Free Republic

You've heard it before, how the pharmaceutical industry has a giant "revolving door" through which corporations and government agencies frequently exchange key employees. That reality was driven home in a huge way today when news broke that Dr. Julie Gerberding, who headed the CDC from 2002 through 2009, landed a top job with Merck, one of the largest drug companies in the world. Her job there? She's the new president of the vaccine division. How convenient. That means the former head of the CDC was very likely cultivating a relationship with Merck all these years, and now comes the big...

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has activated its emergency operations centre to deal with a widespread flu outbreak that is being called an epidemic, even though it does not technically meet that definition. Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said it is too soon to determine how severe this flu season will be. But with 42 children already succumbing to the flu this season, Gerberding said the outbreak could be considered an epidemic. Gerberding also said that while this season has seen "typical" flu patterns, it started earlier than normal, leading to...

The heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cautioned last week that another outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) is possible in the United States or elsewhere. CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said at a Sep 26 news conference that the federal agencies are preparing for the possible re-emergence of the virus. Gerberding said, "We don't know whether this virus is going to come back or not, but as an infectious disease expert, I can say in my experience I've never seen...

It's time I went to my favorite shopping district, Manhattan's Chinatown, and picked up some "donta" (Chinese egg custard), fresh seafood, and roast duck for my family. But going there could potentially kill us all. Since I don't live in China, Hanoi, Toronto or Singapore, I may sound paranoid. And yet, I'll take that chance. The majority of Chinatown's inhabitants hail from China's Guangdong Province, which is Ground Zero for "SARS" – Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, often erroneously described as "pneumonia" or "atypical pneumonia." Illegal Chinese immigrants constantly arrive in Chinatown, largely from Guangdong Province. People also constantly travel...