Industry steps up efforts to develop avian flu vaccine

new pre pandemic avian flu vaccine progress

Erratum to: Simple steps to develop trial follow-up procedures

BACKGROUND Loss to follow-up in randomised controlled trials reduces statistical power and increases the potential for bias. Almost half of all trials fail to achieve their follow-up target. Statistical methods have been described for handling losses to follow-up and systematic reviews have identified interventions that increase follow-up. However, there is little guidance on how to develop pra...

Simple steps to develop trial follow-up procedures

Background: Loss to follow-up in randomised controlled trials reduces statistical power and increases the potential for bias. Almost half of all trials fail to achieve their follow-up target. Statistical methods have been described for handling losses to follow-up and systematic reviews have identified interventions that increase follow-up. However, there is little guidance on how to develop pr...

Avian Zoonoses: beyond Avian Flu

PSITTICOSIS Also known as parrot fever and ornithosis, psittacosis is caused by Chlamydophila psittaci, an obligate intracellular bacterial infection of birds that can cause severe pneumonia and other serious disease in humans (on average 250 reported cases per year in the US). Most cases resulted from exposure to infected pet birds, (cockatiels, parakeets, parrots, and macaws). Infected birds ...

Rationing the flu vaccine.

In October 2004, the CDC announced that Chiron Corporation, chief supplier of inactivated influenza vaccine for the United States for the 2004–2005 flu season, would not be providing the 50 million vaccinations it had promised—half of the anticipated 90–100 million doses from all sources projected for the flu season. The resultant shortage set off a firestorm of concern. Well known to health ca...