See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including pandemic influenza preparedness, addressing the risks of gene editing, and investing in next-generation sequencing platforms.
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- Virus hunters tracking down the next pandemic (Horizon)
- CLSA Report: How we prepare for the next pandemic (CLSA)
- Infectious disease outbreaks: The latest, not the last (TFAH)
- WHO Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework (Thomson Reuters)
- Feedback on Healthcare Preparedness Program performance measures (NACCHO)
- The world wakes up to the danger of superbugs (NY Times)
POLICY & POLITICS
- With new program, DARPA to encourage safety “brakes” for gene editing (Xconomy)
- Despite new Zika funds, states might not get any for months (WaPo)
- Public health labs hope federal funds will speed Zika test results (NPR)
- Florida’s feud over Zika-fighting GMO mosquitoes (Bloomberg)
- Pig laws set for post-virus epidemic shake-up (Global Meat News)
SELECT AGENTS
- Serosurveillance of viral pathogens circulating in West Africa (Virology Journal)
- Scottish nurse tests negative for Ebola after readmission to hospital (Reuters)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Zika vaccine race spurred by crisis and profit potential (Reuters)
- A quarter of millennials avoid the flu vaccine because of the cost (Bloomberg)
- ‘One-punch’ universal flu vaccine in development (Medical News Today)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Why scientists are keeping an eye on a little-known Mayaro virus (NPR)
- No one knows how many are dying from superbug infections in CA hospitals (LA Times)
- As Hurricane Matthew moves on, the worst is yet to come for Haiti (Forbes)
- Measles elimination — using outbreaks to identify and close immunity gaps (NEJM)
- Venezuela doctors sound alarm on reported return of diphtheria (Reuters)
- Zika and the association with the Guillain–Barré syndrome (NEJM)
- Venezuela doctors sound alarm on reported return of diphtheria (Reuters)
- The benign course of postnatal Zika infection (UPMC CBN)
CHEMICAL & RADIOLOGICAL THREATS
- Sudan has been accused of using chemical weapons against civilians (Time)
- When neuroscience leads to neuroweapons (BOTAS)
- HHS enhances nation’s health preparedness for radiological threats (HHS)
- Forgotten lessons: The return of mustard gas (HuffPost)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Automating sample testing in space (Phys.org)
- Alphabet’s latest project is birth control for mosquitoes (MIT)
- HHS embarks on $52M genetic sequencing platform development (Healthcare IT)
- Dramatic twists could upend patent battle over CRISPR (Science)
- Real-time sharing of Zika genomes—the race against a virus (Medical Xpress)
- Cows engineered with human genes could stop our next disease outbreak (MIT)
- The essential scan: Top findings in health policy research (Brookings)
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS & SPECIAL INTEREST
- A lieutenant in eradicating smallpox remembers the general (NY Times)
- Rift Valley fever: still an emerging infection after 3500 years (The Lancet)