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By Region: North America

Undetected H5N1 cases seem few, but questions persist

(CIDRAP News) The fatality rate for officially confirmed human cases of H5N1 avian influenza infection is a stunningly high 59% (345 deaths in 584 cases). But the current controversy over publishing data about transmissible H5N1 viruses has revived a debate about whether the virus is as lethal as those numbers say. Some proponents of publishing Read More »

February 10, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, South Asia, Agents & Toxins, Public Health, and Research
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Anthrax Mailings Recovery Required $320M, Analysis Finds

(Global Security Newswire) The 2001 anthrax mailings resulted in $320 million in expenditures aimed at ensuring government and private facilities were free of the deadly bacteria, according to an analysis published on Tuesday. The anthrax-tainted letters addressed to congressional offices and media organizations killed five people and sickened 17, according to a previous report. A Read More »

February 10, 2012
| Filed under North America and Bioterrorism
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Researchers weigh in on ethics of H5N1 research

(Medical Xpress) In a commentary on the biosecurity controversy surrounding publication of bird flu research details, a bioethicist and a vaccine expert at Johns Hopkins reaffirm that “all scientists have an affirmative ethical obligation to avoid contributing to the advancement of biowarfare and bioterrorism,” but that there are not sufficient structures in place to evaluate Read More »

February 10, 2012
| Filed under North America, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Experts: Dual-use H5N1 studies may not hasten pandemic response

(CIDRAP News) International experts say that, while experiments on H5N1 avian flu transmission in mammals are important, publishing full details of such “dual-use” studies likely will not speed up the vaccine response in a pandemic, according to a news report and editorial in Nature today. “I think the research is important, but not for vaccine Read More »

February 10, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Biosafety, Public Health, and Research
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Lab is one of few that studies deadly agents

(San Antonio Express) Two airlocked steel doors away from Texas Biomedical Research Institute’s biosafety level-4 lab, where only deadly infectious diseases with no treatments or vaccines available are studied, two technicians wiggle into pressurized suits …