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Avian influenza prevention activities should include better management practices in farms

Wildlife health experts from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) warn that efforts to control the spread of avian flu across Asia and beyond must focus on better management practices on farms and in markets.

13 Aug 2005

Updated view of global nutrition

While nutritional status has improved worldwide over the past fifty years, new nutrition-related problems have also emerged. In an article recently published in The Journal of Nutrition, Eileen Kennedy DSc, RD, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, offers an updated view of global nutrition.

4 Aug 2005

Pig fever added to notifiable disease list

Secretary for Hong Kong's Health, Welfare & Food Dr York Chow said today the move will enable the Government to strengthen surveillance, and aid early detection and implementation of health control measures.

2 Aug 2005

Niger needs long term assistance to avoid chronic food insecurity

According to recent nutrition surveys by the United Nations and some non-governmental agencies, acute malnutrition rates have risen to 13.4 percent in southern Niger's Maradi and Zinder Regions. A food shortage is impacting some 3.3 million people - including 800,000 children under age five - in some 3,815 villages.

26 Jul 2005

Export of all pork products from Ziyang and Neijiang in Sichuan have been suspended amid reports of mysterious pig-related deaths

Export of all pork products from Ziyang and Neijiang in Sichuan have been suspended amid reports of mysterious pig-related deaths in the area, the Health, Welfare & Food Bureau says.

26 Jul 2005

Bird flu could spread to Europe on wings of Asian wild geese

Migratory wild birds from China, which were found to have contracted bird flu from poultry, could potentially spread the disease to Europe, as well as Australia, Chinese scientists report.

26 Jul 2005

Hidden secrets on the nature and timing of genome evolution in mammals revealed

Breakages in chromosomes in mammalian evolution have occurred at preferred rather than random sites as long thought, and many of the sites are involved in human cancers, an international team of 25 scientists has discovered.

21 Jul 2005

'Big Gun' government official needed to oversee U.S. animal disease programs

A National Academy of Sciences panel has said this week that one high ranking government official may be the best way to consolidate U.S. animal disease oversights in order to protect consumers from mad cow disease, bird flu and other serious animal ailments that can jump species.

19 Jul 2005

Ducks possibly the culprit in spreading bird flu

An international team, which included experts from China, Indonesia, Thailand, the US and Vietnam, say that domestic ducks possibly pose a major threat of spreading avian flu to animals and humans, as not only do they carry the virus with few visible signs, the virus is able to mutate in them, which means they could trigger a human pandemic.

19 Jul 2005

Steak back on the menu after mad cow disease tests prove negative

Beef and steak lovers in the U.S. can relax and throw a few more steaks on the barbie, now that tests on over 60 cows culled from the same herd of an animal which was found to be infected with mad cow disease, have tested negative.

11 Jul 2005

$100m needed to stop spread of birdflu

In an effort to contain the spread of bird flu, one of the UN agencies' focuses is live food markets, and the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for a reform of farming and food production methods to contain the spread of the virus.

7 Jul 2005

Ten million Africans treated by international disease treatment

A disease treatment programme started three years ago by Imperial College London has now treated over ten million African children and adults for schistosomiasis and intestinal worm infections in six sub-Saharan countries.

6 Jul 2005

Evidence suggests that antibiotic use in agriculture has contributed to antibiotic resistance in the pathogenic bacteria of humans

Doctors have become increasingly concerned by the problem of "super-bugs" - bacteria that have become resistant to standard antibiotics.

6 Jul 2005

The bird flu situation in many Asian countries remains critical

The bird flu situation in many Asian countries remains critical and requires more attention by affected countries and the international community, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said.

6 Jul 2005

Plan designed to reduce the risk of the H5N1 avian influenza

International animal and human health experts today unveiled a multi-point plan designed to reduce the risk of the H5N1 avian influenza virus spreading from poultry to humans, and appealed to the international community to come forward with funds to make it work and help stave off the risk of an influenza pandemic.

6 Jul 2005

Mass vaccination of poultry needed to prevent bird flu pandemic

At the start of a three-day UN conference in Kuala Lumpur on the bird flu virus, health and animal experts have called for mass vaccination of poultry to prevent bird flu from becoming a human pandemic

4 Jul 2005

Another death takes Vietnam's bird flu toll to 39

The death of a 73-year-old Vietnamese from bird flu, has taken the country's death toll from the epidemic to 39.

30 Jun 2005

Changes in economy and healthcare accompany Poland’s accession to the European Union

The European Union (EU) is in a state of flux following the recent accession of several Central and Eastern European countries. Their membership has further complicated the already complex economic, social and cultural dynamics at work within the EU.

28 Jun 2005

While USDA confirms second mad cow case officials defend safeguards

Consumer groups in the U.S. are demanding more comprehensive testing of beef after the government yesterday confirmed the second case of mad cow disease.

26 Jun 2005

Textiles with permanent antibacterial properties

Antimicrobial agents are not new to the marketplace. Our stores are filled with antibacterial soaps and gels, and in a post-9/11 world, wearable protection from biological agents is in increasing demand. So far, antimicrobial textile production has used coatings that can wash away over time, reducing the useful life of protective clothing.

21 Jun 2005