See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including plague vectors, next-generation antibiotics, and mapping zoonotic diseases.
POLICY & PRACTICES
- The disease detective who speaks the truth about epidemics (Foreign Policy)
- Cautionary tales on colistin, data & sleuthing for superbugs (NRDC)
- WHO says 122 million dollars needed for global response to Zika virus (Reuters)
- Zika virus: Risk of spread from Olympics ‘very low’ says WHO (BBC)
- Republicans, who warned of dithering on Ebola, now hesitate on Zika (NY Times)
- Pre-Zika public attitudes toward genetically modified mosquitoes (UPMC CBN)
- Ebola nurse attorneys say hospital won’t reveal details of disease spread (DMN)
- Why hasn’t disease wiped out the human race? (The Atlantic)
- Promising gene therapies pose million-dollar conundrum (Nature)
SELECT AGENTS
- Dogs as plague sentinels and vectors (Contagions Blog)
- If you thought Ebola and Zika were scary…Just wait! (Pulse)
- Attenuation of ricin toxin under ambient conditions and elevated temps (EPA)
INFECTIOUS DISEASE COUNTERMEASURES
- Want to win $2 billion? Create the next antibiotic (WaPo)
- India launches emergency vaccine drive for new polio strain (The Guardian)
- Yellow fever in Angola and beyond — the problem of vaccine supply and demand (NEJM)
- Strategies for improving vaccine delivery: a cluster-randomized trial (Pediatrics)
- To control spread of yellow fever, panel approves WHO plan to ration vaccine (STAT)
- Can you teach old drugs new tricks? (Nature)
- Delinking investment in antibiotic R&D from sales revenues (PLOS)
- The economics of antibiotic resistance (Pacific Standard)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Number of Zika-positive Puerto Ricans surprises health officials (NY Times)
- Zika infection can damage fetuses even if pregnant women show no symptoms (STAT)
- WHO expresses concern over disease outbreaks in its response to Fallujah crisis (WHO)
- Carriers of rat-borne Lassa fever will double to 406,725 carriers by 2070 (Wired)
- Digital participatory surveillance and the Zika crisis: opportunities and caveats (PLOS)
- Mosquitoes may be helping an older killer reemerge (WaPo)
- Spread of human disease from animals mapped (BBC)
- Studies find ‘super bacteria’ in Rio’s Olympic venues, top beaches (Reuters)
- Mapping zoonotic diseases (The Scientist)
- As Zika threat grows in U.S., testing lags for a vulnerable group (NY Times)
- ESKAPES: Emerging pathogens of concern (Infection Control Tips)
- Outbreak of Lassa fever in Benin (WHO)
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
- Researchers study combustion behavior of chemical weapons (Texas A&M)
- First responders enhance knowledge of sampling in contaminated environments (OPCW)
- Defective welds will cost weapons plant up to $20 million (Richmond Register)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Airborne pathogen monitoring system launched in US (FQN)
- Predicting contagiousness to limit the spread of disease (DARPA)
- FDA is supporting Zika diagnostic test development (FDA) .pdf
- Hologic wins emergency U.S. authorization for Zika test (Reuters)
- ‘Daisy-chain’ gene drive vanishes after only a few generations (New Scientist)
- A CRISPR screen defines a processing pathway required by flaviviruses (Nature)
