See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including the risk of epidemics as Aedes aegypti mosquito areas spread, trends in infectious disease mortality, and a global standard for Zika testing.
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- BTWC 8th RevCon Final Document (The Trench)
- Canceling the Zika public health emergency was the wrong thing to do (STAT)
- The challenges to public health under the Trump administration (WaPo)
- Biosafety company seeks improved regulation of bioscience laboratories (FNP)
- One Health: Recreating the future (Canadian Cattlemen)
- Global standards for Zika testing needed, doctors say (Reuters)
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- What global disease threat worries public-health officials most? (WSJ)
- Why the nation must prepare for future pandemic threats (SD Union Tribune)
- As the Aedes aegypti mosquito spreads globally, so does risk of epidemics (WaPo)
SELECT AGENTS
- Army reprimands general over anthrax debacle (Army Times)
- Ebola nurse banned for hiding Pauline Cafferkey’s high temperature (BBC)
- How DNA evidence confirmed a Soviet cover-up of an anthrax accident (Atlantic)
- Rapid testing crucial during Ebola outbreaks (VOA)
- Iran’s EMS native reaction protocol to suspected Ebola patients (JoB&B)
- Pan-genome analysis of Senegalese and Gambian strains of B. anthracis (AJOL)
- Suspected cutaneous anthrax: Two black eschars in a 6-year-old (UMSU)
- NYC Ebola concept of operations (NETEC)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Nigeria fights myths, fear in polio vaccine drive (Reuters)
- Microfluidics and biosensors to tackle antibiotic resistance (Labiotech)
- Haiti’s Ministry of Health successfully vaccinates 729,000 against cholera (ReliefWeb)
- FDA releases 2014 NARMS integrated report (FDA.gov)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Finland finds H5 bird flu in wild birds in Aland islands (Reuters)
- Zika is no longer an emergency – it’s worse than that, says WHO (New Scientist)
- Bird flu: Netherlands culls 190,000 ducks (BBC)
- Winning the war against yellow fever (WHO)
- Russia to decide on swine fever quarantine next week (Reuters)
- Has Zika circulated quietly in Asia for decades? (Japan Times)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Nagasaki Prefecture and city agree to host lab for handling deadly pathogens (JT)
- Trends in infectious disease mortality in US (Science Daily)
- PhD student finds surprising secret to detecting staph infections earlier (USC)
- Synthesis of bacterial siderophores and applications in pathogen detection (Purdue)
- El Niño conditions in the Pacific precedes dengue epidemics in S. Asia (Umeå)
- Research highlights Americans’ vulnerability to infectious diseases (CNN)
- How gene editing will change agriculture (Agriculture.com)