See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including banned words at the CDC, the inadequacies of the biosecurity infrastructure, and a jump in U.S. flu activity.
BIOPREPAREDNESS
- Where would pandemic flu wreak the most havoc? (Smithsonian)
- Pandemic flu would hit an uneven playing field (Global Health Now)
- Defense of animal agriculture bipartisan report (Blue Ribbon Biodefense Panel)
- Pandemic preparedness, global risk, and sovereign science (SAGE)
- U.S. biosecurity infrastructure considered “inadequate” (Pork Business)
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- Why the CDC’s “7 banned words” is worse than you think (Aetiology)
- Report of CDC policy draws outrage (STAT)
- Biodefense Policy Landscape Analysis Tool (PNNL)
- Joint NGO statement to the BWC Meeting of States Parties (The Trench)
- JHSPH CHS delivers NGO statement at 2017 meeting of states parties (CHS)
- President signs defense bill that seeks to protect Detrick lab (FNP)
- Ebola victims sue Sierra Leone government over mismanaged funds (Reuters)
- Veterinarians need loan forgiveness program (The Hill)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Philippines, scientists grapple with Dengvaxia fallout (CIDRAP)
- Adjuvanted influenza vaccines (Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics)
- Sanofi scandal in the Philippines could spread dangerous mistrust of vaccines (STAT)
- Reprogramming bacteria instead of killing them could be answer to AMR (Conversation)
SELECT AGENTS
- The RAPIDD Ebola forecasting challenge (Science Direct)
- Human cutaneous anthrax with massive tissue damage, severe edema (IJoD)
- Forty years later, Ebola survivors are still making antibodies to the lethal virus (Science)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- H5N6 avian flu reassortant confirmed in Dutch outbreak (CIDRAP)
- A possible alternative route for MERS (Nature MidEast)
- US flu activity jumps as new variant H3N2 case confirmed (CIDRAP)
- 10 disease outbreaks from 2017 that everyone should know about (Buzzfeed)
- Virome project aims to outfox pandemics with global virus atlas (GenomeWeb)
RESEARCH & TECH
- The challenge of postoperative infections and a possible solution (Contagion)
- Testing of ruggedized antibodies within a lateral flow immunoassay (DTIC)
- Biodosimetry for medical management of radiological emergencies (PR)
- DARPA seeks ‘smart plants’ to protect soldiers (Defense Systems)
- A little black box for detecting and tracking outbreaks (WHO)
- Combining participatory influenza surveillance with modeling and forecasting (JMIR)
- Evolution-informed forecasting of seasonal influenza A (H3N2) (STM)
- The role of parainfluenza viruses in severe respiratory infections (CBN)
- Improving treatment of monkeypox patients in low-resource settings (Viruses)
- 10 facts on yaws eradication (WHO)
SPECIAL INTEREST
- Read out on the GHSA ministerial meeting in Kampala (Pandora Report)
- The microbes making themselves at home on the space station (The Atlantic)
- Mason grad puts her stamp on postal investigations with biodefense innovation (GMU)
- Biosecurity conference forges international collaboration, meets need (ASU)
- The art of translating science (Scientific American)
