Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Elite suppressors of HIV to change how scientists monitor spread of disease

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have found that 1 percent to 2 percent of those infected with HIV in Baltimore apparently suppress the virus to nearly undetectable levels on their own, confounding public health efforts to accurately monitor the pandemic's spread, now in its 20th year.

15 Aug 2006

New avian flu facility awards its first grant

The Avian and Human Influenza Facility, a multidonor financing mechanism administered by the World Bank, announced today that the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) was awarded a grant in the amount of US$2 million for the Avian and Human Influenza Control and Preparedness Project.

15 Aug 2006

Wild swans in the U.S. found to have strain of H5N1 bird flu

Officials at the Agriculture Department in the United States have found two swans in a Michigan gaming area with possibly another strain of the bird flu virus.

14 Aug 2006

Bill Gates says protecting against HIV/AIDS can't be left to men

Microsoft founder Bill Gates says all the money in the world will not conquer HIV/AIDS unless more progress is made in preventing new infections. Gates says women and other high-risk groups must be given the ability to protect themselves.

14 Aug 2006

Bird flu doing the rounds in Cambodia again

According to officials in Cambodia a second outbreak of bird flu has occurred there this year in southeast Prey Veng, the same province where the H5N1 virus killed a boy in April, about 20 km from the Cambodia-Vietnam border.

14 Aug 2006

Recently patented technology promotes early warning of pandemics

Rapid analysis and response in the very early stages of a pandemic or bioterrorism event can sharply limit its deadly impact.

10 Aug 2006

USDA, DOI and state partners begin monitoring wild migratory birds in lower 48 states

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne today announced that their departments are expanding wild bird monitoring for highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza.

9 Aug 2006

Indonesia - 43 dead from bird flu

According to health officials in Indonesia a 16-year-old boy who died on Monday has tested positive for bird flu.

8 Aug 2006

Long-term effects of in utero influenza exposure in the post-1940 U.S. population

While much attention has been paid to how inherited traits such as skin tone or height influence economic success, a groundbreaking new study from the Journal of Political Economy argues that it is a malleable characteristic - in utero health - that most strongly indicates how well a child will fare in adulthood.

7 Aug 2006

Three more bird flu suspects in Indonesia

According to a senior health official in Indonesia three children have been hospitalized on suspicion of having the bird flu virus.

2 Aug 2006

New way to assess pandemic potential of influenza viruses

Study provides first assessment of the risk of an H5N1 pandemic strain emerging from the combining of avian and human influenza viruses.

1 Aug 2006

Creating your own pandemic virus is not so easy

A team of scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a new research method that may help identify the types of genetic changes that would be necessary for the avian influenza virus (H5N1) to be more easily transmitted among people.

1 Aug 2006

New bird flu vaccine has 80% protection rate

According to the manufacturer the latest bird flu vaccine is more than 80% effective in protecting people against the virus.

26 Jul 2006

GSK reports significant advance in H5N1 pandemic flu vaccine programme

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced headline data showing that its H5N1 pandemic flu vaccine achieved a high immune response at a low dose of antigen.

26 Jul 2006

Neuraminidase inhibitors for preventing and treating influenza in healthy adults

A class of drugs commonly used to treat typical influenza symptoms such as fever, headache and cough do not prevent people from becoming infected with the flu virus.

19 Jul 2006

Indonesia struggles as death toll from bird flu reaches 42

The death of a 44-year-old man four days ago from bird flu has put Indonesia on a par with Vietnam when it comes to confirmed human deaths from the deadly virus.

17 Jul 2006

FDA approves Atripla three-drug combination tablet for treatment of HIV-1

FDA approves Atripla Tablets, a fixed-dose combination of three widely-used antiretroviral drugs.

12 Jul 2006

Cardinal Health to manufacture Tamiflu for Roche

Cardinal Health, the leading provider of products and services supporting the health-care industry, has announced that it has signed agreements to manufacture and package Tamiflu for Roche to help meet current and future demand for the influenza medicine.

10 Jul 2006

Bird flu still expanding in Africa - disease widely checked in Europe but could pose threat for years

While avian influenza has been successfully checked in Western Europe and much of Southeast Asia apart from Indonesia, it is still expanding in Africa and will remain a threat for years to come

10 Jul 2006