News highlights on health security threats and countermeasures curated by Global Biodefense
This week’s selections include biosecurity safeguards for industry, the path to a ‘booster’ shot decision, and staffing the WHO’s new Pandemic Hub.
POLICY + INITIATIVES
The Biden Administration Wants Scientific Advisers. It Just Doesn’t Like What They Have to Say
When it comes to the booster decision, the federal government has committed three cardinal sins. The White House disrupted the process by making boosters seem a fait accompli when they were not. The White House, the FDA, and the CDC focused the discussion on the question of a broad approval of boosters for everyone over the age of 16, when that was unlikely to begin with. And the CDC’s Walensky chose not only to overrule an expert panel, but to insist that she was doing no such thing. By not recognizing the gravity of the action, she likely made it easier for future CDC directors to erode ACIP’s authority. Following these steps wouldn’t just result in better decision-making, it would have made the process more transparent. STAT
California Biosecurity Bill Safeguards Bioeconomy and Public Health
No country, including the U.S., requires companies that sell synthetic DNA to prevent “questionable parties” from acquiring these materials. The U.S. has guidelines for these companies to screen orders and customers, but these are completely voluntary, there is no means of verifying compliance, and they have not been updated in more than 10 years. California’s new Gene Synthesis Security bill (AB 70) could establish a benchmark for legally binding biosecurity measures for the biotech industry. Sacramento Business Journal
A Deterrence by Denial Strategy for Addressing Biological Weapons
“The administration should begin to enshrine deterrence by denial for biological weapons in U.S. strategies and plans, including the ongoing biodefense posture review and forthcoming national defense strategy update. Deterrence must then extend down into the mission statements and directives for key defense programs such as the Chemical Biological Defense Program, along with budget adjustments that reflect the shift to a bolder strategy. Implementing a deterrence by denial posture against biological weapons will not require the creation of significant new programs, but it will require reversing the budget cuts these programs have experienced over recent years.” War on the Rocks
Containment Committee Airs Concerns About Fort Detrick Transparency
The Containment Laboratory Community Advisory Committee raised questions about a May 2018 flooding incident in which it says wastewater from a U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases facility went into Carroll Creek, as well as about an April shooting in which a gunman was killed on the base after a shooting incident in Frederick, Md. Stars & Stripes
Leader of WHO’s New Pandemic Hub: Improve Data Flow to Extinguish Outbreaks
How will the new WHO hub operate? Our expected capacity is 120 researchers, but a good proportion of them won’t be from the WHO. They will visit for intervals, like six months or one year, to look intensively at specific issues. That will give the organization the opportunity to bring in smart people with specific expertise, and it will allow smart people who want to spend some time with the WHO to come into the organization without feeling obliged to move permanently to Berlin or the WHO headquarters in Geneva. This is how we’re attempting to enable the cross-fertilization of ideas that we hope leads to greater insights around infectious disease threats.” Nature
Examining the National Health Security Strategy Through a Local Health Department Lens
A key recommendation includes paying attention to the delivery of critical medical innovations (sometimes described as the last inch) and the role public health has to play in driving demand and community acceptance of innovations like vaccines or other medical countermeasures. NACCHO
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
WHO Advisors Switch 2 Strains for Southern Hemisphere 2022 Flu Season
Northern Hemisphere flu vaccines for the current season—recommended by the group in February—will contain two strains that are different from the Southern Hemisphere’s upcoming vaccine. One is the H3N2 component, an influenza A/Cambodia/e0826360/2020-like virus for both egg and cell-based production systems, and for the influenza B Victoria lineage, an influenza B/ Washington/02/2019-like virus, also for both production systems. CIDRAP, WHO
NIAID Issues New Awards to Fund “Pan-Coronavirus” Vaccines
$36.3 million was granted to three academic institutions (UW-Madison, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Duke University) to conduct research to develop vaccines to protect against multiple types of coronaviruses and viral variants. The awards are intended to fuel vaccine research for a diverse family of coronaviruses, with a primary focus on potential pandemic-causing coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. National Institutes of Health
Covid-19 Vaccination: Evidence of Waning Immunity is Overstated
Despite concerns about the immune escape potential of the delta variant, studies consistently indicate that vaccines provide high levels of protection against symptomatic and severe disease as well as death caused by this variant. The primary objective of covid-19 vaccines is to protect against severe illness rather than infection, and multiple well-designed studies have found sustained vaccine effectiveness against severe covid-19 for most adults. The BMJ
Side Effects from a Third Vaccine Dose Are Similar to Those from the Second, a C.D.C. Report Finds
Americans who received a third dose of a coronavirus vaccine in recent weeks reported side effects at roughly the same rates as they had after their second shots. Reactions at the injection site, like pain or swelling, were reported by 79.4 percent of recipients after a third vaccine dose, compared with 77.6 percent after a second dose. Slightly smaller numbers of people experienced systemic reactions, like a fever or headache: 74.1 percent of people reported those side effects after dose three, compared with 76.5 percent after dose two. The study focused on people who had received a third dose of the same vaccine that they had originally received, either from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna. New York Times
Characterization and Structural Basis of a Lethal Mouse-Adapted SARS-Cov-2
There is an urgent need for animal models to study SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity. Here, researchers generate and characterize a novel mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 strain, MASCp36, that causes severe respiratory symptoms, and mortality. The model exhibits age- and gender-related mortality akin to severe COVID-19. Nature Communications
Deep Learning Helps Predict New Drug Combinations to Fight Covid-19
Since drug synergy often occurs through inhibition of biological targets (like proteins or nucleic acids), the model jointly learns drug-target interaction and drug-drug synergy to mine new combinations. The drug-target predictor models the interaction between a drug and a set of known biological targets that are related to the chosen disease. The target-disease association predictor learns to understand a drug’s antiviral activity, which means determining the virus yield in infected tissue cultures. Together, they can predict the synergy of two drugs. MIT News
BIOSECURITY + BIOPREPAREDNESS
WHO Restarts Investigation of COVID-19 Emergence with New Panel
Dubbed the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens, the new panel is intended to be a permanent commission by the WHO. This group will replace the original team that travelled to Wuhan and will have an expanded membership, including experts in biosecurity, laboratory safety, and animal disease from around the world. The Scientist
Scientific Risk Assessment of Genetic Weapons Systems
Assesses the potential for precision medicine to be diverted to develop a population-specific genetic weapon system, examines relevant state capabilities and motivations to pursue such an effort, and offers policy recommendations to manage the dual-use implications of this emerging biomedical field while still preserving its potential benefit for human welfare. Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Collaborative Biosecurity Laboratory Opens to Pursue Ag Defense Research
The location of the lab, adjacent to other molecular life scientists, biomedical engineers and the Nebraska Center for Virology, provides opportunities for National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska researchers, staff and program leaders to engage with faculty, students and staff throughout Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the university. University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Field Epidemiology Training Programs to Accelerate Public Health Workforce Development and Global Health Security
The CDC’s training model for the Epidemiologic Intelligence Service (EIS) could be shared more extensively to benefit all countries. In this model, physicians and other health professionals received an intensive 3-week course in epidemiology and biostatistics, and then were assigned for two years to public health units at CDC or placed in state health departments. During each assignment, an experienced field epidemiologist mentored the trainee in attending to incoming surveillance data, disease outbreaks, other immediate threats to public health, and issues arising in ongoing public health programs. International Journal of Infectious Diseases
UKHSA Publishes New Recommendations for COVID-19 Infection Prevention and Control
NHS is removing the need for a negative PCR and 3 days self-isolation before selected elective procedures. Selected patients in low-risk groups who are fully vaccinated, asymptomatic, with a negative lateral flow test on the day of their procedure will no longer need to have a negative PCR and isolate for 3 days. Patients who are contacts of a confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 will still need to go through the current PCR pathway. NHS is also re-adopting standard rather than enhanced cleaning procedures. Enhanced cleaning can be discontinued in agreed low risk areas such as planned or scheduled elective care and providers can revert to standard cleaning procedures between patients. GOV.UK, BBC News
SELECT AGENTS + CBRNE THREATS
Ebola Might Linger in Survivors and Could Trigger Outbreaks Years Later, Scientists Warn
Ebola virus may hide in apparently healthy survivors and trigger new disease outbreaks years later, according to a genomic study published in Nature Wednesday. The finding suggests the 2021 outbreak was fomented by dormant virus lurking in a symptom-free survivor from the 2013-2016 outbreak, the researchers wrote. Forbes
Mild Botulism from Illicitly Brewed Alcohol in a Large Prison Outbreak in Mississippi
During a botulism outbreak linked to illicitly brewed alcohol (also known as “hooch” or “pruno”) in a prison, 11 (35%) of 31 inmates that consumed contaminated hooch had mild illnesses including dry mouth (91%), hoarse voice (91%), difficulty swallowing (82%), fatigue (82%), and abdominal pain (82%). Foodborne botulism is likely underdiagnosed and underreported in patients with mild illness. Botulism should be considered on the differential diagnosis for patients with cranial nerve palsies. Frontiers in Public Health
Selection of Filovirus Isolates for Vaccine Development Programs
The selection of an appropriate animal model and virus challenge isolates for nonclinical studies are critical aspects of the development program. Here, researchers have focused on the recommendation of challenge isolates for Sudan ebolavirus and Marburg virus. Based on analyses led by the Filovirus Animal and Nonclinical Group (FANG) and considerations for strain selection under the FDA Guidance for the Animal Rule, they propose prototype virus isolates for use in nonclinical challenge studies. Vaccines
SURVEILLANCE + DETECTION
Risk Assessment for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N6/H5N8) Clade 2.3.4.4 Viruses
Researchers investigated the tropism and innate host responses of 5 recent HPAI A(H5N6/H5N8) avian isolates of clades 2.3.4.4b, e, and h in human airway organoids and primary human alveolar epithelial cells. The results suggest zoonotic potential but low transmissibility of the HPAI A(H5N6/H5N8) avian isolates among humans. These viruses induced low levels of proinflammatory cytokines/chemokines, which are unlikely to contribute to the pathogenesis of severe disease. However, the persistent circulation of clade 2.3.4.4 viruses among avian populations and periodic infection of human hosts enable ongoing evolution of the viruses with the possibility of acquiring better transmissibility, higher pathogenicity, or both, in humans. Emerging Infectious Diseases
Virus Detection Via Programmable Type III-A CRISPR-Cas Systems
Among the currently available virus detection assays, those based on the programmable CRISPR-Cas enzymes have the advantage of rapid reporting and high sensitivity without the requirement of thermocyclers. Here researchers demonstrate the use of the MORIARTY system to detect SARS-CoV-2 that reached 2000 copies/μl sensitivity in amplification-free and 60 copies/μl sensitivity via isothermal amplification within 30 min and diagnosed SARS-CoV-2-infected patients in both settings. Nature Communications
Evaluation of Twitter Data for an Emerging Crisis: An Application to the First Wave of COVID-19 in the UK
The use of Twitter as a data medium for crisis management has been shown to provide key insights and behavioural patterns about a demographic. A variety of tools have been developed to analyse Twitter data during the period surrounding an emerging crisis when mass-testing is not in place. By leveraging “wisdom of the crowds”2 in conjunction with the use of time series analysis, the distribution of total volume of tweets for a given query provides a good foundation to build a prototype early warning system, as well as the ability to identify potential hotspots. Scientific Reports
Trade-Offs Between Individual and Ensemble Forecasts of an Emerging Infectious Disease
To assess the potential for uncertainties about emerging pathogens to affect forecasts of their spread, here researchers evaluated the performance of 16 forecasting models in the context of the 2015-2016 Zika epidemic in Colombia. Each model featured a different combination of assumptions about human mobility, spatiotemporal variation in transmission potential, and the number of virus introductions. Nature Communications