See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including the threat of agroterrorism in the U.S., state of the global health security workforce, and the World Bank’s pandemic insurance plan.
BIODEFENSE POLICY & PRACTICES
- Four steps to rebuild trust in biology (The Guardian)
- Should the Rio Olympics be cancelled or postponed? (Forbes)
- Ex-Ebola czar: “Zika is not ‘coming’ to the United States: It is already here” (Vox)
- Threat of agroterrorism and zoonotic diseases in the U.S. (CBRNe Portal)
- After Ebola, World Bank creates pandemic insurance plan (Economic Times)
- Letters to FDA and NIH on lab safety (E&C House Committee)
- House approves 622M to combat Zika virus (Reuters)
- No health workforce, no global health security (The Lancet)
- Stealing from Ebola to fight Zika (NY Times)
- Parents who object to vaccines could be forced to take science classes (Independent)
- Reforming the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention’s S&T Review Process (BN)
- CDC waits for congress to approve emergency funds to combat Zika (NPR)
- Book review: The awful diseases on the way (NY Books)
- Zika is coming, but we’re far from ready (Washington Post)
- The plan to avert our post-antibiotic apocalypse (The Atlantic)
- DoD biosafety, reducing dual use risk, and H5N1 trends (Pandora Report)
- Emergency Committee meeting concerning Yellow fever (WHO)
SELECT AGENTS
- Beyond contact tracing: community-based early detection for Ebola response (PLOS)
- Kenya: 16 hospitalized for suspected anthrax after eating a sick cow (Outbreak News)
- Deaths, late deaths, and role of infecting dose in Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone (BMJ)
- New short film by Errol Morris looks at small pox debate (Boston Globe)
- County distributes sample medication in anthrax release drill (EM)
- Anthrax scare closes roads around capitol (Roll Call)
- Four global commissions in the wake of Ebola (PLOS Medicine)
- Community event-based surveillance system to prevent Ebola resurgence (IOM)
- Study: Fatal cases of Ebola after complete recovery rare (CIDRAP)
INFECTIOUS DISEASE COUNTERMEASURES
- When antibiotics no longer work (BBC)
- Chemists generate variations on erythromycin in ‘daring’ synthesis (Nature)
- OU team develops new antibiotic to fight MRSA (Univ of Oklahoma)
- Researchers describe strategy to develop first broad-spectrum antiviral drug (Science Daily)
- Development of medical countermeasures to MERS Coronavirus (EID)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Zika outbreak fueled by mosquito control failure, says WHO boss (Reuters)
- Has the yellow fever outbreak tipped over into a global health emergency? (STAT)
- A cost-effectiveness tool for informing policies on Zika virus control (PLOS)
- W.H.O. calls Yellow fever in Africa ‘serious concern’ (NY Times)
- Tracing Zika back to patient zero (The Atlantic)
- DoD adds funding to enhance Zika surveillance by military labs (Defense.gov)
- Global distribution and environmental suitability for chikungunya (Eurosurveillance)
- Zika virus expected to spread in Europe in late spring and summer (WHO)
- Yellow fever: urgent action needed to prevent international crisis (IFRC)
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
- ISIS conducting chemical experiments on its prisoners (HSNW)
- DARPA has a simple plan to clean up the world’s deadliest weapons (Gizmodo)
- ISIL moves chemical weapons labs into residential neighborhoods (Telegraph)
- Victims of Agent Orange continue to suffer in Vietnam (CCTV)
- ISIS bombed us with chemical weapons, Iraqi police say (Time)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Portable system uses light to diagnose bacterial infections faster (NIH)
- DARPA: The disruption engine behind DoD’s technology enterprise (Armed with Science)
- The ‘beating heart’ of the flu virus – and why scientists want to commandeer it (Conversation)
- Studies that intentionally infect people with disease-causing bugs are on the rise (Science)
- The innovators: Irish lab develops coating to ward off superbug (The Guardian)
- MRC announces awards worth nearly £10M to tackle antibiotic resistance (BBSRC)
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
- Today’s tools for combating Zika mosquitoes hark back to 1945 (NPR)
- ‘Eye-watering’ scale of Black Death’s impact on England revealed (The Guardian)
- Smallpox: Demons in the freezer (NY Times)
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