See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including emerging infectious disease modeling, biosafety incidents at containment laboratories, and Zika vaccine development.
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- Antibiotic resistant bacteria and the world’s peril (Scientific American)
- How we’ll tackle diseases that are becoming untreatable (NatGeo)
- The danger of not keeping up with technological advances (DomPrep)
- Risk assessment models for emerging infectious disease in Asia-Pacific (PLOS)
- NEIDL Symposium: Talking about infectious diseases (BU Today)
- Indonesia welcomes ‘One Health’ concept (Jakarta Post)
- The importance of unlikely allies in pandemic response (Devex)
- PAHO creates new health emergencies program (Relief Web)
POLICY & POLITICS
- A fighter for global health: Who will be next to lead the WHO? (Reuters)
- South Korea: Lawmakers seeking ban on imports of select agents from U.S. (Hankyoreh)
- Bioresearch labs and inactivation of dangerous pathogens hearing (Pandora Report)
- Zika’s making some people sick. It’s making other people crazy (Daily Beast)
- CBO Estimate for Amendment 5082 Zika Response and Preparedness Act (CBO)
- The Pentagon has become a one-stop shop to solve global problems (The Economist)
- Live-pathogen blunders more common than reported (Stars & Stripes)
SELECT AGENTS
- Progress towards the development of a NEAT protein vaccine for anthrax (ASM)
- Zika virus in semen: lessons from Ebola (The Lancet)
- In Uganda, Fort Detrick researchers seek key to Ebola virus (Frederick News Post)
- Addition of Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis to the HHS select agents list (FR)
- Plague toxin treats common autoimmune disease (Labroots)
- Ebola is not gone, it’s hiding (ACSH)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Another DNA vaccine for Zika shows promise (The Scientist)
- A group of drug companies just laid out a plan to combat superbugs (Business Insider)
- Cincinnati firm plays key role in battle against Zika virus (Biz Journals)
- Why superbugs are beating big pharma (Bloomberg)
- Zydus and Takeda partner to tackle chikungunya (Pharma Letter)
- DoD seasonal influenza vaccination training (Vaccines.mil)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Rift Valley Fever outbreak kills 21 in western Niger (Reuters)
- MERS-CoV case update for Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia (WHO)
- A mysterious polio-like illness that paralyzes people may be surging this year (WaPo)
- Polio cases in Nigeria are bad news for eradication effort (Pump Handle)
- Livestock-associated MRSA: A foodborne illness? (UPMC CBN)
- Gonorrhea is more dangerous than ever as resistance to antibiotics grows (WaPo)
- Multiple dengue strains plague Pakistan (SciDevNet)
CHEMICAL & RADIOLOGICAL THREATS
- Assessing the risk from Africa as Libya loses its chemical weapons (The Conversation)
- Islamic State’s chemical attack on U.S. troops shouldn’t be a surprise (War is Boring)
- No, ISIS isn’t gassing US troops in Iraq (Vox)
RESEARCH & TECH
- 3 bold bets on the future of biotechnology (Motley Fool)
- ‘Isolation Pod’ transport system arrives at Saint Mary’s (My News 4)
- How a free mobile app fights Ebola and other global epidemics (OpenSource)
- Scientists uncover a clever ranking strategy bacteria use to fight off viruses (Phys.org)
- China’s five-star pig pens are latest weapon in the superbug war (Bloomberg)
HISTORICAL & SPECIAL INTEREST
- A Review of Amy Maxmen’s Ebola’s Unpaid Heroes (Tracking Zebra)
- The Great Plague of London, 1665 (Harvard Contagion Collection)
