See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including high disability rate in Ebola survivors, flu-predicting wearables, and preparing for cyberattacks during a public health crisis.
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- Building airborne isolation units during emergent times (Contagion Live)
- We’re not prepared for the next public health emergency (The Hill)
- Chemical-biological defense S&T for homeland security (NDIA)
- How to prepare for cyberattacks that strike during a public health crisis (HITN)
- Health Care Coalition Influenza Pandemic Checklist (ASPR TRACIE)
- Health Care Coalition Preparedness Plan (ASPR TRACIE)
- Alabama sets up new network for highly infectious diseases (AL.com)
- IAEA brings together experts from Africa to increase biopreparedness (IAEA)
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- Divergent policy responses to increasing vaccine skepticism in Europe (Lancet)
- One Health: Addressing zoonotic public health threats (WHO)
- Biosecurity and synthetic biology: it is time to get serious (PLOS)
- Breaking the chain of zoonoses through biosecurity in livestock (Science Direct)
SELECT AGENTS
- Study finds high disability rate in Ebola survivors (CIDRAP)
- DNA detectives crack the case on biothreat look-alikes (Phys.org)
- Crooks dig up Sierra Leone’s ‘Ebola cemetery’ (Daily Beast)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Should you finish the course of antibiotics? Yes – until further notice (CDDEP)
- Two-dose cholera vaccination less effective for younger children (Healio)
- Rural-urban gap in some vaccination rates leaves health officials puzzled (STAT)
- Viruslike nanoparticles kill drug-resistant bacteria (C&EN)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- India swine flu death toll rises above 1,000 this year (BBC)
- Hunting a killer: Sex, drugs and the return of syphilis (NY Times)
- Philippines deploys troops to a 2nd province to fight bird flu (Reuters)
- Fatal pneumonic tularemia associated with dog exposure in Arizona (CDC MMWR)
- Local transmission of chikungunya has been confirmed in southern France (WHO)
- Zika pandemic online trends, incidence and health risk communication (BMJ)
- France reports local chikungunya cluster (CIDRAP)
RESEARCH + TECH
- New wearable predicts if you’re getting flu (Digital Journal)
- Survival of soil organisms is a wake-up call for biosecurity (Science Daily)
- NASA team provides free satellite public health data to researchers (Science Blogs)
- Low-pathogenic avian influenza virus enhanced by ubiquitin-specific protease 18 (NCBI)
- Risk of Zika-related microcephaly: stable or variable? (The Lancet)
- Cyborg bacteria turns bacteria into useful compounds (Chem.info)
SPECIAL INTEREST
- GMU Biodefense Graduate Programs & Information Sessions (Pandora Report)
- Five myths about gene editing (Washington Post)
- An interview with Robert Kennedy Jr. on vaccines (STAT)
- Antibodies are not magic bullets – more like sticky drunkards (The Conversation)
- Vaccination and immunization: can they be taught to children? (Science Direct)
- Speaking with: John Gerrard on preventing infectious diseases (The Conversation)
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
- This genetic defect could be why Typhoid Mary never got typhoid fever (Invisiverse)
- Bhutan:The story of how a small mountain kingdom eliminated measles (WHO)
- A killer nailed: Reconstruction of Maldives’ triumph over measles (WHO)
- Beaugency lymph in the evolutionary path of ancient smallpox vaccines (SD)