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Chicago firm recalls beef products due to E. coli contamination fear
E. coli scare causes large beef recall: Chicago firm distributed the suspect beef product to processing plants in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin
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GSK gets EU green light for bird flu vaccine
Sanofi Pasteur, the joint venture between Sanofi Aventis and Merck, has produced a vaccine that targets one strand of H5N1; GSK argues that their new vaccine — Prepandrix — is the first to target several strains of the virus; Prepandrix contains an adjuvant, an ingredient that allows a low level of the vaccine’s active ingredient to be used in each shot
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Detailed studies of U.S. disaster preparedness offer recommendations
Critical care panel tackles disaster preparation, surge capacity, and health care rationing; some recommendations require largely greater budgets; other pose profound ethical and moral questions
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Insecticides in pet shampoo may trigger autism
New study shows that children growing up in a household in which pet shampoos containing a class of insecticide called pyrethrins were used, were twice as likely to develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
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Market for molecular diagnostic technologies to grow
The last few years have seen major strides forward in molecular diagnostic technologies; new report asses size of markets and opportunities in it
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USAF Counter-Biological Warfare Concept
The U.S. Air Force upgrades its counter-biological warfare concept of operations; new doctrine will become fully operationally April 2009
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Bush administration asks court to block comprehensive testing for mad cow disease
A small meatpacking company wants to conduct testing for mad cow disease on all the animals it processes; the Department of Agriculture requires testing of less than 1 percent of slaughtered animals; the Bush administration, goaded by large meatpacking companies, urged a federal appeals court to stop the small company from doing more comprehensive tests
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Past patients to provide fast flu vaccine to new patients
Currently it takes at least six months to produce a flu vaccine after a new strain appears; researchers find that a faster way would be to treat people with antibodies produced by earlier patients
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Doctors develop a list of those allowed to die in a catastrophe
Physicians, government agencies draft a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients would be treated - and which would not — during a pandemic
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Canada confirms tuberculosis in Manitoba cow
For the first time since 2004, a Canadian cow is diagnosed with TB; Canadian health authorities says no part of the infected cow entered the human or animal food chain
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Death toll in China disease outbreak hits 34
China issues national alert after rapid spread of hand, foot, and mouth disease brings toll to 34 and nearly 25,000 infected; most of the deaths have involved enterovirus 71, or EV71
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U.S. hospitals could not handle terror attack
Inquiry into the disaster preparedness of hospitals in several major U.S. cities conclude that they are — and will be — incapable to handle even a modest terrorist attack in those cities; one reason for for the lack of hospitals’ capacity: the Bush administration’s cuts in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals overwhelm emergency rooms with patients suffering from routine problems, leaving no capacity to absorb and treat disaster victims
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China accuses U.S. of hampering probe into tainted heparin
Chinese scientists say they were refused information about victims of the recent heparin contamination and other specific details related to the case; the FDA says that federal law prevents it from sharing individual patient information with China unless information that would identify the patient is removed
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Secrets of bubonic plague bacteria's virulence revealed
Bubonic plague has killed more than 200 million people during the course of history and is thus the most devastating acute infectious disease known to man; scientists are closer to understanding bacteria’s virulence
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Drug-resistant tuberculosis on the increase in the U.K.
The incidence of tuberculosis in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland has been on the increase with more than 8,000 cases reported in 2006; the cause: changing population structure and ongoing migration
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The long view
We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
Nine former leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who served as directors or acting directors under Republican and Democratic administrations, serving under presidents from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trrump, argue that HHS Secretary Roert F. Kennedy Jr. poses a clear and present danger to the health of Americans. He has placed anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists at top HHS positions, and he appears to be guided by a hostility to science and a belief in bizarre, unscientific approaches to public health.