximately 76 million Americans — one in 4 — are sickened by food-borne diseases each year. Of these, an estimated 325,000 are hospitalized and 5,000 die. Medical costs and lost productivity due to food-borne illnesses in the United States are estimated to cost $44 billion annually
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25 years to Oregon salmonella bioterrorism
The 1984 Oregon outbreak of Salmonella enterica Typhimurium sickened 751 people and sent 45 to hospitals; the attack was launched by a mystical cult which tried to take over the remote Oregon county
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New advanced sensors developed
Queen’s University Belfast researchers use Raman spectroscopy, which involves shining a laser beam onto the suspected sample and measuring the energy of light that scatters from it to determine what chemical compound is present; they mixed nanoscale silver particles to amplify the signals of compounds
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Has biodefense research made America a safer place to live?
Death of University of Chicago scientist as a result of infection with the plague bacterium, raises more questions about the downside of growing research into bio terror agents — and the means to counter them
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The risks of pet-borne disease
Small mammals, birds, and reptiles may offer companionship to people in situations when dogs, cats, or larger animals are not practical or permitted — but these smaller creatures require particular care to prevent illness; beware especially of salmonella, tularemia, psittacosis, and lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus
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School closings owing to swine flu could cost between $10 and $47 billion
The U.S. government urges schools to remain open, but there had already been at least 187 school dismissals across the country affecting at least 79,678 students; cost of closing all U.S. schools could reach billions of dollars
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Raytheon uses millimeter-wave radiation to keep food safe
Missile and defense contractor Raytheon offers a solution which uses millimeter-wave radiation to pasteurize food; new method is both healthier and more energy efficient than current pasteurization technologies
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Majority of Americans would refuse emergency use H1N1 vaccine or additive
Some 46 percent of people surveyed said they were concerned about
getting swine flu, but nearly 86 percent said they thought it was unlikely or very unlikely that they themselves would become ill -
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University of California campuses on alert for swine flu outbreak
University of California campuses have been active informing students, faculty, and staff about swine flu; the medical centers on these campuses have emergency plans
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The long view
Huge Areas May Face Possibly Fatal Heat Waves if Warming Continues
A new assessment warns that if Earth’s average temperature reaches 2 degrees C over the preindustrial average, widespread areas may become too hot during extreme heat events for many people to survive without artificial cooling.