Recent News

By Region: North America

US Increases Funding to Combat Influenza and Emerging Disease Threats

(All Africa) FAO’s commitment to fight emerging disease threats in “hotspot” regions worldwide is getting a boost with new funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UN agency said today. The funding, totalling more than $20 million, will support the ongoing US-FAO partnership against H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and Read More »

October 30, 2012
| Filed under Africa, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Pulitzer winner Laurie Garrett to speak on bioterrorism

(Huntington News) Laurie Garrett, a nationally known, award-winning author, lecturer and political analyst, will speak on “Bioterrorism: The Modern Peril,” at Marshall University Monday, Nov. 5, at the 26th annual Yeager Symposium. Garrett, who has won the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism, the Peabody Broadcasting Award and the George C. Polk Award for Reporting, is senior Read More »

October 29, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, and Bioterrorism
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Another Illness in North Carolina E. coli Outbreak

(Food Safety News) Another E. coli O157:H7 case has been added to the outbreak connected with the Cleveland County fair in North Carolina, bringing the total number of known cases to 101, according to the the North Carolina Department of Health. “Preliminary findings suggest animal exposure may be the source of this outbreak,” said health Read More »

October 29, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Agriculture, and Public Health
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Better poultry biosecurity needed to eliminate avian flu virus

(Deccan Chronicle) The recent bird flu alert at the Central Poultry Development Organisation (CDPO) at Hesarghatta has yet again brought the focus back on the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI-H5N1) which has the potential to cause significant economic loss and high mortality. Small farmers and the rural poor, who depend on these livestock, are the Read More »

October 29, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, and Public Health
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Scientists target bacterial transfer of resistance genes

(EurekAlert) The bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae – which can cause pneumonia, meningitis, bacteremia and sepsis – likes to share its antibiotic-defeating weaponry with its neighbors. Individual cells can pass resistance genes to one another through a process called horizontal gene transfer, or by “transformation,” the uptake of DNA from the environment. Now researchers report that they Read More »