The latest in Contagious and Infectious Diseases

SWINE FLU VACCINE

2010-03-18T11:17:30Z

Graphic shows select locations of swine flu vaccine distribution when there was a short supply In Oct. and Nov.

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Swine flu far worse for pregnant women than thought: study

2010-03-18T18:15:42Z

<div><p>Pregnant women may be far more at risk from swine flu than thought, according to a survey published on Friday that was carried out in Australia and New Zealand.</p><p>An investigation carried out among American women between April and May last year, in the first month of the H1N1 virus' outbreak, suggested pregnant women were four times likelier to develop sever...

Study finds H1N1 flu in pregnancy is critical risk

2010-03-18T17:15:25Z

<div><p>LONDON (Reuters) - Pregnant women in Australia and New Zealand who had pandemic H1N1 flu were 13 times more likely to become critically ill and be admitted to hospital, researchers said on Friday.</p><p>The study, published in the Reuters) - U.S. regulators, drug companies, philanthropists and advocates announced a new alliance on Thursday to speed tuberculosis drugs to market, a day after cancer researchers and drugmakers launched a similar initiative.</p><p>The U.S. Food a...

Multidrug-resistant TB a serious global threat: WHO

2010-03-18T13:17:15Z

<div><p>The World Health Organisation warned Thursday that lethal multidrug resistant tuberculosis is becoming a serious threat to global health with just a small proportion of cases diagnosed.</p><p>In its latest report on the hard-to-treat multidrug resistant forms of TB, the WHO said it had documented the highest proportion of such cases of tuberculosis ever at about five percent.</p&g...

WHO: Not sure if drug-resistant TB is worsening

2010-03-18T13:15:50Z

<div id="subtitle">WHO: Not sure if drug-resistant TB is declining, most cases in China, India and eastern Europe</div><div><p>The World Health Organization says it doesn't have enough information to know if it is winning the fight against drug-resistant tuberculosi...

AP Enterprise: NASA, cruise line got flu shots

2010-03-18T12:45:43Z

<div id="subtitle">AP Enterprise: Cruise line, NASA got swine flu shots early on; CDC says system worked well</div><div><p>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 Wall Street firms and the Johnson Space Center.</p><p>There is no complete database of where every dose went. But partial records show that financial institutions and other surprising recipients sometimes got d...

Drug-resistant TB killed 150,000 in 2008

2010-03-18T10:30:18Z

<div><p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis killed 150,000 people in 2008 and infects between 400,000 and 500,000 people globally, according to World Health Organization estimates released on Thursday.</p><p>WHO said the numbers suggest the hard-to-treat infection is spreading and said there is an urgen...

Alliance seeks billions to boost life-saving jabs for poor

2010-03-18T10:16:50Z

<div><p>The GAVI vaccine alliance, which is backed by software billionaire Bill Gates, said Thursday that it needed an extra 4.3 billion dollars to save millions of lives in poor countries over the next five years.</p><p>The Global Alliance on Vaccines Initiative says it has helped boost immunisation levels since 2000 by funding new vaccination programmes for 256 million children and avoiding 5.4 million premature deaths...

Anti-malaria funding must be tripled: campaigners

2010-03-18T09:30:42Z

<div><p>PARIS (Reuters) - Funding to combat malaria must be more than tripled if the mosquito-borne disease which kills nearly a million people a year is to be fought effectively, health campaigners said on Thursday.</p><p>Presenting a report covering the past decade, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership said a jump in fi...

VA seeks to make benefits easier for vets to get

2010-03-18T09:30:23Z

<div id="subtitle">VA takes steps to make it easier for vets with malaria, West Nile to get benefits</div><div><p>The Veterans Affairs Department is taking steps for the first time to make it easier for veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars to get disability benefits for malar...

Gates-linked vaccine group wants $4.3 billion

2010-03-18T07:15:46Z

<div><p>A global vaccine initiative launched with the help of Bill Gates is seeking $4.3 billion in new funding to ramp up child immunization campaigns against deadly diseases such as hepatitis B, diarrhea and pneumonia in the developing world.</p><p>The Geneva-based GAVI alliance, launched a decade ago as a partner of the China probes vaccines after news report of deaths, illnesses in northern province</div><div><p>China's Health Ministry is investigating the safety of inoculations in a northern province after a report that defective vaccines possibly killed four children and seriously sickened dozens.</p><p>The ministry urged health a...

WHO suspends Shan5 combination vaccine

2010-03-18T03:15:30Z

<div><p>The World Health Organisation said Thursday it was suspending the use of the Indian-developed Shan5 combination vaccine, which is used against infections such as diphtheria, tetanus and hepatitis B.</p><p>"The manufacturer got some complaints that there was suspended white sediment in some of the vials," WHO spokeswoman Alison B...

China orders probe after unsafe vaccine report

2010-03-18T00:16:25Z

<div><p>China has ordered an investigation after a report that unsafe vaccines led to the deaths of four children and sickened 74 others in the country's latest product-quality scare.</p><p>The order by the Ministry of Health came after the China Economic Times on Wednesday reported unsafe vaccines for encephalitis, hepatitis B, rabies and other illnesses were being used in the northern province of

China says probing report on deadly faulty vaccines

2010-03-17T21:30:29Z

<div><p>BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Health Ministry is probing a report in a domestic newspaper that faulty vaccines in northern Shanxi province were responsible for killing four children and making dozens of others sick.</p>...

Rep. Rangel (D-NY) And Religious Leaders Discuss Health Care Reform

2010-03-17T15:30:47Z

WASHINGTON - MARCH 17: U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) (C) speaks to church leaders prior to a news conference on AIDS March 17, 2010 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. About 50 church leaders gathered on Capitol Hill to pushed for approval of the National Black Clergy for the Elimination of HIV/AIDS Act of 2009 which w...

WHO suspends vaccine by Sanofi-Aventis subsidiary

2010-03-17T10:30:22Z

<div><p>The U.N. health agency said Wednesday it has suspended its approval of a vaccine against tetanus and four other diseases produced by Sanofi-Aventis SA subsidiary because of a white substance forming inside some vials.</p><p>The World Health Organization and th...

Bird flu outbreak in Romania, EU's first in a year

2010-03-16T10:17:46Z

<div><p>The first outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in Europe for a year has been identified in a backyard poultry farm in Romania, the European Commission said Tuesday.</p><p>The outbreak, in Tulcea county, close to the Ukrainian border, was discovered on Monday and prompted immediate security measures, the