See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including the rising threat of Zika, CBRNE resilience strategies, and immune modeling for biodefense.
BIODEFENSE POLICY & PRACTICES
- Modeling immunity for biodefense (NIAID)
- Rise of the bugs, and DoD the biosurveillance enterprise (Armed with Science)
- Countering bioterror (The Cipher Brief)
- Biodefense panel concerned as Zika, avian influenza expand their reach (Ridge Global)
- American biodefense: How dangerous ideas about bioweapons shape national security (AIIA)
- Borders and migration: an issue of global health importance (The Lancet)
- Increased funding for biodefense and preparedness good for America (Alliance for Biosecurity)
- New roles for global health: diplomatic, security, and foreign policy responsiveness (The Lancet)
- CBRNE resilience strategy for Canada (Public Safety Canada)
- Ebola funds impossible to track (Oxfam International)
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
- Report: Lessons learned from the OPCW mission in Syria (OPCW) .pdf
- Syria: The story of the conflict (BBC)
- OPCW laboratory fellowship (OPCW)
- Gates: Obama hurt US credibility when he backed down from Syria red line (Business Insider)
SELECT AGENTS
- Army lab unit earns award for Ebola response in Liberia (Army Times)
- Antimicrobial treatment for systemic anthrax 1945-2014 (Health Security)
- UK is ‘vulnerable’ to next Ebola outbreak (BBC)
- Antitoxin treatment of inhalation anthrax: A systematic review (Health Security)
- Genotyping Yersinia pestis in historical plague (PLOS)
- Nanopore sequencing as a rapidly deployable Ebola outbreak tool (CDC)
INFECTIOUS DISEASE COUNTERMEASURES
- Unnecessary antibiotic use and patient safety (Pew)
- Bacteria-fighting antitoxins offer remedy to antibiotic resistance (STAT)
- Race for Zika vaccine gathers momentum as virus spreads (Reuters)
- Genetically modified mosquitoes join the fight to stop Zika virus (NPR)
- Monitoring cellular shape and appearance for antibiotic resistance (STAT)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- The Zika virus: A “virgin soil” epidemic (OUP Blog)
- Zika isn’t the only virus worsened by El Niño (City Lab)
- Congenital transmission of Trypanosoma and Leishmania Species (PLOS)
- Mystery device in San Francisco is air sampler to detect biological attack (CBS)
- The Zika virus isn’t just an epidemic. It’s here to stay (Foreign Policy)
- Guinea worm disease nears eradication (The Lancet)
- Zika virus, open-source disease modeling, and more (Pandora Report)
- Tuberculosis transmission on aircraft (Eurosurveillance)
INDUSTRY NEWS
- GenArraytion introduces first commercially test to identify Zika virus (BW)
- Big pharma’s bet on big data creates opportunities and risks (Reuters)
- MRIGlobal hosts health security expert panel at ASM Biodefense (MRIGlobal)
- CosmosID raises $6 million in Series B funding (EurekAlert)
- GAO rules against Lovelace protest of BNBI contract (GAO)
- Hawaii Biotech joins race to develop Zika vaccine (Reuters)
- Biodefense market overview (PharmAthene)
