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Experiments with potential pandemic flu strains pose deadly risk
In the wake of the recent accidental exposure of at least 75 workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to anthrax, Harvard School of Public Health’s (HSPH) [[Marc Lipsitch]] argues that experiments aimed at creating deadly…
Talking the talk on vaccines
June 23, 2014 — Recent disease outbreaks have been traced to deliberately unvaccinated Americans—and anti-vaccine sentiment is a serious health concern. Barry Bloom, an infectious diseases expert at Harvard School of Public Health, thinks health care providers need…
Bird flu experiments pose risk of accidental release
Research in mammals that aims to prevent future influenza pandemics raises ethical, public health concerns For immediate release: May 20, 2014 Boston, MA — Experiments creating dangerous flu strains that are transmissible between mammals pose too great a risk…
Paving the way to the polio vaccine
The iron lung, invented by HSPH’s Philip Drinker in 1928, pulled thousands of polio sufferers back from the brink of death. But with polio still ravaging the world, scientists in the 1930s and 1940s were frantically working on…
With flu season approaching, experts push vaccination
Even though flu season isn’t in full swing, now is the time to get vaccinated, say health experts. More children than ever got vaccinated last year, but health experts say the U.S. needs to do better, as many…
The Eradicator: Donald Hopkins
August 2013 -- Donald Hopkins, MPH ’70, and currently a vice president at the Carter Center, has spent a career helping to eradicate two major tropical diseases. Beginning in the 1960s he helped lead efforts to vaccinate people…
Genome sequencing provides unprecedented insight into causes of pneumococcal disease
Technology will allow better surveillance of bacterial populations, understanding of vaccine effectiveness For immediate release: Sunday, May 5, 2013 Boston, MA — A new study led by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Wellcome…
Rethinking Research Biosafety for Potential Pandemic Pathogens
October 2012 -- Laboratory-modified, highly virulent strains of the H5N1 virus were recently developed in such a way that they can be passed from one mammal to another (ferrets), suggesting that the new and potentially dangerous strain might…
Funding, political support critical for polio eradication
The 24-year international campaign to eradicate polio is “within striking distance of its goal,” but could become undone if obstacles to vaccination stall further progress, Jay A. Winsten, associate dean for health communication and Frank Stanton director for…
Study digs into secrets of keeping HIV in check
Certain HIV-infected patients — about one in every 200 to 300 — are able to resist the AIDS virus for years. It appears these people have immune system cells that are better able to detect and kill HIV-infected…