Recent News

By Region: North America

US agriculture waking up to agroterrorism threat

(Western Farm Press) A key to stopping agroterrorism lies in heightened awareness among growers and field workers and paying more attention to what could be suspicious activity. Speakers at an “ag crimes and terrorism” summit held at the Kearney Ag Center in Parlier offered several tips for growers and farm workers that can be used Read More »

April 5, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, and Bioterrorism
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North American countries join forces to prepare for pandemics

(HHS News) A new North American Plan for Animal and Pandemic Influenza supports a faster and more coordinated response to influenza pandemics in North America. President Barack Obama, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper released the plan jointly this week during the North American Leaders Summit as a way to enhance Read More »

April 4, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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BioWatch Gen-3 behind schedule

(Fierce Homeland Security) Attempts to create an automated aerosolized biological agent detection system are behind schedule, acknowledged Alexander Garza, the head of the Homeland Security Department’s office of health affairs, during a congressional hearing March 29. “There’s going to be slips in the schedule, and there’s nothing that I can do–that anybody can do–to prevent Read More »

April 4, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, and Public Health
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London prepares for Olympian disease-monitoring task

(Nature News Blog) As the world’s athletes limber up for the forthcoming Olympic games in London, infectious-disease experts are preparing for their own trials. Their competition is with the diseases that millions of athletes, officials, media and spectators bring with them as they converge from across the globe on the UK capital. There is already Read More »

April 4, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Countermeasures, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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H5N1 mutations, other details unveiled at H5N1 meeting

(CIDRAP News) Kawaoka also gave a detailed view of his lab’s biosecurity measures, which are based on US government regulations and adhere to agricultural biosafety level 3 (BSL-3). He said the term “enhanced BSL-3” is nonspecific, and that more efforts are needed …