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.

Columbia University, Chinese Center for Disease Control to open joint pathogen discovery lab in Beijing

The Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention within the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention will open a Joint Research Laboratory for Pathogen Discovery to conduct surveillance, identify new infectious microbes, establish novel platforms for diagnostics, and develop drugs and vaccines to treat diseases in humans and animals.

29 May 2013

Sinovac Beijing receives GMP certificate for its proprietary vaccines

Sinovac Biotech Ltd., a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, announced that Sinovac Beijing, the main operating subsidiary company of Sinovac, obtained the Certificate of Good Manufacturing Practices for Pharmaceutical Products (GMP Certificate) from the China State and Food Administration (CFDA) for its proprietary vaccines, its Haidian district bulk production plants, and its Changping filing and packaging facility.

24 May 2013

New, improved drugs can boost body's natural flu killer system

A known difficulty in fighting influenza (flu) is the ability of the flu viruses to mutate and thus evade various medications that were previously found to be effective. Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have shown recently that another, more promising, approach is to focus on improving drugs that boost the body's natural flu killer system.

24 May 2013

iBio announces production of vaccine candidate for new H7N9 influenza virus

iBio, Inc. today announced the production of a vaccine candidate for the newly emerged H7N9 influenza virus by an independent third party laboratory using the iBioLaunch platform.

22 May 2013

TB clinical drug trials in jeopardy due to federal sequestration funding cuts

Innovative and potentially game-changing clinical trials to develop new drug regimens to prevent and treat tuberculosis, the second leading global infectious disease killer, are in jeopardy due to federal "sequestration" funding cuts.

21 May 2013

Groundbreaking germ-fighting vaccine research to be presented at National Biotechnology Conference

A novel vaccine study from South Dakota State University will headline the groundbreaking research that will be unveiled at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists' National Biotechnology Conference.

21 May 2013

New computer model predicts when avian influenza strain becomes infectious

A new computer model could help scientists predict when a particular strain of avian influenza might become infectious from bird to human, according to a report to be published in the International Journal Data Mining and Bioinformatics.

21 May 2013

A*STAR, Cytos Biotechnology provide update on Phase 1 clinical trial of H1N1 influenza vaccine

Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research and Switzerland's Cytos Biotechnology AG today announced that the first healthy volunteer has been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial with their H1N1 influenza vaccine candidate based on Cytos' proprietary bacteriophage Qbeta virus-like particle technology.

17 May 2013

Leptospirosis: The newest public health threat in Africa

The newest public health threat in Africa, scientists have found, is coming from a previously unknown source: the banded mongoose.

15 May 2013

Virginia Tech researchers identify leptospirosis as a major health threat in Botswana

The newest public health threat in developing countries may not be a cinematic-quality emerging disease but actually a disease from animals that was identified more than 100 years ago.

15 May 2013

Chinese scientists suggest strong measures to prevent a possible pandemic

On 31 March 2013, the Chinese National Health and Family Planning Commission announced human cases of novel H7N9 influenza virus infections.

14 May 2013

Telcare receives CE Mark approval to market mHealth glucose meter in the European Union

Telcare, Inc., the leader in mobile diabetes management solutions, today announced it has received CE Mark approval to market its cellular-enabled blood glucose meter, the first FDA-cleared mHealth glucose meter, in the European Union.

13 May 2013

Viewpoints: The threat from 'contagion exhaustion;' An economist sees humor in hospital pricing

There has been a flurry of recent attention over two novel infectious agents: the first, a strain of avian influenza virus (H7N9) in China that is causing severe respiratory disease and other serious health complications in people; the second, a coronavirus, first reported last year in the Middle East, that has brought a crop of new infections.

13 May 2013

New MIT study reveals that H3N2 strains could pose a risk to humans

In the summer of 1968, a new strain of influenza appeared in Hong Kong. This strain, known as H3N2, spread around the globe and eventually killed an estimated 1 million people.

13 May 2013

New diagnostic test could help health officials monitor, prevent spread of H7N9 virus

Breaking research appearing online today in Clinical Chemistry, the journal of AACC, demonstrates that a recently developed diagnostic test can detect the new strain of influenza (H7N9) currently causing an outbreak in China.

13 May 2013

Ancient DNA study provides information about origin of Justinianic Plague

From the several pandemics generally called 'pestilences' three are historically recognized as due to plague, but only for the third pandemic of the 19th to 21st centuries AD there were microbiological evidences that the causing agent was the bacterium Yersinia pestis.

13 May 2013

New British technologies are transforming healthcare and saving lives

Innovative projects including: smart-phone test and tracking systems for infectious diseases; fibre optic probes that can monitor people's condition in intensive care; and in-home sensors that can relay patient information to doctors immediately, have benefitted from a -32 million investment.

10 May 2013

Viewpoints: A nurse finds getting coordinated care for her husband challenging; Iowa legislator outlines problems with Medicaid; Researcher's quest to save experiments after sandy

In 2011, my husband, Eric, a trial attorney, was felled by a brain stem stroke just before he was to board a flight at O'Hare in Chicago. He was just 53 years old with no prior health conditions or problems. From the outset, we knew his recovery and rehabilitation would be long and difficult. We didn't know that his transition to post-hospital medical care would be just as challenging.

10 May 2013

Gentiva Health Services net revenues decrease 5% to $415.6M in first quarter 2013

Gentiva Health Services, Inc., the largest provider of home health and hospice services in the United States based on revenue, today reported first quarter 2013 results.

9 May 2013

New VLP vaccine candidate produced for H7N9 virus

Medicago Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles, today announced that it has successfully produced a new VLP vaccine candidate for the H7N9 virus that is responsible for the current influenza outbreak in China.

8 May 2013

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Columbia University, Chinese Center for Disease Control to open joint pathogen discovery lab in Beijing

Sinovac Beijing receives GMP certificate for its proprietary vaccines

New, improved drugs can boost body's natural flu killer system

iBio announces production of vaccine candidate for new H7N9 influenza virus

TB clinical drug trials in jeopardy due to federal sequestration funding cuts

Groundbreaking germ-fighting vaccine research to be presented at National Biotechnology Conference

New computer model predicts when avian influenza strain becomes infectious

A*STAR, Cytos Biotechnology provide update on Phase 1 clinical trial of H1N1 influenza vaccine

Leptospirosis: The newest public health threat in Africa

Virginia Tech researchers identify leptospirosis as a major health threat in Botswana

Chinese scientists suggest strong measures to prevent a possible pandemic

Telcare receives CE Mark approval to market mHealth glucose meter in the European Union

Viewpoints: The threat from 'contagion exhaustion;' An economist sees humor in hospital pricing

New MIT study reveals that H3N2 strains could pose a risk to humans

New diagnostic test could help health officials monitor, prevent spread of H7N9 virus

Ancient DNA study provides information about origin of Justinianic Plague

New British technologies are transforming healthcare and saving lives

Viewpoints: A nurse finds getting coordinated care for her husband challenging; Iowa legislator outlines problems with Medicaid; Researcher's quest to save experiments after sandy

Gentiva Health Services net revenues decrease 5% to $415.6M in first quarter 2013

New VLP vaccine candidate produced for H7N9 virus

Best practices - optimize qPCR processes for pathogen detection eBook

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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