See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including Zika diagnostics, CDC’s field epidemiology officers, and biosecurity in Iraq.
BIODEFENSE POLICY & PRACTICES
- Improving the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Biodefense report (Just Security)
- Food for thought: Efforts to defend the nation’s agriculture and food (HS Committee)
- Zika virus: Why emergency funding is necessary, and why it shouldn’t be (The Hill)
- Biosecurity in Iraq: Developing a national biorisk system (Frontiers in Public Health)
- ‘Pandemic’ explains how to host the perfect pathogen party (NY Times)
- The dangerous conspiracy theories about the Zika virus (New Yorker)
- CDC’s Career Epidemiology Field Officers program (CDC)
- AMP up your biosafety system (APHL)
SELECT AGENTS
- Plague around the world, 2010–2015 (WHO) .pdf
- Single Antibody Protects Macaques from Ebola (The Scientist)
- Ebola ‘devastates long-term health’ (BBC)
- Yersinia spp. as model bacteria for pathogen evolution (Nature)
- Why an Ebola body collector will be watching the Oscars tonight (NPR)
- British nurse who recovered from Ebola back in hospital (Reuters)
- Glycosylation of BclA glycoprotein from B. anthracis exosporium (JBC)
- Comparison of French and worldwide Bacillus anthracis strains (PLOS)
- Identification of Novel Raft Marker Protein, FlotP in Bacillus anthracis (FIM)
- Diagnostic strategies for Ebola virus detection (The Lancet)
- Structural hot spots for the solubility of globular proteins (Nature)
- Cautious optimism about ZMapp trial (The Scientist)
- Zika and Ebola: A taste of things to come? (BBC)
INFECTIOUS DISEASE COUNTERMEASURES
- WHO advisers switch out 2 vaccine strains for 2016-17 flu season (CIDRAP)
- Virus-mimicking drug boosts resistance to antibiotic-resistant bacteria (The Scientist)
- WRAIR researchers publish results from P. vivax malaria vaccine study (News Medical)
- ‘Seriously flawed’ study linking behavioral problems to Gardasil retracted (WaPo)
- Synthetic biology’s first malaria drug meets market resistance (Nature)
- The rats who sniff out tuberculosis (Guardian)
- Measles: still a thing in the US in 2016 (Tracking Zebra)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- The link between Zika and climate change (The Atlantic)
- Zika researchers release real-time data on viral infection study in monkeys (Nature)
- CDC tells pregnant women not to travel to Olympics (STAT)
- With CDC help, Puerto Rico aims to get ahead of Zika (NPR)
- Zika virus outbreak: the need for novel mosquito control methods (The Lancet)
- Zika virus microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome (WHO)
INDUSTRY NEWS
- Luminex Collaboration with University of Sao Paulo to validate Zika panel (Luminex)
- NIAID studies ofPLX-R18 for Acute Radiation Syndrome (Pluristem)
- New antibody treatment for MERS-CoV (SAB Biotherapeutics)
- Two Companies on the forefront of bio-detection technologies join forces (Smallcap)
- Directors for biosecurity and public health preparedness (Healthcare Ready)
- SAIC wins place on chem-bio defense support contract (UPI)
- Illumina sues UK rival over patents (EU Biotech News)
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
- Infection-fighting biological bandages for serious burns (MDT)
- Texas hospitals develop rapid Zika test (USA Today)
- Exploring the potential of public proteomics data (Spectroscopy Now)
- DNA under the scope, and a forensic tool under a cloud (NY Times)