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By Region: North America

Biosafety experts comment on reported CDC lab problems

(CIDRAP News) – News reports about possible airflow problems at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) lab in Atlanta are fueling perceptions that the agency isn’t following its own rules, but the reported conditions at the lab don’t appear to have posed a public health threat, according to Read More »

July 5, 2012
| Filed under North America and Policy & Initiatives
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Measuring the uncertainties of pandemic influenza

(EurekAlert!) A major collaboration between US research centers has highlighted three factors that could ultimately determine whether an outbreak of influenza becomes a serious epidemic that threatens national health. The research suggests that the numbers in current response plans could be out by a factor of two or more depending on the characteristics of the Read More »

July 5, 2012
| Filed under North America, Public Health, and Research
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Flu research moratorium important, but somewhat problematic

(Online Athens) Many scientists agreed with the decision to implement a moratorium on research designed to find how a nasty strain of bird flu is transmitted and how it might more easily spread. The University of Georgia’s Ralph Tripp was among the more than 30 scientists who backed off in January on researching the spread Read More »

July 3, 2012
| Filed under North America and Research
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It’s Biological Weapons That Keep James Steinberg Up at Night

(The Atlantic) The former Deputy Secretary of State rightly notes that they’re arguably more terrifying than even nuclear weapons. The panel, “Technology of War: What Does the War of the Future Look Like,” mirrored the larger discussion of those subjects in American media: it focused on drones and cyber-warfare, and understandably so, for those are Read More »

July 3, 2012
| Filed under North America and Biological Weapons
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Be vigilant for anthrax

(CattleNetwork.com) Now is the time of year for livestock producers to be vigilant for anthrax. “The hot summer months of July and August are when we see most of our anthrax cases in the upper Great Plains,” says Charlie Stoltenow, North Dakota State University Extension Service veterinarian. “Cattle should have been vaccinated before they were Read More »