Topic: Von Roebuck

In the case of an influenza pandemic, the U.S. healthcare system would be inadequately prepared to meet the needs of an infected population, according to a report released this week by federal auditors.

Ricin has been a byword for terrorism in the mass media since Colin Powell used it to link Iraq-based terrorists to groups plotting attacks in Europe as part of the U.S. case for invasion in 2003. But the ricin in that incident turned out to be no more real than Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, and experts say that the toxin is so difficult to purify it is unlikely to ever be used successfully in a terror attack.

Investigators are trying to determine if a bacterium that set off sensors during last week's anti-war protest in Washington was naturally present.

The anthrax letter attacks in 2001 are not the first time an infectious agent has been spread through the mail. A recent article in a scientific journal describes two outbreaks of smallpox in 1901 that were attributed to infected letters, and bioweapon ex

An analysis of 6 million people who received the smallpox vaccine in 1947 found no increase in deaths from heart problems, federal health officials said, which strongly suggests the vaccine did not cause the heart attacks and deaths reported earlier this