See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including pre-positioning emergency medical countermeasures, predictive models for Zika virus, and how Madagascar took control of its plague outbreak.
- Mobile stand-off surveillance against biowarfare and bioterrorism agents (SiA)
- Ebola drill prepares hospital for infectious patients (Seattle Times)
- Pre-positioning pharmaceuticals for anthrax post-exposure prophylaxis (HealthSec)
- U.S. remains unprepared for agricultural disease outbreaks (Emer Mgmt)
- Risk analysis tools for differentiating unnatural from natural epidemics (AMSUS)
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- Army to provide benefits for thousands of veterans who were test subjects (NPR)
- Next Generation Global Health Security Network reflections (Pandora Report)
- The next HHS secretary must redefine ‘affordable’ health care (STAT)
- Russia vetoes U.N. effort investigating Syrian chemical weapons attacks (FP)
- Rethinking the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention? (HealthSec)
- Letter opposing provisions in the tax cuts and jobs act (ASM)
- Congress pushes for predictive models for Zika and other outbreaks (Contagion)
- Progress and opportunities for strengthening global health security (CDC EID)
- As eradication of polio nears, a new crisis for global health looms (STAT)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Look to pharmacists to fight antibiotic resistance, too (Morning Consult)
- Swabbing our way to a solution for antibiotic resistance (Contagion)
- New avian flu outbreaks noted as USDA OK’s DNA poultry vaccine (CIDRAP)
- Pentagon wants to approve drugs for the battlefield. Why that’s dangerous (STAT)
- FD.A. speeds review of gene therapies, vowing to target rogue clinics (NY Times)
- Annual influenza vaccination does not prevent natural immunity (EurekAlert)
SELECT AGENTS
- Merck will miss long-promised target for filing Ebola vaccine license (STAT)
- Multiplex Endopep-MS assay for detection of botulinum toxins A, B and E (Nature)
- Ebola virus disease: an update on post-exposure prophylaxis (The Lancet)
- Poxviruses: Slipping and sliding through transcription and translation (PLOS)
- Evaluation of gamma-radiation inactivation of Bacillus anthracis (Springer)
- Direct central nervous system effects of botulinum neurotoxin (PubMed)
- Reports detail Ebola post-exposure guidance, fatality risk (CIDRAP)
- Biomarkers that indicate likelihood of survival in Ebola patients identified (Scicasts)
- Diagnosis of Acute Q Fever C. burnetii RT-PCR detection (EBSCO)
- Foodborne botulism case report: I only had nacho cheese (Cureus)
- Proteomic signatures differentiating B. anthracis Sterne sporulation on soil (RSC)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Bird flu is spreading in Asia, experts (quietly) warn (NY Times)
- Legionella in Disney: Growing difficulties of Legionnaires’ disease prevention (Contagion)
- S. Korea confirms H5N6 bird flu at duck farm, raises bird flu alert level (Reuters)
- How Madagascar took control of its bubonic plague outbreak (NPR)
- Rare strain of gonorrhea found in Canada, compounding fears of drug resistance (STAT)
- Pathogen genomic surveillance of emerging viral agents in China (SciEngine)
- Monkeypox on the rise: How worried should we be? (NPR)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Feasibility of viral respiratory disease surveillance in combat theater (NCBI)
- Webcast of ISSR Session on CRISPR/Cas and Human Germline Gene Editing (NatAcad)
- Stanford trained AI to diagnose pneumonia better than a radiologist in two months (Quartz)
- Model sheds new light on pathogen cooperation (Phys.org)
SPECIAL INTEREST
- Remembering the 1918 influenza pandemic (PubMed.gov)
- Bacterial art starts a debate on money and international borders (Labiotech)
