There are mounting concerns over the future potential for H5N1 influenza to cause a pandemic. Those concerns coupled with worries over terrorists launching an attack using that virus or other biological agents have caused the government to fund some research at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Madison.

The National Institute's of Health's Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced Thursday it has awarded the Medical College a five-year, $8.1 million grant to develop a rapid, miniaturized, automated diagnostic device to test for the presence of avian flu and most potential bioterrorism agents

A 1,204-page Canadian report of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis in 2003 was released on Tuesday.

The report indicates that safety problems persisted in Ontario that were not necessarily preventable. However, more could have been done to protect the health-care workers who were involved.

The SARS outbreak caused 275 people to catch the virus. Of these, 44 people died from SARS during the crisis in the Toronto area (including one doctor and two nurses). In fact, forty-five percent of the people who caught the virus in the hospitals in Ontario were health-care workers

The World Health Organization will get a new director-general after its main decision making body approves the nomination of Dr Margaret Chan. Chan is a Chinese expert who has tackled bird flu and sars.

If her appointment is approved, she will become the first Chinese person to head a major U.N. agency. She will replace South Korea's Lee Jong-wook who died during his term in May

Researchers claim that there has been little evidence that proves treatments against the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus were effective.

Doctors are still doubtful on treating the disease, four years after its outbreak

US and Canadian researchers say they have created an inhibitor that could prevent anthrax from attacking the body and that the approach could also be used to prevent SARS, influenza and AIDS.

The current treatment for anthrax inhalation is antibiotics, but although they can slow the progression of the toxin's effects, seventy-five of those treated with antibiotics will still die. And pathogens can mutate and develop resistance to antibiotic treatments, making them ineffective