See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including synthetic biology security risks, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Spain, and the Biological Weapons Convention Review Conference.
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- Small changes, big dividends: A global look at preparedness (CDC Public Matters)
- New group established to overcome epidemic vaccine barriers (CIDRAP)
- Biopreparedness in the age of genetically engineered pathogens (AMSUS)
- Bioterrorism expert responds to foiled Kenya anthrax attack (Outbreak News)
- Thinking about the unthinkable (AEI)
POLICY & POLICTICS
- Toward the 8th BWC Review Conference (Center for Nonproliferation Studies)
- Zika response must not drain research funds (Nature)
- FDA bans common ingredients in antibacterial soaps and body washes (WaPo)
- Commentary: To fight Zika, deploy the National Guard (Chicago Tribune)
- Scott’s criticisms of CDC don’t hold weight with public health officials (Politico)
SELECT AGENTS
- Soviet anthrax mishap could have been worse (Laboratory Equipment)
- Spain reports its first 2 cases of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CIDRAP)
- The Ebola clinical trials: a precedent for research ethics in disasters (JoME)
- A “bottom up” treatment for Ebola that could have been used in W. Africa (Contagion Live)
- Ebola cluster traced to sexual transmission 15 months after man’s illness (CIDRAP)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- More doctors asked about delaying or refusing childhood vaccines (Seattle Times)
- Caution on new dengue vaccine: In some countries, harm outweighs benefit (STAT)
- Japanese company to accelerate development of a Zika vaccine (HHS)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Vertical transmission of Zika: Of epidemiologic significance? (UPMC CBN)
- U.S. FDA issues emergency use authorization for Zika test: Roche (Reuters)
- Superbug resistant to two last-resort antibiotics found in US for first time (STAT)
- No Zika cases among Olympics attendees (The Scientist)
- Devastating viruses disappeared in wild birds (JAVMA)
- Zika virus gets foothold in Singapore, raising fears of epidemics in Asia (STAT)
- “Not out of the woods yet” in yellow fever outbreak in Angola, Congo (Reuters)
- Newest superbug has been in U.S. longer than thought (NatGeo)
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
- Destroying those chemical weapons out in Colorado (Anniston Star)
- US set to destroy big chemical weapon stockpile (Blue Ridge Now)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Call for papers: Emerging pathogens and health security (UPMC CHS)
- Nano-biophotonics for molecular imaging (NIST)
- Killing germs with electron beams (MDT)
- SEED 2016: Synbio industry coming of age (PLOS SynBio)
HISTORICAL & SPECIAL INTEREST
- A study of human history through the lives of disease-causing bacteria (The Wire)
- The Society for Historic Infectious Disease Studies (Contagions Blog)
- What a hidden graveyard from the Roman Empire can teach us about plague (STAT)
- Antimalarial: The history of the gin and tonic (Slate)
- A horrifying comic-book future where antibiotics don’t work any more (io9)
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