See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including funding for biopreparedness (or not), bivalent anthrax-plague vaccine, and a look at how big data is transforming epidemics.
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- Cuts to US bioterror funds risk peril in event of attack (The Hill)
- Francis Collins given official nod to continue as NIH director (CIDRAP)
- After 15 years, deadly disease research lab nears approval in Boston (NEIDL)
- Seventieth World Health Assembly update (WHO)
- Cutting the NIH budget is bad for health and business (STAT)
- Hearing notes: U.S. public health response to the Zika virus (Bifurcated Needle)
- New science data-sharing rules are two scoops of disappointment (STAT)
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- Is Gotham ready for bioterror? (City Journal)
- Five ways big data is transforming epidemics (Information Week)
- Grant enables New York Medical College to combat bioterrorism (The Examiner)
- Congress, learn from Zika and Ebola — Update US emergency fund (The Hill)
- Mass dispensing exercise held to prepare for bioterrorism attack (LymeLine)
- Center for bioterrorism and disaster response opens in Valhalla (Lohud)
- UNMC’s new center to research biodefense, Ebola (KMTV)
SELECT AGENTS
- Scientists find simple copper complex shuts down botulinum neurotoxin poisoning (MNT)
- Bivalent anthrax-plague vaccine (Frontiers in Immunology)
- Hunting for Ebola and the outbreak in the DRC (Pandora Report)
- Duration of neutralizing antibody persisting after childhood smallpox vaccination (NCBI)
- VCIP135 dictates the duration of botulinum neurotoxin A intoxication (PNAS)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Clinical trials begin for two chikungunya vaccines (CIDRAP)
- When do we stop vaccinating against an infectious disease? (The Conversation)
- Study identifies an enzyme inhibitor to treat Gulf War illness symptoms (MNT)
- Botched measles vaccination campaign left 15 children dead in South Sudan (STAT)
- Polio outbreak in Syria poses vaccination dilemma for WHO (Reuters)
- WHO revises essential drug list to battle antibiotic resistance (CIDRAP)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- New Mexico: Plague case in Santa Fe County man (NMHealth.org)
- South Korea to raise bird flu alert to maximum (Reuters)
- Polio outbreak is reported in Syria, WHO says (STAT News)
- Pig-related infections spread in Denmark, may be in U.S. too (The Fern)
- Human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus – China (WHO)
- Whooping cough outbreak hits southern Alberta (CBC News)
- Saudi Arabia probing several hospital MERS clusters in Riyadh (CIDRAP)
- Yemen cholera cases pass the 100,000 mark: WHO (Reuters)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Omnibus solicitation for Small Business Technology Transfer grants (NIH)
- Fear of the flu: Assumptions about media effects in the 2009 pandemic (SAGE)
- Pandemic risk assessment of MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia (ScienceDirect)
SPECIAL INTEREST
- Spotlight on bioterrorism expert FBI Supervisory Special Agent Edward You (PR)
- More than a name change: AIDS.gov becomes HIV.gov (HHS)
- FBI raids offices of lab that pays doctors to promote genetic tests (STAT)
- Judge trashes bioterrorism charge in bite case (Wisconsin Gazette)
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