Three times during the 20th century the human population suffered pandemic influenza disease caused by particularly virulent strains. The most famous—and the most deadly—of these was the 1918 pandemic known as the “Spanish flu,” which caused an estimated 50 million deaths worldwide, including nearly half amillion in the United States. It has been nearly 40 years since the last major pandemic, the “Hong Kong flu” of 1968, but the threat of a new pandemic remains quite real. The influenza strain known as H5N1 is especially worrisome, for instance, as more than half the human cases that have occurred have been fatal. Although H5N1 is persisting in causing disease among chickens and other poultry in parts of China and Southeast Asia, the virus does not (as yet) pass easily from one human to another.Most of the human cases have resulted from close handling of infected birds.
One of the first lines of detection of a possible influenza pandemic is the Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response Program (DoD-GEIS), which maintains a global influenza surveillance network. In 2006, spurred in part by concerns about the H5N1 virus, Congress allocated $39 million in supplemental funding for DoD-GEIS to improve this surveillance network by upgrading the capabilities of its domestic and overseas laboratories. Afterward, DoD-GEIS management asked the Institute of Medicine to form a committee that would evaluate how well DoD-GEIS had spent the supplemental funds. In addition, IOM was asked to assess more generally the effectiveness of the entire program.
Acquisition Liaisons - DoD SBIR/STTR Program::
These Liaisons interface with the SBIR program managers within DoD and with the SBIR . highly accurate, Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition. .. linked by a terrestrial network and emerging satellite technologies. . In April 2003, the Defense Acquisition Board (DAB) convened to review the
http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/liaisons/index.htmHOME |
isid news::
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTMLby K Christiansen - Related articles - All 2 versionsDepartment of Defense. From 2006 to the present, he serves as the principal historical most prominently by his 2008 election as a Member of the Institute of Medicine of the National ProMED-mail, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases .. Emerging Diseases and Surveillance 2009. Along with our
http://www.isid.org/publications/ISIDnewsletter200901.pdfHOME |
The report of that committee, Review of the DoD-GEIS Influenza Programs: Strengthening Global Surveillance and Response, offers a mainly favorable assessment of DoD-GEIS efforts to date and offers some suggestions for future improvements.
Federal Health Update - IFHC::
The U.S. Defense Department released its 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, . A new $20 million grant program aimed at reducing obesity, smoking and other health . The Institute of Medicine (IOM) announced it will conduct a study . The CDC 7th International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases will be
http://www.fedhealthinst.org/newsletter.htmlHOME |
 Microsoft Unleashes Visual Studio .NET
 IBM's iPhrase Buy Adds to WebSphere
|
PRINT
Add to favorites