March 19, 2010
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AP Enterprise: NASA, Cruise Line Got Flu Shots (AP/PhysOrg.com) Last fall, as swine flu cases mounted and parents desperately sought to protect their kids, the hard-to-get vaccine was handed out in some surprising places: the Royal Caribbean cruise line, the headquarters of drug giant Merck, the Johnson Space Center and a Department of Energy office in Idaho.
Decrease in Reported Tuberculosis Cases --- United States, 2009 (MMWR) Every year, CDC reports results from the National TB Surveillance System for the previous year. For 2009, a total of 11,540 tuberculosis (TB) cases were reported in the United States.
Al-Qaeda Still Pursuing WMD, FBI Chief Says (Global Security Newswire) The terrorist organization al-Qaeda has not ceased its efforts to acquire a nuclear bomb or other unconventional weapons to use in a strike against the United States, FBI Director Robert Mueller told lawmakers yesterday.
Investigational Heptavalent Botulinum Antitoxin (HBAT) to Replace Licensed Botulinum Antitoxin AB and Investigational Botulinum Antitoxin E (MMWR) CDC announces the availability of a new heptavalent botulinum antitoxin (HBAT, Cangene Corporation) through a CDC-sponsored Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational New Drug (IND) protocol.
UPDATE 1-Bavarian says FDA OK's Imvamune Production in U.S. (Reuters) Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic (BAVA.CO) said the U.S. health body had decided it met all requirements to deliver its smallpox vaccine to the U.S. government, sending its shares higher on Thursday. Bavarian's top executive said the news meant the firm expects a contract to supply 20 million doses of Imvamune to the U.S. government to be fulfilled according to plan.
Report Says China Sold Bad Vaccines to Hospitals (New York Times) A newspaper article by one of China’s best-known investigative reporters has reawakened a controversy over whether provincial authorities improperly stored vaccines in rooms without air-conditioning, rendering them ineffective, and then let them be administered to children.
'Flying Vaccinator': Can Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Provide a New Strategy Against Malaria? (e! Science News) Mosquitoes transmit infectious diseases to millions of people every year, including malaria for which there is no effective vaccine. New research published in Insect Molecular Biology reveals that mosquito genetic engineering may turn the transmitter into a natural 'flying vaccinator', providing a new strategy for biological control over the disease.
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah Outlines Priorities, Role for Business (Seattle Times) Moving from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the head of a government agency with 8,000 employees in 82 countries is no small shift. But Rajiv Shah is using his experience at the Gates Foundation to reshape the way America's development arm works, from narrowing the focus of its programs and emphasizing science and technology, to creating a new Global Health Initiative with specific goals to reduce deaths from preventable diseases.
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