See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including the National Zika Summit, animal models to fight emerging threats, the impact of vaccine refusals, and Lassa fever diagnostics.
BIODEFENSE POLICY & PRACTICES
- U.S. participation in the global partnership against spread of WMD (White House)
- At Zika summit, officials stress action now to avoid crisis later (STAT)
- Neglected dimension of global security – countering infectious disease (NEJM)
- Mapping the Global Health Security Agenda (Global Biodefense)
- National Zika Summit focused on coordinated U.S. response (CDC)
- Government must invest now to protect against biological threats (The Hill)
- U.S. unprepared for Zika and Congress just made it worse (Foreign Policy)
- Latest CDC lab incident involves worker infected with salmonella (USA Today)
- House budget plan would rearrange and restrict federal research portfolio (Science)
- Website matches biomedical research projects with funding sources (GovConWire)
- The ‘Girl Boss’ of USAID has 22B to spend and a tight deadline (NPR)
- Plum Island become a national park rather than sold to developers (HSNW)
- “Pandemic” author Sonia Shah (BOTAS)
SELECT AGENTS
- WHO downgrades Ebola health risk (BBC News)
- Early diagnostic tests needed for Lassa fever (WHO)
- Urgent action still needed in Ebola vaccine development (Wellcome Trust)
- As Ebola flares up, Guinea plans to vaccinate contacts of survivors (Reuters)
- New Ebola case confirmed in Liberia (NY Times)
- Experts warn complacency on Ebola may leave vaccine work unfinished (Reuters)
INFECTIOUS DISEASE COUNTERMEASURES
- From mice to monkeys, animal models hold the key to battling Zika (STAT)
- No Andrew Wakefield, you don’t deserve due process (Forbes)
- Highly temperature sensitive polioviruses as novel vaccine strains (PLOS)
- Vaccine refusal is fueling the spread of potentially deadly diseases (Pump Handle)
- No Andrew Wakefield, you don’t deserve due process (Forbes)
- We watched the movie ‘Vaxxed’ so you don’t have to (STAT)
CHEMICAL THREATS
- Islamic State hijacks Mosul University chemistry lab for making bombs (WSJ)
- How to (make chemical weapons) disappear completely (Pandora Report)
- Public information is key to countering the new chemical weapons threat (PS)
- Battling ISIL and their chemical weapons on the frontline in Iraq (EuroNews)
- Cut campaign rhetoric as nuclear weapons, chemicals threaten (Delaware Online)
- Fed prisons held banned chemical agents (USA Today)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- How Zika infiltrates developing brains (The Scientist)
- Coronaviruses: emerging and re-emerging pathogens in humans and animals (BioMed)
- Protecting soldiers from emerging infectious diseases (HSNW)
- This lab is ground zero in the U.S. fight against Zika (WaPo)
- Yellow fever: a global reckoning (The Lancet)
- Ancient retrovirus found in human DNA – and it might still be active (Conversation)
- ‘Sitting on a time bomb’: Outbreak of yellow fever setting off alarms (STAT)
- Pregnant women may be able to get answers about Zika earlier (NPR)
- MRSA: Closing schools just window dressing (Tracking Zebra)
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