Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

Latest Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome News and Research

South East Asia could be the epicentre of the next human influenza pandemic

The Asia-Pacific region faces a number of challenges in preparing for an influenza pandemic, yet gaps and inconsistencies in plans across the continent could hinder an effective response to a pandemic, according to a new report presented at the Lancet Asia Medical Forum 2006, Singapore.

3 May 2006

Researchers unravel structure of important new drug target that could potentially treat SARS-infected patients

Mesecar said that the knowledge gained from this new atomic structure - the first-ever reported on this class of proteases - has the potential to go beyond the treatment of patients infected with the coronavirus that causes SARS.

11 Apr 2006

Multinationals preparing for Avian flu across the globe

Multinational companies are taking steps in many parts of the world to plan for the possibility of an avian flu outbreak, a new survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a global human capital firm, has found.

21 Mar 2006

West Nile virus epidemics in North America are driven by shifts in mosquito feeding behavior

Since its introduction to the United States in 1999, West Nile virus has become the major vector-borne disease in the U.S., with 770 reported deaths, 20,000 reported illnesses, and perhaps around a million people infected.

1 Mar 2006

Australian researchers design portable diagnostic system to identify bird flu in a human sample within 2 hours

Avian Influenza (commonly known as bird flu) poses a serious threat to global health with experts predicting it could seriously affect millions of people worldwide.

24 Feb 2006

Animals diseases jumping to humans faster than ever before

According to scientists in the U.S. and Scotland, 75% of the 38 species of harmful organisms and viruses identified in the past 25 years are believed to have "jumped" from animals to humans.

21 Feb 2006

WHO says Asian states too slow in reporting bird flu

The regional director for the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the Western Pacific has complained that Asian countries take too long to report some human cases of bird flu and this could hamper any efforts to contain a possible pandemic.

24 Jan 2006

New web resource provides easy access to global health data

GlobalHealthFacts.org - a new and freely available website with the latest country and region-specific data on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other key health indicators - was launched today by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit, private operating foundation focused on health care issues.

10 Jan 2006

Largest post-mortem study of SARS deaths teaches scientists about the disease

Led by John Nicholls of Hong Kong University, researchers from Hong Kong and from Toronto (two of the cities worst affected by the 2003 SARS outbreak) joined forces for a large and detailed study of the bodies of 32 patients who had died from SARS.

6 Jan 2006

Molecular finding will help better understand measles and mumps

A team of Northwestern University researchers has solved the structure of a molecule that controls the ability of viruses of the paramyxovirus family, including the viruses that cause measles, mumps, and many human respiratory diseases, to fuse with and infect human cells.

5 Jan 2006

Chinese New Year could mean more bird flu outbreaks

China has warned that bird flu could be more prevalent over the Lunar New Year holidays as the transport of live poultry increases.

19 Dec 2005

Scientists working to protect us against avian and pandemic flu

The expression 'prevention is better than a cure' is a truism when it comes to vaccine research. European scientists in various EU-funded projects are hard at work developing new vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tools against some of the deadliest and most virulent viruses, including strains of avian flu.

15 Dec 2005

Germany must take action against secondhand smoke

Tobacco smoke in enclosed spaces is not simply a nuisance: it is a threat to health with fatal consequences. This is the conclusion reached by the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in its latest publication.

12 Dec 2005

Bird flu in Asia - tourists not bothered!

Despite concern on the part of the tour industry, the spread of bird flu in Asia does not appear to be putting tourists off visiting the area.

11 Dec 2005

WHO suspects bird flu may go undetected in China's villages

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there had been no reports of bird flu in the Chinese village where a 10-year-old girl has fallen ill with bird flu, and they are concerned that poultry outbreaks may be going undetected or unreported in China.

7 Dec 2005

One more human bird flu case found in China

According to Chinese health officials, a 10-year-old girl has been infected with the bird flu virus.

7 Dec 2005

Emerging infectious diseases will get worse

Emerging infectious diseases pose a global threat to human and animal health, and the problem is likely to worsen, warns an expert in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

26 Nov 2005

Passenger and crew lists on demand will protect America from disease say US health officials

U.S. health officials, using the excuse that they need to protect Americans from bird flu and other diseases, are proposing regulations that will require airlines and shipping firms to hand over passenger and crew lists on demand and expand how they report serious illnesses.

24 Nov 2005

China to use police in fighting bird flu

China which has had 17 outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu since the middle of last month, is struggling to control the virus which has now been found in seven provinces over a wide ranging area.

22 Nov 2005

Bird flu spreads in China while Bush's $ 7.1 billion pandemic fund stalls

As World health experts predicted there will be more human bird flu infections in China, the U.S. Congress has stalled the funding of President George W. Bush's plan to cope with a pandemic.

20 Nov 2005