News highlights on health security threats and countermeasures curated by Global Biodefense
This week’s selections include revisions to the Bayh-Dole Act; lessons from UQ’s molecular clamp vaccine setbacks; $1 Billion for ‘Long COVID’ research; and a look at how this pandemic uncovered and increased vulnerabilities to biological warfare.
POLICY + INITIATIVES
Audit Finds Major Gaps in US Bioweapons Detection System
A U.S. program created after the 2003 anthrax attacks to help detect biological weapons provided protection in less than half the states and couldn’t detect many of the known threats, according to a report released last week by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security. Associated Press
Which Are the Best Pandemic Policies? Data Trackers Are Trying to Judge
Thousands of scientists and volunteers have charted the way governments have responded to COVID-19. When many countries applied various control measures simultaneously, we knew very little about the effects of government interventions. When more data became available, we found that curfews, cancellations of small gatherings and closures of schools, shops and restaurants were among the most effective policies. But there is less agreement, when analysing different trackers, on how to rank these measures. Nature
How One Firm Put an ‘Extraordinary Burden’ on the Troubled National Stockpile
The shortage of lifesaving medical equipment last year was a searing example of the government’s failed coronavirus response. As health workers resorted to wearing trash bags, one Maryland company profited by selling anthrax vaccines to the country’s emergency reserve. New York Times
Comments on NIST Proposed Revisions to Bayh-Dole Act
The Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published a request for comments on changes in regulations related to the Bayh-Dole Act governing “Rights to Federally Funded Inventions and Licensing of Government Owned Inventions.” KEI argues the protections are not simply for the licensed products to be “available to the public.” The definition is “available to the public on reasonable terms”. When an agency only requires a product (such as a federally-developed vaccine) to be available on any terms, including at unreasonable prices, the public is denied the protection that the statute seeks to offer. The deadline for comments is on April 5, 2021. Knowledge Ecology International
U.S. Health Agency Will Invest $1 Billion to Investigate ‘Long COVID’
The National Institutes of Health will fund researchers to better understand the biological basis of post-acute sequelae, what makes some people more vulnerable to the condition than others, track people’s recovery, and will host a biospecimen bank. A separate project will record effects of COVID-19 on various organ systems by collecting evidence from autopsies. Nature
U.S. Sanctions and Other Measures Imposed on Russia in Response to Russia’s Use of Chemical Weapons
The State Department, under the U.S. Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, expanded existing sanctions first imposed on Russia after its 2018 chemical weapon attack against Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom, three years ago this week. The Department of Commerce is adding 14 entities to the Entity List based on their proliferation activities in support of Russia’s weapons of mass destruction programs and chemical weapons activities. U.S. Department of State
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
COVID-19 Vaccines: Modes of Immune Activation and Future Challenges
The new vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 are novel in terms of specificity, their wide dissemination across the global population and the inclusion of newly licensed mRNA platforms. Researchers discuss here how the approved vaccines trigger innate immunity to promote durable immunological memory and consider the future implications of protecting populations with these vaccines. Nature Reviews Immunology
Does the Vaccine Stop Transmission?
Why would scientists make vaccines that protect against only a disease rather than the virus that causes it? They don’t set out to do that, but it is the result, in part, of the exigencies of clinical trials. Practically, clinical trials can be completed more quickly if the endpoint of the trial — the main scientific question the trial is investigating — is something that can be easily observed. New York Times
Development of Spike Receptor-Binding Domain Nanoparticles as a Vaccine Candidate against SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Ferrets
This study reports the development of a receptor-binding domain protein-based vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 using self-assembling Helicobacter pylori-bullfrog ferritin nanoparticles as an antigen delivery system. Vaccinated ferrets demonstrated efficient protection from SARS-CoV-2 challenge. mBio
J&J’s Single-Dose COVID Vaccine Raises Hopes for Faster Rollout
A single-dose vaccine would be simpler to roll out than are those that require booster shots, particularly for hard-to-reach communities, such as people who are not in stable housing, or those living in remote areas. On 24 February, CanSino Biologics in Tianjin, China, announced that its own single-dose vaccine — another adenovirus-based vaccine — is 90% effective at preventing severe disease. Nature
Molecular Clamp Vaccines: Lessons From a Setback
While development of The University of Queensland’s first iteration of a COVID-19 vaccine will not progress, the process matured their rapid-response ‘molecular clamp’ vaccine technology. Nature
For Early Testing of Convalescent Plasma, We Were ‘Building The Plane While We Were Flying It’
During the Covid-19 pandemic, clinicians have seen many remarkable things. Among them is how a 19th-century therapy called convalescent plasma came to be used in more than 500,000 hospitalized Covid-19 patients the United States and elsewhere. STAT
BIOSECURITY + BIOPREPAREDNESS
The COVID-19 Response Has Uncovered and Increased Our Vulnerability to Biological Warfare
Previous questions regarding how the USA would respond to a large biological outbreak (or biological weapon) have now been answered for potential adversaries across the world. The ambiguity of both our capabilities and weaknesses, which provided deterrence to adversarial employment of biological weapons before the pandemic, no longer exists. Military Medicine
Some Scientists Question W.H.O. Inquiry Into the Coronavirus Pandemic’s Origins
While many scientists involved in researching the origins of the virus continue to assert that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic almost certainly began in a leap from bats to an intermediate animal to humans, other theories persist and have gained new visibility with the W.H.O.-led team of experts’ visit to China. Officials with the W.H.O. have said in recent interviews that it was “extremely unlikely” but not impossible that the spread of the virus was linked to some lab accident. The New York Times
Factors Influencing Health Care Workers’ Willingness to Respond to Duty during Infectious Disease Outbreaks and Bioterrorist Events
Infectious disease emergencies are increasingly becoming part of the health care delivery landscape, having implications to not only individuals and the public, but also on those expected to respond to these emergencies. The purpose of this review was to identify factors affecting HCW willingness to respond to duty during infectious disease outbreaks and/or bioterrorist events. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine
Improving Pandemic Preparedness Through Better, Faster Influenza Vaccines
Despite considerable gains in pandemic vaccine preparedness since 2009, old and new challenges threaten the pandemic influenza response capabilities of the U.S. Government: insufficient U.S.-based vaccine production, two-dose vaccination regimen, logistically complex adjuvanted formulation, and sustained surge manufacturing capacity despite no commercial market for pandemic vaccines. Expert Review of Vaccines
Biosecurity Risks Associated with Vaccine Platform Technologies
To reduce the risk of anthropogenic pandemics, structures for the governance of biotechnology and life science research with dual-use potential need to be reworked. Scientists outside of the pathogen research community, for instance those who work on viral vectors or oncolytic viruses, need to become more aware of the dual-use risks associated with their research. Vaccine
SELECT AGENTS + CBRNE THREATS
Characterization of Tebipenem Against Biothreat Pathogens
This study evaluated the in vitro activity and in vivo efficacy of tebipenem against biothreat pathogens. Tebipenem was active in vitro against 30-strain diversity sets of B. anthracis, Y. pestis, B. mallei, and B. pseudomallei. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Comparative Virulence of Three Different Strains of Burkholderia Pseudomallei In an Aerosol Non-Human Primate Model
A dysregulated immune response leading to excessive IL-1β and IL-6 at terminal end points and necrosis are key drivers of acute melioidosis. Development of drugs targeting these host response processes will be necessary to counter B. pseudomallei and mitigate the pathological consequences of melioidosis. This non-human primate model will facilitate the screening of vaccines and novel therapeutics. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
How Assad’s Worst Chemical Weapon Attack Changed History
Much has been written about the use of chemical weapons during the war in Syria, but the accounts are partial. The virtue of Warrick’s book is that it provides a panoramic reconstruction of the chemical attack and its aftermath. We see it from the eyes of survivors, doctors, activists, disarmament experts, diplomats, and policymakers. The book cuts from scenes on the ground in Eastern Ghouta, to the U.N. inspectors in Damascus, to National Security Council meetings in the White House, telling the story with urgency and clarity. Newsline
How the Pentagon Got Inside ISIS’ Chemical Weapons Operation—and Ended It
The oily liquid in the mortar shells was sulfur mustard, no doubt, but it differed from the kinds of military-grade blister agents the OPCW’s experts were familiar with. Its formula was relatively simple, even crude. It lacked enhancers and stabilizers that military weaponeers typically use, which meant that it tended to break down more quickly when exposed to the environment. It was neither Syrian nor Iraqi, judging from its chemical composition, yet it clearly had been made by someone with access to modern laboratory equipment, a working knowledge of toxic weapons, and a grasp of basic chemistry. Politico
Kremlin Dismisses U.S. Call to Destroy Chemical Weapons, Says It Has None
The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed as baseless and illogical U.S. calls for Russia to destroy its chemical weapons, saying that Moscow had destroyed them long ago in line with the Chemical Weapons Convention. Reuters
SURVEILLANCE + DETECTION
Want to Track Pandemic Variants Faster? Fix the Bioinformatics Bottleneck
Much of the analysis of these genome sequences is not done by public-health bodies. It rests on the initiative of academic researchers, many of them early in their careers, who cobble together software and analytical tools in their own time to find essential answers. Nextstrain, an open-source project involving groups from Switzerland and the United States, is helping to coordinate these efforts. Nature
Reemergence of Human Monkeypox and Declining Population Immunity
A monkeypox outbreak in Nigeria during 2017–2020 provides an illustrative case study for emerging zoonoses. By 2016, only 10.1% of the total population in Nigeria was vaccinated against smallpox; the serologic immunity level was 25.7% among vaccinated persons and 2.6% in the overall population. The substantial resurgence of monkeypox in Nigeria in 2017 appears to have been driven by a combination of population growth, accumulation of unvaccinated cohorts, and decline in smallpox vaccine immunity. Emerging Infectious Diseases
Point-Of-Care Bulk Testing for SARS-CoV-2 by Combining Hybridization Capture with Improved Colorimetric LAMP
Here researchers present Cap-iLAMP (capture and improved loop-mediated isothermal amplification) which combines a hybridization capture-based RNA extraction of gargle lavage samples with an improved colorimetric RT-LAMP assay and smartphone-based color scoring. Nature Communications
Multitude of Coronavirus Variants Found in the US — But the Threat is Unclear
In the absence of clear-cut epidemiological or medical data, scientists can gauge some of a variant’s potential threat by the mutations it carries. Beefed-up US sequencing efforts are turning up variants with new or rarely seen mutations that are harder to make sense of. Nature
FDA Issues Authorization for Quidel QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test
The QuickVue At-Home COVID-19 Test is authorized for prescription home use with self-collected anterior nasal (nares) swabs from individuals ages 14 and older or individuals ages 8 and older with swabs collected by an adult. FDA
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
How Bubonic Plague Reshaped the Streets of Mumbai
“[The Trust] literally broke down homes to create these avenues of ventilation,” she says. “It widened roads allowing the sea air from the west to be pulled into the densest, [most] congested quarters of the native town.” The Trust also implemented anti-epidemic building regulations, such as the “63.5 degree light angle rule,” which determined the distance between a building and its boundary wall to allow improved light and ventilation. Many of the iconic Art Deco-style buildings that adorn present-day Mumbai’s streets were built in accordance with these plague regulations. NPR