See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including missing yellow fever vaccines, improved biosafety suits, dengue diagnostics in the U.S. military and more…
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- WHO bungles response to Africa’s yellow fever outbreak (STAT)
- The unintentional exotic-pet bio-attack on US shores (BOTAS)
- Biosurveillance threats and the opportunity to develop a safer world (JoB&B)
- The ISIS files and Belgium: Food industry implications (Food Safety Mag)
- AgConnect exercise evaluates decision support in animal health (IIAD)
- CDC announces $16 million for states’ Zika efforts (CIDRAP)
POLICY & POLICTICS
- If Zika spreads in the US, blame the politicians, not the mosquitoes (Quartz)
- NIH, BARDA to spend through Zika funding by end of the month (BioWorld)
- Why the world needs an essential diagnostics list (Forbes)
- Interview with NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci (Charlie Rose)
- An ugly summer for science: Turmoil rocks Canadian research community (STAT)
- PharmAthene: Gov giving Emergent unfair advantage in anthrax contracting (WBJ)
- NIH considering restarting funding for human-animal chimera research (STAT)
SELECT AGENTS
- Ecological contexts of index cases and spillover events of different ebolaviruses (PLOS)
- Recombinant botulinum neurotoxin derivative engineered for improved safety (Nature)
- Ebola took a toll on maternal health (Time)
- Anthrax outbreak in Russia kills boy, 12, and hospitalizes others (NY Times)
- Podcast: I had to turn people away from the world’s largest Ebola centre (MSF)
- Botulinum toxin may travel further than expected in nerve cells (Neuroscience News)
- A visit to Liberia to see modified Ebola protective suit in action (JHU)
- Anthrax outbreak thought to be result of thawing permafrost (NPR)
- Safe travels for Zika and other dangerous samples (CDC)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Amid worst yellow fever outbreak in decades, 1 million vaccines go missing (LA Times)
- ‘Striking’ results from early Zika vaccine trial (NBC News)
- High prices make once-neglected ‘orphan’ drugs a booming business (WaPo)
- Experimental vaccine could provide rapid response to diseases (Reuters)
- 5 intriguing places scientists are hunting for antibiotics (Chem.info)
- Zika vaccines show early promise (BBC News)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- It’s official: Zika is a sexually transmitted infection (NatGeo)
- Zika hits the U.S. military: 41 troops, 7 family members diagnosed (Military Times)
- Impact of a possible equine and human epidemic of West Nile Virus (Eurosurveillance)
- Latest MCR-1 findings include highly resistant isolate (CIDRAP)
- Assessing the Dengue diagnosis capability gap in the military health system (PubMed)
- Zika: Prevent mosquito bites and practice safe sex (HuffPost)
- The badger-cow TB connection (The Scientist)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Microbial engineering technique could reduce contamination in biofermentation plants (MIT)
- University of Pittsburgh licenses microneedle patch to Pittsburgh company (MDT)
- Identifying CBRN agents to stop disease in its tracks (HDIAC)
- Johns Hopkins tweaks Ebola suit to improve comfort and safety (Baltimore Sun)
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
- Study: 1918 pandemic flu survivors led average-length lives (CIDRAP)
- In Zika, echoes of U.S. rubella outbreak of 1964-65 (HSNW)
SPECIAL INTEREST
- Biodefense in gaming: enjoyable but inaccurate (Pandora Report)
- The 27 best health and science books to read this summer (STAT)
- Ubisoft’s open-world bio-terror shooter will be heading to the big screen (Wired)
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