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Swine flu vaccine is not going to be ready for a while yet
Even if the World Health Organization declares the current swine flu to be a pandemic, vaccine will arrive too late for many
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UCI awarded $45 million for infectious disease research
Research facility receives finds to improve detection, treatment, and vaccine development
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New DHS S&T leader: U.S. should brace for "bio-Katrina"
Dr. Tara O’Toole, new leader at DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate: “There is a possibility, a real possibility, that there could be the equivalent of a bio-Katrina on [Obama’s] watch”
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Chertoff: biological weapons biggest terrorist threat
Chertoff: “The natural ingredients of a biological threat are not difficult to come by, and it’s just a question of the know-how in terms of fabricating them to make a weapon”
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Army to complete Fort Detrick Lab probe
For a year now, U.S. Army investigators have been trying to find out what happened to three vials of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus that were unaccounted for at Fort Derrick bio research lab; as they are about to complete the probe, investigators say that there were no signs of criminal misconduct found yet
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New Ebola vaccine protects against lethal infection in animal models
Ebola virus is the the cause of severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates; it is transmitted through direct contact of bodily fluids with infected individuals resulting in death up to 90 percent of the time; no licensed vaccines or antivirals are available against EBOV; researchers say new vaccine shows promise
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New ricin detection test developed
As little as one-half milligram of ricin is lethal to humans; no antidote is available; two teams of researchers in New York and Georgia develop a test that can accurately detect and quantify the presence of ricin
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Lax meat-import rules open Canada to bioterrorism
Former Canadian food inspector says the rules governing meat imports into Canada leave Canadians vulnerable to bioterrorism and outbreaks of dangerous bacteria such as listeria
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PharmAthene in $5.5 million public equity offering
Developer of countermeasures against biological and chemical attacks raises $5.5 million in public offering
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Roche takes over Genentech for $47 billion
Swiss drug giant pays $95 per share for 44 percent of Genetech (Roche already owns 56 percent); the combined company would be the seventh-largest U.S. pharmaceutical company in terms of market share and would generate about $17 billion in annual revenues with a payroll of around 17,500 employees in the U.S. pharmaceuticals business alone
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Cost of bioterror false alarms, anthrax hoaxes rises
The U.S. government has spent more than $50 billion since the 2001 anthrax attacks to beef up U.S. defenses against biological attacks; there has not been another attack so far, but the cost of hoaxes and false alarms is rising steeply
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Scientists reveal how culprit in 2001 anthrax attacks was found
Scientists unveil evidence that shows how the FBI traced the spores used in the attacks to a single flask at a U.S. government lab —but evidence does not explain why the FBI made Bruce Ivins, who worked at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the chief suspect; that evidence may have to wait the end of legal skirmishes in the matter
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Houseplant pest offers clues to potential new anthrax treatment
A humble bacterium with a long name — Pectobacterium chrysanthemi (Dickya dadantii) — attacks, and often kills, the popular African violet, which is found in many urban and suburban back yards; it does so by competing with its host — the violet — for iron; Warwick University researchers find that the bacteria’s chemical pathway could be blocked or inhibited to prevent the bacterium from harvesting iron, essentially starving it; this work has major implications for the treatment of several virulent and even deadly mammalian infections including Anthrax
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Regulators cannot cope with food counterfeiting, contamination
New worry: Between the extremes of accidentally contaminated food and terrorism via intentional contamination, lies the counterfeiter, seeking not to harm but to hide the act for profit
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First ever U.S. case of Marburg fever confirmed in Colorado
Marburg hemorrhagic fever is extremely rare — and deadly; the disease is caused by a virus indigenous to Africa, and was brought to the United States by a researcher who traveled to Uganda
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