See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including training global disease warriors, RevCon’s disappointing outcome, and the controversial 21st Century Cures bill.
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- Weapons treaties look ready to unravel, and that’s a big problem (WaPo)
- Final Document of the Eighth Review Conference (UNOG)
- The Eighth BWC Review Conference: a minimal outcome (CBW Events)
- The failure that was the 8th RevCon (Pandora Report)
- U.N. finally apologizes for cholera in Haiti … but omits one point (NPR)
- House passes controversial medical funding ‘cures’ bill (NBC News)
- Science, education leaders call for a U.S. science adviser (AAAS)
- Trump’s pick for US health secretary has pushed to cut science spending (Nature)
- 21st Century Cures: A real plan for our national health (The Hill)
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- UNMC will train global disease warriors (Omaha World Herald)
- What you should know about smallpox in the post-eradication era (AAP)
- Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreements (CDC)
- Responding to the next Ebola (US News)
SELECT AGENTS
- What it’s like to handle the nastiest pathogens as your day job (NPR)
- Melioidosis: a greater threat than previously suspected? (Science Direct)
- Adverse reaction after vaccinia virus vaccination — New Mexico, 2016 (MMWR)
- Engaging with national authorities: MSF’s experience during Ebola epidemic (AH)
- SINE compounds alter new world alphavirus capsid localization (PubMed)
- Canadian lab worker released from Ebola quarantine (CIDRAP)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Aradigm’s inhaled antibiotic fails late-stage study, shares sink (Reuters)
- Takeda to build $106M vaccine plant for dengue vax push (Fierce Biopharma)
- Rapid lab tests can help reduce antibiotic resistance (STAT)
- Autism not linked to flu or flu shot during pregnancy (The Scientist)
- Older adults are still skipping vaccinations (NY Times)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Texas confirms its first case of local Zika transmission (STAT)
- Study says pigs, llamas susceptible to MERS-CoV infection (CIDRAP)
- From Zika to Ebola: New online tool lets everyone track epidemic outbreaks (ETCIO)
- Japan orders major poultry cull after first bird flu outbreak in nearly two years (Reuters)
- OIE: First high-path avian flu in Tunisia (CIDRAP)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Why is the FBI reaching out to student bioengineers? (Motherboard)
- Biowarfare agents: Toxin testing (Spectroscopy Now)
- Humans are the reason malaria is so deadly (Popular Mechanics)
- Advances in biodosimetry for radiation exposure mass casualty events (PR)
- Glowing crystals can detect, cleanse contaminated drinking water (Phys.org)
- Design of new nano-scale materials for development of sensors (Nature)
- Smartphone multispectral imaging for diagnosis of skin lesions (Optical Society)
SPECIAL INTEREST
- Designated Survivor, bioterrorism, and elections (Tracking Zebra)
- Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative Fellowship 2017 (UPMC CHS)
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
- Lessons learned from reconstructing the 1918 influenza pandemic (JoID)
- Effects of smallpox on British emancipation policy in Revolutionary War (Cambridge)
- Smallpox and the decline of the Khoikhoi population 1652-1780 (Univ of Hawaii)
- Y. pestis genomes reveal long-term persistence of historical plague focus (BioRxiv)
- Historic perspective on measles prevention and applications for Pakistan (JFJMU)
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