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Researchers show promising approach to avian flu vaccine
Terrapin researchers are developing a universal flu vaccine for animals; it could ultimately help prevent or delay another avian flu pandemic in humans
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Economic downturn to hurt medical emergency preparedness
Progress made better to protect the United States from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk, due to budget cuts and the economic crisis
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Biosafety Lab-Level 4 dedicated in Galveston, Texas
The $174 million, 186,267-square-foot lab will employ 300 people; the lab is one of two approved in 2003 by NIH (the second is being built in Boston); critics question placing a BSL-4 lab on a barrier island vulnerable to hurricanes
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New killer virus identified in South Africa
Yet-to-be-named virus has already killed four people; NIDC scientist: “The virus is new in terms of its genetic make up and there is currently no vaccine against it…. [it has] high lethal potential for humans”
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HHS offers legal shield to anthrax manufacturers, distributors
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers legal shield to manufacturers and distributors of anthrax vaccines and treatments under a “public health emergency” to be in effect until the end of 2015
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DARPA seeks ultrasonic tourniquets
New device, placed on the arm or a leg of an injured soldier or first responder will use ultrasound scanning to pinpoint internal bleeding, before focusing “high-power energy” on the bleed sites
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Xoma in $65 million anti-botulism drug development contract
First human monoclonal antibody drug program to target multiple botulinum toxins
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New bird flu strain detected in Nigeria
Nigeria has reported two new highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks; laboratory results show that the newly discovered virus strain (H5N1, clade 2, EMA3) is genetically different from the strains that circulated in Nigeria during earlier outbreaks
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The pandemic potential of H9N2 avian influenza viruses
Researchers show that some currently circulating avian H9N2 viruses can transmit to naïve ferrets placed in direct contact with infected ferrets — but aerosol transmission was not observed, a key factor in potentially pandemic strains
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Indonesia probes bird flu outbreak in Sumatra
Thirteen people in a Sumatra village taken ill with what Indonesian specialists think is a bird flu outbreak; the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 240 people worldwide since late 2003; Indonesia is the country worst-hit by the virus
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New virus fights other viruses by spreading at their expense
Newly discovered virsu may help fight viral infections by hijacking the replication machinery of the lethal viruses; the new virsus — called Sputnik — is the first member of a new class they call “virophages”
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Bacteria were the real killers in 1918 flu pandemic
Medical and scientific experts now agree that bacteria, not influenza viruses, were the greatest cause of death during the 1918 flu pandemic
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Booster vaccination to help against avian influenza pandemic
Evidence suggests that a booster vaccination against H5N1 avian influenza given years after initial vaccination with a different strain may prove useful in controlling a potential future pandemic
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Calgary researcher wins NIH grant for bacterial vaccine
CDC considers glanders and melioidosis as potential bioterrorism agents; Canadian researcher receives NIH grant to develop a vaccine
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Is the U.S. prepared for a bioterror attack?
Some experts believe a bioterrorist attack or pandemic outbreak could be inevitable. How would the United States fight back against an infectious disease outbreak?
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The long view
Combatting the Measles Threat Means Examining the Reasons for Declining Vaccination Rates
Measles was supposedly eradicated in Canada more than a quarter century ago. But today, measles is surging. The cause of this resurgence is declining vaccination rates.
Social Networks Are Not Effective at Mobilizing Vaccination Uptake
The persuasive power of social networks is immense, but not limitless. Vaccine preferences, based on the COVID experience in the United States, proved quite insensitive to persuasion, even through friendship networks.
Vaccine Integrity Project Says New FDA Rules on COVID-19 Vaccines Show Lack of Consensus, Clarity
Sidestepping both the FDA’s own Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee and the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), two Trump-appointed FDA leaders penned an opinion piece in the New England Journal of Medicine to announce new, more restrictive, COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. Critics say that not seeking broad input into the new policy, which would help FDA to understand its implications, feasibility, and the potential for unintended consequences, amounts to policy by proclamation.