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.

New computational model could provide better insight into how today's diseases might strike

In a world of increasing global connections, predicting the spread of infectious diseases is more complicated than ever. Pandemics no longer follow the patterns they did centuries ago, when diseases swept through populations town by town; instead, they spread quickly and seemingly at random, spurred by the interactions of 3 billion air travelers per year.

18 Feb 2013

New research focuses on rapid identification of disease outbreaks

EcoHealth Alliance, the nonprofit organization that focuses on local conservation and global health issues, announced new research focused on the rapid identification of disease outbreaks in the peer reviewed publication, Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

15 Feb 2013

Cambodia, China report cases of avian influenza H5N1

"Cambodia reported on Wednesday that another four-year-old girl has contracted avian influenza H5N1, becoming the seventh person who infected the virus in 2013," Xinhua reports.

14 Feb 2013

State roundup: Ore. considers rural doc loan repayment

Oregon would restore $4 million in the next biennium to fund a loan repayment program that assists primary health care providers willing to work in rural areas, under a bill being pushed by Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Beaverton. The program ran for nearly two decades before it was cut in 2009 in the depths of the recession.

14 Feb 2013

Wichita State associate professor writes two books about flu

The flu: It's a popular topic of conversation lately, as most people probably know someone who has gotten sick this winter. But for Wichita State associate professor George Dehner, the flu is a year-round focus. Dehner, who teaches world and environmental history, recently wrote two books about the flu.

11 Feb 2013

Global response to possible H5N1 flu outbreak could affect epidemic's course

"It's been a rough flu season this winter in the United States and Europe, but it could be worse. A lot worse," science writer Carl Zimmer states in National Geographic's "Phenomena: The Loom" blog.

10 Feb 2013

CEL-SCI reports net loss of $2,310,246 for fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2012

CEL-SCI Corporation reports financial results for the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2012.

10 Feb 2013

ASM to host 2013 Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting from Feb. 25-27

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) will host its 2013 Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting February 25-27, 2013 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC.

6 Feb 2013

Three NIH-sponsored influenza trials begin to enroll volunteers

Three clinical trials that seek to find more effective treatments for influenza are enrolling volunteers with influenza at the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., and at several dozen other domestic and international sites.

6 Feb 2013

BD first quarter revenues increase 3.7% to $1.90 billion

BD, a leading global medical technology company, today reported quarterly revenues of $1.90 billion for the first fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2012, representing an increase of 3.7 percent from the prior-year period, or 5.2 percent on a foreign currency-neutral basis.

From BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 5 Feb 2013

Northeast Ohio Medical University, CEL-SCI produce new investigational breast cancer vaccine

CEL-SCI Corporation announced that its longstanding collaboration with Northeast Ohio Medical University has produced a new investigational breast cancer vaccine which prevents and treats a HER-2/neu expressing breast cancer tumor in a mouse model of the disease.

31 Jan 2013

Positive results from PaxVax's Ad4-H5-Vtn vector vaccine Phase 1 trial on avian flu

PaxVax, Inc., which develops and commercializes innovative vaccines against infectious diseases in a socially responsible manner, today announced positive results in a Phase 1 clinical trial for its oral, replicating adenovirus serotype 4 (Ad4) vector vaccine for H5N1 (avian flu).

31 Jan 2013

Vaccine confidence: an interview with Dr Heidi Larson

Here at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine we are running a project called the Vaccine Confidence Project and we have a global surveillance monitoring information around the world on media, social media, all sorts of information, reports from governments, UN, other sources, looking for any what we call “signals” of public distrust or concerns that come up.

30 Jan 2013

1 in 5 people infected with swine flu during first year of epidemic, WHO-led study shows

"At least one in five people worldwide were infected with swine flu during the first year of the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic, an international research group said on Friday, but the death rate was just 0.02 percent," Reuters reports.

29 Jan 2013

New research sets out alternative approach to pandemic preparedness

'Evil' scientists, deadly viruses and terrorist plots are usually the preserve of Hollywood blockbusters. But when it comes to pandemic influenza, it is the stuff of real life. As controversy about research into the H5N1 bird flu virus continues, a new paper argues for a complete overhaul of current approaches to pandemic preparedness.

29 Jan 2013

2013 World Health Assembly should focus on new global rules, financing mechanisms for essential health

"This January marks the first anniversary of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases -- a coordinated effort by endemic countries, non-governmental organizations, drug companies, and donors to improve the lives of more than a billion of the world's poorest people by the end of the decade," a Lancet editorial writes.

28 Jan 2013

Voluntary moratorium on H5N1 research ends; fate of U.S.-funded research unknown

"Almost a year after they announced it, leading influenza researchers are ending a voluntary moratorium on certain types of controversial experiments involving the H5N1 avian influenza virus."

25 Jan 2013

Study into H1N1 pandemic suggests at least 1 in 5 were infected

At least one in five people in countries for which data are available were infected with influenza during the first year of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to a new study.

25 Jan 2013

Viewpoints: Krugman cautions against locking in benefit cuts that may not be necessary; Lift the freeze on CDC's gun research

Well, its probable (although not certain) that, within two or three decades, the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted, leaving the system unable to pay the full benefits specified by current law. So the plan is to avoid cuts in future benefits by committing right now to ... cuts in future benefits. Huh? O.K., you can argue that the adjustment to an aging population would be smoother if we commit to a glide path of benefit cuts now. On the other hand, by moving too soon we might lock in benefit cuts that turn out not to have been necessary.

19 Jan 2013

FDA approves Protein Sciences’ Flublok to prevent seasonal influenza

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Protein Sciences Corporation's vaccine Flublok for the prevention of seasonal influenza in adults 18 to 49 years of age. Diamyd Medical holds about 8 percent of the shares in Protein Sciences Corporation.

18 Jan 2013