See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including containing panic during epidemics, protecting the nation against agroterrorism, and flu vaccine impact on hospitalization rates.
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- We need to do a better at protecting agriculture against bioterrorism (US News)
- How Ebola teaches us to defend against the smallest deadly weapons (SB)
- Call for measures for the National Health Security Preparedness Index (NHSPI)
- How can health officials help contain the panic over outbreaks? (Medical Xpress)
- Khorezm Regional Diagnostic Laboratory opened in Urgench (Uz Daily)
- Eradicating disease to preserve the future (FG Insight)
- Biology as a weapon (Defense Procurement)
- When outbreaks go viral (New Republic)
POLICY & POLITICS
- Desperately seeking leadership: Joanne Liu on WHO’s next director (GHN)
- Feds to fund plans to take on Zika virus with drones (NBC)
- Zika and Ebola had a much worse effect on women (Conversation)
- If billionaires fund your research, don’t take public money (Wired)
SELECT AGENTS
- Emergency facilities a vital key to Ebola survival (UQ News)
- On patrol with America’s top bioterror cop (MIT Tech Review)
- Ebola leaves survivors with debilitating reminders like blindness, epilepsy (DN)
- Modeling the effects of health care practices on Ebola epidemic behavior (FH)
- Man gets potentially deadly bacterial disease (CBS News 6)
- New Ebola vaccine under consideration for emergency use (SciDevNet)
- Helping Sierra Leone fight Ebola (DTRA)
- How open source helped beat Ebola (CISCO)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Reduction in hospitalizations despite influenza vaccine mismatch (UPMC CHS)
- New antibiotic mined from human gut reverses drug resistance (ARS Technica)
- UNICEF reaches deal on low-cost 5-strain vaccine for children (CIDRAP)
- Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies as biodefense medical countermeasures (OMICS)
- Tasmanian devil milk fights superbugs (BBC)
- Hurdles ahead for Zika vaccine: Experts (Health Day)
- Combatting antibiotic resistance (HSNW)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Cholera in Haiti isn’t just bad news—it’s not going away (Wired)
- Will winter kill Zika? (The Atlantic)
CHEMICAL & RADIOLOGICAL THREATS
- New chem-bio protective ensemble in the works (National Defense)
- Attack on Kirkuk and chemical fire push troops back from Mosul (Guardian)
- U.S. expects Islamic State to wield chemical weapons in Mosul fight (Reuters)
- Inquiry blames Syrian military for another chlorine gas attack (NY Times)
RESEARCH & TECH
- SynBioBeta SF 2016: What have we learned from Silicon Valley? (PLOS)
- Overlooked molecules could revolutionize understanding of immune system (Imperial)
- Study shows little evidence of poultry-worker infection early in H7N9 (CIDRAP)
- Gene deletion points way to flu treatment (Science Daily)
- Epidemiology and surveillance of influenza in Uganda 2008-2014 (PubMed)
- Gene drives: The good, the bad, and the hype (BOTAS)
SPECIAL INTEREST
- Some singers sing about love. He sings about … hand-washing (NPR)
- Biological Threats in the 21st Century book launch (Pandora Report)
- Synthetic Biology: Safety, Security, and Promise (UPMC CHS)
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