Clinicians' Biosecurity News Archive: 2006
             

• 12-20-2006: Passage of S. 3678-The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act Passage of S. 3678 marks a major milestone in improving public health and hospital preparedness for bioterrorist attacks, pandemics, and other catastrophes.
• 12-13-2006: Efficacy of Gentamicin and Doxycycline in the Treatment of Plague Report on a prospective, open-label, randomized clinical trial comparing gentamicin and doxycycline for the treatment of naturally-occurring plague in Tanzania.
• 11-30-2006: Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Infection in Humans in Turkey, 2006 Oner and colleagues describe the epidemiologic, clinical, and radiologic features of an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) in eastern Turkey.
• 11-16-2006: Influenza Update: Diagnostic Test, Drug Resistance, and Possible Drug Interaction Diagnostic Test for Avian Influenza - A test is being developed that could revolutionize the way influenza is diagnosed.
• 11-10-2006: The Potential Disaster of Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis At the recent meeting of the IDSA, Dr. Henry Blumberg of the Emory University School of Medicine presented a comprehensive review of tuberculosis in the world.
• 11-03-2006: Emergence of a New Sublineage of Avian Influenza Viruses in Southeast Asia In an article, G. J. D. Smith and colleagues report on the emergence of a new, previously uncharacterized H5N1 influenza virus sublineage in southern China.
• 10-23-2006: Smallpox Antiviral Effective in Animal Trials Antiviral drug candidate SIGA-246 demonstrated a high degree of protection against variola, the smallpox virus, in a primate trial conducted at the CDC.
• 10-13-2006: New Research on Antiviral Treatment of Influenza Dr. Frederick Hayden presented the John F. Enders Lecture at the Infectious Diseases Society of America’s (IDSA) 44th annual meeting in Toronto this morning.
• 10-04-2006: Might H5N1 Vaccine Cross Protection Allow for Pre -Pandemic Vaccine Stockpiling? There have been doubts as to whether our government’s strategy to stockpile vaccine in bulk in advance of a pandemic will be beneficial.
• 09-28-2006: Contrary to Prevailing Beliefs, Aerosol may be Significant Mode of Flu Transmission Raymond Tellier examines the assumption that influenza is transmitted from person to person by large respiratory droplets rather than small aerosols.
• 09-22-2006: Anthrax Appraisal 5 Years Later: Top 10 Accomplishments and Remaining Challenges September 18 marked the 5-year anniversary of the mailing of the first letter laced with Bacillus anthracis in 2001.
• 09-06-2006: Outbreak of Highly Lethal, Extensive Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in South Africa On September 5, 2006, the WHO posted information on an outbreak of highly lethal “Extensive (or Extreme) Drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB)” in South Africa.
• 09-01-2006: Antibiotics to Treat Pneumonia: An Overlooked Essential Element of Pandemic Preparedness In a review article, John Brundage, M.D. examines the relationship between influenza and bacterial suprainfections in past pandemics.
• 08-22-2006: New York City Addresses Crucial Issues in Planning for Pandemic Flu The NYC DOHMH Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response Plan provides a model for other large urban areas working to formulate similar plans.
• 08-03-2006: Heptavalent Botulinum Antitoxin to be Acquired by HHS On June 1, 2006, the HHS issued a contract for the purchase of 200,000 doses of heptavalent botulism antitoxin from Cangene Corp. at a price of $363 million.
• 07-20-2006: New Anthrax Countermeasure to be Acquired by HHS HHS announced a plan to purchase 20K treatment courses of ABthrax™ at a price of $165 MM with delivery to the Strategic National Stockpile set to begin in 2009.
• 07-05-2006: Updated 2006 Influenza Vaccination Recommendations Released June 26, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices issued updated recommendations for use of seasonal influenza vaccine and antiviral pharmaceuticals.
• 06-16-2006: Safety and Immunogenicity of the Second Generation Anthrax Vaccine Candidate Vaxgen, Inc. reported the results of a phase 1 clinical trial designed to assess the safety and immunogenicity of their recombinant anthrax vaccine candidate.
• 06-08-2006: CDC Releases New Guidelines for H5N1 Testing Yesterday, June 7, the CDC released new guidelines for the testing of patients with possible H5N1 infection in the U.S. A summary follows.
• 06-02-2006: Severe Pandemic Planning Assumptions California recently proposed an ambitious $400 million plan for pandemic preparedness that includes $347MM to prepare hospitals and increase surge capacity.
• 05-26-2006: Avian Influenza Update New Cluster of Human Victims in Sumatra; WHO Releases Guidelines for Treatment and Prophylaxis of Avian Influenza
• 05-18-2006: Augmentation of Mechanical Ventilation in Hospitals A Guide for the Evaluation and Stockpiling of Positive Pressure Ventilation Equipment - How Will Hospitals Accommodate a Surge of Critical Care Patients?
• 05-09-2006: Recommendations for Hospital Preparedness for Pandemic Influenza On March 1, 2006, the Center for Biosecurity convened a meeting to address the issue of U.S. hospital preparedness for pandemic influenza.
• 05-04-2006: Hospitals, You Are On Your Own The plan, released today, includes no indication that hospitals will be provided aid or assistance with their efforts to become better prepared.
• 04-21-2006: Large Botulism Outbreak in Thailand The April 14 edition of MMWR reports an outbreak of food borne botulism in rural Thailand, with 163 people affected, 42 of whom required mechanical ventilation.
• 04-13-2006: CDC Warns of Possible Exposure to Mumps During Air Travel The CDC has issued a warning that airline passengers may have been exposed to mumps on several flights in late March/early April.
• 04-11-2006: Mumps in Iowa The nation’s largest outbreak of mumps since 1988 is currently underway in Iowa and is spreading to adjacent states.
• 04-03-2006: Relenza Now Approved for Prevention of Influenza A and B On March 29, 2006 the FDA approved the neuraminidase inhibitor Relenza for the prevention of influenza A and B in adults and children over the age of 5 years.
• 03-17-2006: Could the Duration of Postexposure Antibiotic Prophylaxis Against Inhalational Anthrax be Shortened? The CDC recommends 60 days of postexposure antibiotic prophylaxis in unvaccinated persons after exposure to anthrax spores.
• 03-09-2006: Recent Avian Flu News: Pay Attention to the People, Not the Cats Against a backdrop of reports of outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza, attention has been most focused in the past week on the discovery of H5N1 in cats in Europe.
• 02-22-2006: Isolated Case of Naturally-Occurring Inhalational Anthrax in a New York City Resident The NYC DOHMH released an alert today regarding a single case of inhalational anthrax in a 44 year old man who makes drums from unprocessed animal hides.
• 02-21-2006: Are You Ready for Global H5N1? The last 2 weeks have brought troubling news about the continued rapid global spread of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
• 02-14-2006: Update on Strategies to Develop Pandemic Influenza Vaccines The recent epizootics of highly pathogenic avian influenza and associated human infections have prompted the US government to begin preparations for a pandemic.
• 02-07-2006: Bad Bug II: Community Acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus [CA-MRSA] Community acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) has become an epidemic problem of serious concern in the U.S. and much of the world.
• 01-27-2006: A Rational Approach to Evidence-Based Allocation of Mechanical Ventilation in a Pandemic Drs. Hick and O’Laughlin describe one approach to addressing the difficult problem of allocating critical life support resources in a severe pandemic.
• 01-20-2006: Avian Influenza Update On January 18, the WHO reported that laboratory tests have confirmed H5N1 infection of a 4 year old Turkish boy.
• 01-13-2006: H5N1 in Turkey This week’s news of sudden and widespread outbreaks of both human and avian H5N1 influenza in Turkey has been worrisome.
• 01-06-2006: Bad Bug: The New Epidemic of Clostridium difficile Bad Bug—The New Epidemic of Clostridium difficile: C. difficile was described as the agent of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis in 1978