Recent News

By Region: North America

New Infectious Diseases like MERS Remains a Major Threat

(Time) About a week and a half ago, I was lucky enough to be walking through San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park on a purely perfect northern California summer day. I was thinking what I usually think whenever I visit the Bay Area: “Why don’t I live here?” (The BART transit strike that began the next Read More »

July 10, 2013
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, Biosafety, and Countermeasures
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Researchers create method to rapidly identify specific strains of illness

(MedicalXpress) Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and George Washington University (GWU) have developed a method to rapidly identify pathogenic species and strains causing illnesses, such as pneumonia, that could help lead to earlier detection of disease outbreaks and pinpoint effective treatments more quickly. The findings are featured online in the journal Genome Read More »

July 10, 2013
| Filed under North America and Research
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Study puts troubling traits of H7N9 avian flu virus on display

(EurekAlert) The emerging H7N9 avian influenza virus responsible for at least 37 deaths in China has qualities that could potentially spark a global outbreak of flu, according to a new study published today (July 10, 2013) in the journal Nature. An international team led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University Read More »

July 10, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, International, and Research
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NIH scientists assess history, pandemic potential of H7 influenza viruses

(EurekAlert) The emergence of a novel H7N9 avian influenza virus in humans in China has raised questions about its pandemic potential as well as that of related influenza viruses. In a commentary published online today, scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, address these Read More »

July 10, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, and International
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Bird vaccine for West Nile Virus

(ScienceDaily) University of British Columbia researchers have developed a vaccine that may halt the spread of West Nile Virus (WNV) among common and endangered bird species.WNV, a mosquito borne pathogen, arrived in North America in 1999 and is now endemic across the continent. In 2012 alone, WNV killed 286 people in the United States, and Read More »