See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including nonpharmaceutical interventions for containing epidemics, a spike in outbreaks of mumps, and antibacterial innovations as part of national security.
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- We need to invest in public health to keep America great (STAT)
- Renew our leadership’s commitment to protecting Americans from outbreaks (The Hill)
- Next generation of antibacterial innovation to enhance national security (ASPR)
- NIH funding generates large numbers of private-sector patents (MIT News)
- Fostering a culture of biosafety, biosecurity, and responsible conduct in the life sciences (PR)
- ASM urges strong support for research and public health federal budget (ASM)
- A novel bipartisan approach to health care reform (Forbes)
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- Developing training for human health science students to face biological incidents (RG)
- John Bartlett’s take on critical infectious disease topics (Medscape)
- Irish-led pandemic research shows we’re at greatest ever risk of outbreak (Silicon Republic)
SELECT AGENTS
- Patent: chemical inactivation of Bacillus anthracis spores in soil (Google)
- The trick to saving chimps from Ebola (The Star)
- Elyria man pleads guilty in Central Ohio anthrax hoax (The Chronicle)
- Medic suspended for ‘dishonesty’ over Ebola temperature (BBC)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- CARB-X powering antibacterial innovation to enhance national security (ASPR)
- Freezing, shortages among global vaccine challenges (CIDRAP)
- Mumps outbreaks are spiking, raising questions about vaccine effectiveness (STAT)
- Screening out irrelevant cell-based models of disease (Univ of Edinburgh)
- Rapid ‘bacterial fingerprinting’ might cut antibiotic overuse (CIDRAP)
- NIAID begins vaccinations in a mid-stage trial for Zika (Reuters)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Meningitis outbreak kills at least 140 in Nigeria (BBC)
- Lassa fever outbreak in West Africa (Pandora Report)
- AST for new antibiotics: the clinical laboratorian’s dilemma (AST)
- Most dengue infections transmitted in and around home (JHSPH)
- China reports 17 H7N9 cases as fast disease progression noted (CIDRAP)
- Measles outbreak across Europe (BBC)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Influenza attack: Raman to reveal hijack (Spectroscopy Now)
- Google invests in Oxford spinout’s biotech ‘superglue’ for vaccines (Labiotech)
- Living ‘flying syringes’ could detect emerging infectious diseases (Science Daily)
- Alphabet investment arm backs SpyBiotech’s quest for next-gen vaccines (VB)
- Comparing nonpharmaceutical interventions for containing emerging epidemics (PNAS)
- NAMRU-SA researchers developing field portable sterilizer (U.S. Navy)
- Mortality surveillance for infectious diseases in the U.S. DoD 1998-2013 (PubMed)
- Accuracy of climate-based forecasts of pathogen spread (RSOS)
SPECIAL INTEREST + HISTORICAL
- Base X: The Isle of Anthrax (Discover)
- These rats can detect tuberculosis with their noses (Vocativ)
- Variola minor in coalfield areas of England and Wales, 1921–34 (ScienceDirect)
- How Mall of America could become ‘as toxic and uninhabitable as Chernobyl’ (MPR)
- ‘Inferno’ brings insight and humanity to Ebola outbreak (Seattle Times)
