See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including Lassa virus structure insights, mobile diagnostics, and the impact of climate change on the spread of diseases.
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- DoD Chemical and Biological Defense 2017 Annual Report to Congress (FAS)
- The White House budget proposal and federal labs (Government Matters)
- Another deadly consequence of climate change: Spread of dangerous diseases (WP)
- Why ditching Paris climate deal could have significant health consequences (Fortune)
- Fort Detrick lab slated to close handles thousands of pieces of evidence for FBI (FNP)
SELECT AGENTS
- Hunting for Ebola among the bats of the Congo (Science)
- Research team unravels elusive structure of Lassa virus (Tulane Univ)
- Details of Lassa virus structure could inform development of vaccines, therapies (NIH)
- Vet on call: Easiest way to curb anthrax (Daily Nation)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Superantibiotic is 25,000 times more potent than its predecessor (Science)
- WHO: International vaccine deployment not recommended in DRC (CIDRAP)
- New vaccine strategy identified for explosive emerging diseases (Science Daily)
- Largest Chinese animal vaccine company to open labs in Kansas (KSNT)
- When it comes to vaccines, rich parents get away with child neglect (WaPo)
- Botched vaccine campaign kills 15 in South Sudan (GHN)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- A new strain of bird flu was transmitted human-to-human (UN)
- Classical Swine Fever virus circulating in China (Pork Network)
- Bird flu outbreak in Shaanxi province kills 20,000 chickens (Reuters)
- DRC reports its first high-path H5 avian flu outbreaks (CIDRAP)
- WHO says India reports cases of Zika virus (Reuters)
- Russia: Brucella outbreak reported in Voronezh region (Outbreak News)
- Novel influenza A viruses and pandemic threats (The Lancet)
- Could pigs be involved in Congo’s new Ebola outbreak? (Science)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Mobile lab: Testing for infectious diseases out of a suitcase (SS)
- Wolbachia trial shows promise for modified mosquitoes (CIDRAP)
- NIH scientists find real-time imaging in mice a promising influenza study tool (NIH)