With HHS taking the lead, the new strategy establishes a cabinet-level biodefense steering committee.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported four variant H1N2 (H1N2v) cases in people who had contact with swine at fairs, two first reported by California yesterday and two from Michigan, the same day the agency released a new graphic novel aimed at teaching young people about the risk of variant flu in swine exhibit settings.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved TPOXX (tecovirimat), made by SIGA Technologies, as the first drug with an indication for treating smallpox, a disease that has been eradicated but could still be used as a bioweapon.
Two countries reported circulating vaccine-derived polio cases this week, according to the latest update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). In addition to new cases from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Somalia, the GPEI confirmed an outbreak of circulating vaccine derived polio in Papua New Guinea.
In the latest development in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Ebola outbreak, the country's health ministry yesterday reported three new suspected cases in Bikoro, one of the two remote hotspots, according to a daily update.
Re-creating known pathogenic viruses and making existing bacteria more dangerous are among the top threats.
The rule is meant to lower the risk of exposing food facilities to intentional adulteration, such as acts of terrorism.
Health officials in Minnesota and Wisconsin are investigating a Salmonella outbreak linked to frozen breaded chicken products, and Canadian authorities are probing a similar outbreak also linked to the same type of product.
Authorities in a second Indian state are investigating two suspected Nipah virus infections, both of them in people who had traveled to Kerala state where they had contact with infected patients, Reuters reported today, citing a health official in Karnataka state.
The federal government needs to develop better vaccine production capacity, support strong global security, and bolster nationwide public health to be better prepared for the next pandemic, a high-level tabletop exercise yesterday sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security found.