See what we’re reading this week at Global Biodefense on topics including horsepox virus synthesis, the government budget shutdown, and supply shortages as hospitals contend with flu season.
POLICY, PRACTICES & POLITICS
- Senate votes overwhelmingly to end government shutdown (NY Times)
- HHS contingency staffing plan for operations during shut down (HHS)
- CDC’s flu tracking program to continue if U.S. government shuts down (Reuters)
- What a U.S. government shutdown would mean for science (SciAm)
- Flu response will be maintained during shutdown, officials say (STAT)
- Delays in disease outbreak responses: lessons from H1N1, Ebola, and Zika (AJPH)
- Senate committee advances Azar nomination as health secretary (Reuters)
- Fauci: NIH in a ‘scramble’ to prepare for any government shutdown (STAT)
SELECT AGENTS
- Horsepox research accentuates urgency for global action to reduce risks (NTI)
- Synthesis of horsepox virus and the failure of dual-use research oversight (Pandora Report)
- Horsepox virus: implications and recommendations for preventing the reemergence of smallpox (Health Security)
- Horsepox synthesis: new approaches needed for oversight and publication review (BN)
- Construction of horsepox virus vaccine from synthesized DNA fragments (PLOS)
- Modified vaccinia ankara expressing Ebola virus like particles protects NHP (SciRpts)
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
- Scientists move closer to a universal flu vaccine (SciAm)
- Persian shallot ‘could help fight TB antibiotic resistance’ (BBC)
- We need a universal flu vaccine before the next pandemic strikes (SciAm)
- FDA approvals hit a 20-year high in 2017 (C&EN)
- Pakistan polio: Mother and daughter killed giving vaccinations (BBC)
OUTBREAK NEWS & THREAT SURVEILLANCE
- Flu hospitalizations climb as US season hits new heights (CIDRAP)
- 30 children now dead from flu, CDC says (USA Today)
- Letter sent to police barracks in Carlisle, Pa. sickens 2 troopers, staffer (Post-Gazette)
- Parasite on the playground: roundworm eggs ingested by children (NY Times)
- UK supermarket chickens show record levels of resistant superbugs (Guardian)
- Travelers at O’Hare airport exposed to 2 measles cases in 2 days (Time)
RESEARCH & TECH
- Study reveals more H1N1 deaths in those exposed to ’57 pandemic (CIDRAP)
- New analysis strengthens link between EV-D68, poliolike complications (CIDRAP)
- Study confirms flu spreads by aerosols, not just coughs, sneezes (CIDRAP)
- A global atlas of the dominant bacteria found in soil (Science)
SPECIAL INTEREST
- Mysterious epidemic that almost wiped out Mexico finally identified (Science Alert)
- Black Death spread by humans, vindicating rats (CNN)
- Classic explanation for the Black Death plague is wrong, scientists say (WP)
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