See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including the NIH smallpox panel report, closing in on a universal flu vaccine, and the threat of synthetic bioweapons.
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- House approves amendment that could put brakes on NBACC closing (FNP)
- Panel’s smallpox sample probe yields policy recommendations, questions (CIDRAP)
- Md. Dems resist Trump administration plan to close chemical, biological labs (BSun)
- Why the world should fear North Korea’s biological weapons (National Interest)
- Congress, don’t roll back drug contamination protections (The Hill)
- N Korea may have one of world’s largest bio and chem weapon stockpiles (SOFPREP)
- Smallpox kerfuffle reveals biosecurity problems (The Scientist)
- Biosecurity stakeholders offer recommendations for biodefense strategy (CHS)
- One man’s plan to make sure gene editing doesn’t go haywire (The Atlantic)
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- Spillover beasts: Which animals pose the biggest viral risk? (NPR)
- The Pentagon ponders the threat of synthetic bioweapons (Wired)
- Four great ways for local public health to increase national health security (PHE.gov)
- EMS combatting infectious disease threats with knowledge and best practices (ASPR)
- We must do more to protect our farms from terror threats (Des Moines Register)
- Trump appoints a key bioterrorism position but still leaves dozens open (Pandora Rpt)
SELECT AGENTS
- The plague is back, this time in New Mexico (NPR)
- Botulism in Italy, 1986 to 2015 (Eurosurveillance)
- Metal ions effectively ablate the action of botulinum neurotoxin A (JACKS)
- How an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo was contained (Slate)
- Africa’s missing Ebola outbreaks (The Conversation)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- This new drug could help the U.S. survive a nuclear meltdown (MarketWatch)
- Sanofi to buy vaccines biotech group Protein Sciences (Reuters)
- Emergent BioSolutions buys smallpox vaccine assets from Sanofi in 125M deal (Biospace)
- Closing in on a universal flu vaccine (Horizon EU)
- Gonorrhea is excellent at resisting antibiotics (NPR)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Measles ‘tragedy’ kills 35 across Europe (BBC)
- How to stop the world’s worst Cholera outbreak (NPR)
- CCHF in Spain: Geographic dynamics, nosocomial spread (Clinicians’ Biosecurity)
- How did Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever pop up in Spain? (NPR)
RESEARCH + TECH
- Cholera hitches a ride on the backs of soft-shell turtles (NPR)
- Consequence of prioritizing pathogens for global antibiotic research (The Lancet)
- Flipping the switch on controlling disease-carrying insects (Biomedical Beat)
- Zika enhancement: A reality check (The Lancet)
SPECIAL INTEREST
- A short history of vaccine objection, vaccine cults and conspiracy theories (Conversation)
- The kombucha craze steps into art and the science of the microbiome (Labiotech)
- Laboratory twinning builds strong lab systems and relationships (APHL)
- The Microbial Anthropocene (Contagions Blog)
- Pentagon secretly tested chemical weapons on US troops. Vets demand to know the cost (McClatchy)
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