• Swine flu deaths reach to 1,154

    Laboratory confirmed cases world-wide have reached 162,380; WHO has estimated that 2 billion people, or one in three of the world’s population, will have been infected by the virus by the end of the pandemic

  • Anthrax attack on a U.S. metropolitan area could affect more than 1 million

    No matter how well-organized and prolonged a treatment program is, it must be quickly implemented; a campaign of powerful antibiotics initiated two days after exposure would protect as many as 87 percent of exposed individuals from illness

  • DARPA searches for instant repair of soldiers' injuries

    DARPA is soliciting proposals for a device that can use adult stem cells for a regenerative free-for-all, producing whatever needed to repair injured body parts, including nerves, bone, and skin

  • Nasal vaccine developed for swine flu

    Maryland-based Medimmune developed a nasal vaccine for the swine flu; so far, the U.S. government has ordered 12.8 million doses of H1N1 vaccine from Medimmune for $151 million and could order millions more doses

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  • CDC to decide today on H1N1 vaccination priorities

    CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meets today in an emergency session to discuss which groups should be targeted to receive the pandemic H1N1 vaccine and whether some should have priority

  • Zimbabwe's crisis lower rate of HIV infection

    Zimbabwe has been in an economic and social free fall for a while: a third of the population has fled the country; unemployment is at 80 percent; the inflation rate can no longer be calculated; social services have collapsed; the one positive aspect of this catastrophe: men are short of money to pay prostitutes or be sugar daddies and keep mistresses, leading to a decline in the rate of HIV infection

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  • Europe will fast-track swine flu vaccine

    Worried about the eruption of swine flu infection during the coming winter, the European drug agency is accelerating the approval process for swine flu vaccine; critics, and even WHO, worry about the potential dangers of the accelerated approval process

  • When will swine flu vaccine be available?

    Here are clarifications to some of the confusion surrounding swine flu: pregnant women appear more susceptible to infection; WHO estimates that by August, global production of the vaccine will reach 94.5 million doses per week; pregnant women and obese people will likely be first to be vaccinated

  • Scientists unveil new weapon in swine flu fight

    Taiwanese researchers say they have developed an organic compound which could help control the global swine flu epidemic; the compound can destroy viruses such as A(H1N1) swine flu and avian influenza

  • Judge dismisses lawsuit objecting to Kansas location of biolab

    Texas Bio- and Agro-Defense Consortium sued DHS over the department’s decision to build the new BioLab Level 4 in Kansas; judge dismisses case — but without prejudice, opening the way for the consortium to refile the lawsuit later

  • Breakthrough: Radiation protection drug developed

    American and Israeli researchers developed a drug which offers protection from radioactive radiation; the drug uses proteins produced in bacteria found in the intestines to protect cells against radiation; the FDA is expected to approve the drug within a year or two

  • H1N1 virus more dangerous than suspected

    New study says that, in contrast with run-of-the-mill seasonal flu viruses, the H1N1virus exhibits an ability to infect cells deep in the lungs, where it can cause pneumonia and, in severe cases, death

  • Death rate of swine flu difficult to measure

    To formulate an effective policy to cope with the swine flu there is a need for an accurate set of numbers about the disease’s spread and morbidity; these number are hard to come by

  • WHO: Swine flu "unstoppable"

    The World Health Organization says the swine flu pandemic has grown “unstoppable” and all nations will need access to vaccines; while most cases have been considered mild, a study released today said the virus causes more lung damage than ordinary seasonal flu strains

  • Swine flu vaccine strains grow very slowly, delaying vaccine production

    The fastest-growing of all the wine flu vaccine strains tested so far grows only half as fast as ordinary vaccine viruses; if the current pandemic behaves like the last H1N1 pandemic in 1918, the next, possibly worse waves of infection could be long over by the time vaccine contracts are filled