News highlights on health security threats and countermeasures curated by Global Biodefense
This week’s selections include disinformation warfare and undermining of WMD conventions; an impasse over pandemic funding in the U.S.; the challenges of monitoring SARS-CoV-2 in wildlife; and assessing performance of Ebola field diagnostic tests.
POLICY + GOVERNMENT
In Impasse Over New Covid Relief Aid, Neither Side Is Willing to Bend
Prospects looked bleak on Tuesday for congressional approval of billions of dollars in new emergency aid to fight Covid-19, and White House officials said they had already scaled back plans to purchase treatments and reimburse doctors who care for uninsured Covid patients because pandemic relief money has run out. The administration wants to place new orders for monoclonal antibody treatments — including Evusheld, a drug authorized to protect high-risk Americans from Covid-19 — by the end of March, but would not be able to do so without additional funding. New York Times
Email: Government Scientists Prep to Slash Covid Research in Funding Gap
An internal HHS email warned that top officials assumed there would be no new coronavirus funding in the 2023 fiscal year and that “agencies should be prepared to use base funding to continue any COVID activities” in the next year, writing “no new activities should be funded at this time. NIH staff overseeing dozens of trials for coronavirus treatments, vaccines and variant evolution are discussing how to limit or wind down certain trials, estimating that they are more than $1 billion short on funding to continue all their research, one person familiar with the discussions said. Politico
Russian Nuclear and Biological Disinformation Undermines Treaties on Weapons of Mass Destruction
A long study published in October 2021 argued that the Russian government, through an unprecedented and extraordinary biological weapons disinformation campaign displayed an open disdain and disregard for the Biological Weapon Convention, an international treaty with 183 member states. In March 2022, the lies regarding biological laboratories in Ukraine are deliberate and knowing. False allegations undermine the authority and legitimacy of international treaties such as the Biological Weapons Convention. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Surge of Omicron Infections Prompts Lockdowns in China
China is grappling with its worst spate of Covid-19 infections since the coronavirus first emerged more than two years ago in central China. Sustained outbreaks have erupted in two-thirds of the country’s provinces, prompting two of the country’s largest cities, Shenzhen and Shanghai, to impose stringent restrictions. Several of China’s largest factory cities have ordered a lockdown, halting production of Toyota cars and Apple iPhones. Theaters, cinemas and many restaurants have closed in Shanghai. The northeastern province of Jilin on Monday banned its 24 million residents from leaving the province or traveling between cities. New York Times
Final FY22 Science Budgets Fall Short of Aspirations
All science agencies will receive budget increases through the final appropriations agreement for fiscal year 2022, though they are generally below the ambitious amounts initially proposed and less than the current elevated rate of inflation. Some supplementary funding proposals remain pending. American Institute of Physics
Congress Rejects Biden’s Proposed Cut to Biosafety Program
The defense section of the federal spending package allocates $229 million for the Biological Threat Reduction Program in fiscal 2022, just above the current $225 million level of spending — instead of the 45 percent cut the Biden administration had proposed. The program helps some 30 countries prevent, detect and respond to outbreaks of disease or use of biological weapons. In January 2020, a lab in Thailand that received money from the Defense Department program was the first to find that the coronavirus had migrated outside China. Roll Call
Europe Launches Pandemic Preparedness Research Consortium
The Integrated Services for Infectious Disease Outbreak Research (ISIDORe), a 21M€ EU-funded project, will contribute to Europe’s readiness to any epidemic-prone pathogen by providing free access to cutting-edge resources and services to scientific user communities for supporting their research projects. Calls for proposals will be issued in early 2022. ISIDORe
Hong Kong Rules Out Tightening COVID Curbs for Now as Death Toll Soars
Health authorities reported 26,908 new infections on Monday with 249 deaths. Gatherings of more than two people are banned, most venues are shut – including schools – and masks are compulsory everywhere. Hong Kong has reported more than 700,000 COVID-19 infections and about 4,200 deaths, most of them in the past three weeks. But deaths have spiked, particularly amongst its mostly unvaccinated elderly. Reuters
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
Moderna Plots Vaccines Against 15 Pathogens with Future Pandemic Potential
Moderna said on Monday it plans to develop and begin testing vaccines targeting 15 of the world’s most worrisome pathogens by 2025 and will permanently wave its COVID-19 vaccine patents for shots intended for certain low- and middle-income countries. Reuters
PROTECT Cohort: Effectiveness of 2-Dose BNT162b2 (Pfizer BioNTech) mRNA Vaccine Among Children Aged 5–11 Years and Adolescents Aged 12–15 Years
Children and adolescents aged 5–15 years were tested for SARS-CoV-2 weekly, irrespective of symptoms, during July 2021–February 2022. Approximately one half of Omicron infections in unvaccinated children and adolescents were asymptomatic. Two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine reduced the risk of Omicron infection by 31% among children aged 5–11 years and by 59% among persons aged 12–15 years. MMWR
NIH Funds Preclincal Testing of Proposed Anti-COVID Therapy Patented by UChicago Researcher
University of Chicago researcher Raphael Lee, MD, ScD, the Paul and Allene Russell Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Surgery and Medicine, has patented the methods and use of amphiphilic multi-block copolymers to block viral infections, such as COVID-19. The amphiphilic nature of the copolymers makes them flexible in water, “like spaghetti noodles in hot water,” said Lee, but they adhere to cell surfaces through interactions with exposed hydrophobic parts of proteins or membranes. University of Chicago
Recombinant VSV-Vectored Vaccine Rapidly Protects Nonhuman Primates Against Lethal Nipah Virus Disease
There are currently no Nipah virus vaccines licensed for human use. While several preventive vaccines have shown promise in protecting animals against lethal NiV disease, most studies have assessed protection 1 month after vaccination. Results in this study show completely protected monkeys vaccinated 7 days prior to NiV exposure and 67% of animals vaccinated 3 days before NiV challenge. PNAS
Rapid Expansion and Extinction of Antibiotic Resistance Mutations During Treatment of Acute Bacterial Respiratory Infections
While antibiotic cycling has been proposed as a strategy to limit the selective advantage of resistance mutations based on mathematical modeling and experimental evolution studies, to date, there are limited data on its clinical efficacy. To inform patient-specific antibiotic cycling strategies, molecular diagnostics that deeply and accurately monitor pathogen diversity throughout infection, particularly at the start of infection, are needed. To monitor known hotspots of mutated genes, here researchers propose resistance-targeted deep amplicon sequencing (RETRA-Seq), using primers that are designed to be suitable across multiple strains, as a highly sensitive method to monitor numerous loci across pathogen genomes. Nature Communications
Development of Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Medical Countermeasures to Treat Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers Caused by Natural or Weaponized Virus Infections
The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) began development of a broad-spectrum antiviral countermeasure against deliberate use of high-consequence viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) in 2016. The effort featured comprehensive preclinical research, including laboratory testing and rapid advancement of lead molecules into nonhuman primate (NHP) models of Ebola virus disease (EVD). Remdesivir (GS-5734, Veklury, Gilead Sciences) was the first small molecule therapeutic to successfully emerge from this effort. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Resistance Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant after Sotrovimab Use
Sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody available under EUA for the treatment of patients who are at risk for progression of Covid-19 to severe disease, is thought to neutralize all sarbecoviruses by binding to a highly conserved epitope within the receptor-binding domain. However, the use of SARS-CoV-2–specific monoclonal antibodies to target a single viral epitope warrants caution because of the risk of rapid development of mutations that confer resistance after exposure to these antibodies. These findings underscore the importance of stewardship of monoclonal antibodies, particularly because sotrovimab is one of the few with retained activity against the B.1.1.529 (omicron) variant. New England Journal of Medicine
BIOSECURITY + BIOPREPAREDNESS
Joint Statement on Prioritization of Monitoring SARS-Cov-2 Infection in Wildlife and Preventing the Formation of Animal Reservoirs
FAO, OIE and WHO call on all countries to take steps to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission between humans and wildlife with the aim of reducing the risk of variant emergence and for protecting both humans and wildlife. We urge authorities to adopt relevant regulations and disseminate previously released recommendations by FAO, OIE and WHO to (1) people working in close contact with or handling wildlife, including hunters and butchers; and (2) the public. It is also crucial to safely dispose of uneaten food, masks, tissues, and any other human waste to avoid attracting wildlife, especially to urban areas and, if possible, keep domestic animals away from wildlife and their droppings. FAO, OIE, WHO
Unfolding the Effects of Decontamination Treatments on Structural and Functional Integrity of N95 Respirators
There are currently no standard test methods available for decontamination of respirators before their repeated use. Scans of the meltblown nonwoven layers of a specific N95 respirator model after treatment with one and five cycles of liquid hydrogen peroxide, UV, moist heat, and aqueous soap solution enabled researchers to perform filtration simulations of decontaminated respirators. Scientific Reports
Health Care Workers Don Unnecessary Protective Gear. The CDC and WHO Need to Update Their PPE Guidance
Current guidelines from the CDC and WHO require health care workers who provide direct care to patients to wear masks, protective eyewear or face shields, gowns, and gloves. Many health care workers have also requested to use scrubs, shoe covers, and bouffant hair coverings, items that were once supplied only to those working in operating rooms. Gowns, coverings, and gloves are to be replaced between each patient contact. All of these items are disposable, and medical waste is not recycled. Given what is known today about the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the CDC and WHO have failed to update their two-year-old policies on protective personal equipment that add to the waste problem. STAT
COVID-19—Lessons for Zoonotic Disease
The key issue is not that zoonotic diseases appear in humans, but that their emergence seems to be increasing in frequency. The greatest pandemic risk is posed by respiratory viruses because their fluid mode of (sometimes asymptomatic) transmission makes their control especially challenging. Three groups of RNA viruses that regularly jump species boundaries best fit this risk profile: paramyxoviruses, influenza viruses, and, particularly, coronaviruses. Hendra and Nipah viruses, both with ultimate bat ancestry, are exemplars of paramyxoviruses that have emerged in humans. The documented host range of influenza viruses is growing, but most human influenza virus pandemics have their roots in those viruses that circulate in waterbirds and poultry, often with the secondary involvement of pigs. Fortunately, birds and humans are sufficiently different in most virus–cell interactions that avian viruses are usually unable to successfully transmit among humans. Coronaviruses are commonly found in mammals that often exist at very high population densities, particularly bats and rodents, or that have strong connections with humans, such as pigs and dogs, and are appearing in humans with an increasing frequency. Science
SELECT AGENTS + PRIORITY PATHOGENS
Therapeutic Strategies Against Ebola Virus Infection
This review aims to highlight potential EBOV therapeutics and their targets of inhibition, serving as a summary of the literature to inform readers of the novel candidates available in the continued search for EBOV antivirals. Viruses
Using Immunogenetics in the Fight Against Ebola Virus Disease
CDC’s Viral Special Pathogens Branch (VSPB) staff were intrigued when experiments showed that blood samples from some people who had not been vaccinated against Ebola or infected by it were able to interfere with the virus in ways that we would only expect from samples from vaccinees or survivors of Ebola. With the human genomics project VSPB is launching, they hope to understand how this happens. This could be due to antibodies that were made against some other immunogen but cross-reacted with Ebola virus, by innate immunity proteins in their blood, or both. Then, once the mechanism is better understood, they’ll look to harness it to develop new therapies against Ebola virus disease. CDC Genomics and Precision Health
Novel Hendra Virus Variant Detected by Sentinel Surveillance of Horses in Australia
Here researchers identified and isolated a novel Hendra virus (HeV) variant not detected by routine testing from a horse in Queensland, Australia, that died from acute illness with signs consistent with HeV infection. Studies are needed to determine infection kinetics, pathogenicity, reservoir-species associations, viral-host coevolution, and spillover dynamics for this virus. Surveillance and biosecurity practices should be updated to acknowledge HeV spillover risk across all regions frequented by flying foxes. Emerging Infectious Diseases
One Health Investigation of House Crow Mortality Event Linked to the Potential Circulation of H5N1 Virus
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1) has caused ≥550 reported outbreaks in poultry and wild birds in Bangladesh since 2007. Findings of this survey suggest that multiple subtypes of avian influenza viruses are circulating in live bird markets in Bangladesh without mortality in poultry. Crows may have been infected by consuming dead poultry and their waste. Continued surveillance of both poultry and wild birds is needed for early detection of novel viral introductions, to trace the transmission route, and to reduce public health risks. Improved live bird market biosecurity measures are needed to reduce the risk of influenza virus. International Journal of Infectious Diseases
Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses: Pathogenesis and Countermeasures
The range and reach of viruses will most certainly shift as climate and land use change with a potential large impact on the range of tick-borne hemorrhagic fever viruses. In this special issue, novel insights into tick-borne hemorrhagic fever viruses are discussed in order to understand what is currently occurring in endemic areas for these viruses. This special issue includes 19 manuscripts on tick-borne viruses, arenaviruses, and filoviruses covering the following topics: epidemiology, assay development, molecular virology, animal models, vaccines, and treatment strategies. Microorganisms
A Novel Toll-Like Receptor 2 Agonist Protects Mice in a Prophylactic Treatment Model Against Challenge with Bacillus anthracis
In this study, we investigated the activity of immunomodulators, which potentiate inflammatory responses through innate immune receptors. The rationale for the use of innate immune receptor agonists as adjunctive immunomodulators for infectious diseases is based on the concept that augmentation of host defense should promote the antimicrobial mechanism of the host. Our aim was to explore the anti-B. anthracis effector function of Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists using a mouse model. Amongst the six TLR ligands tested, Pam3CSK4 (TLR1/2 ligand) was the best at protecting mice from lethal challenge of B. anthracis. Frontiers in Microbiology
Association of Lower Exposure Risk with Paucisymptomatic/Asymptomatic Infection, Less Severe Disease, and Unrecognized Ebola Virus Disease
This community-based study of EVD cases and contacts provides epidemiological evidence of a dose-dependent relationship between exposure risk and severity of illness, which may partially explain why pauci-/asymptomatic EBOV infection, less severe disease, and unrecognized EVD occurs. Open Forum Infectious Diseases
Indirect Antibody ELISA Assay for Early Diagnosis and Surveillance of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Infection in Humans
CCHF virus causes sporadic cases of severe illness across a huge geographic area across Africa to Europe to Asia including India. The detection of this fatal infection is limited to BSL-4 laboratory which is scarce even in developed economies. An assay for early immunodiagnosis is crucial for disease management and containing the outbreak. In this study, the conserved recombinant nucleoprotein was exploited as a safe, scalable alternate antigen for development of indirect IgM and IgG ELISA detection platform. These assays are easy to perform and can be employed for high throughput screening of human samples for clinical diagnosis as well as serosurveillance. These assays are also amenable for conversion to low-cost point of care testing formats for application in resource limited settings. Virus Research
Reliable Detection of Burkholderia Pseudomallei Using Multiple Cross Displacement Amplification Label-Based Biosensor
Researchers present and validate a novel detection technique, termed multiple cross displacement amplification combined with nanoparticles-based lateral flow biosensor (MCDA-NB), for identifying B. pseudomallei and diagnosing melioidosis. The method has potential as a diagnostic for melioidosis in basic, field and clinical laboratories. BMC Microbiology
Antibodies Against Anthrax Toxins: A Long Way from Benchlab to the Bedside
Antibodies neutralizing the toxins of B. anthracis are regarded as promising therapeutic drugs, and two are already approved by the Federal Drug Administration. We developed a recombinant human-like humanized antibody, 35PA83 6.20, that binds the protective antigen and that neutralized anthrax toxins in-vivo in White New Zealand rabbits infected with the lethal 9602 strain by intranasal route. Considering these promising results, the preclinical and clinical phase one development was funded and a program was started. Unfortunately, after 5 years, the preclinical development was cancelled due to industrial and scientific issues. This shutdown underlined the difficulty particularly, but not only, for an academic laboratory to proceed to clinical development, despite the drug candidate being promising. Here, we review our strategy and some preliminary results, and we discuss the issues that led to the no-go decision of the pre-clinical development of 35PA83 6.20 mAb. Our review provides general information to the laboratories planning a (pre-)clinical development. Toxins
CHEMICAL + RADIOLOGICAL THREATS
What a Power Cutoff Could Mean for Chornobyl’s Nuclear Waste
The I.A.E.A. has said that the used fuel assemblies at Chornobyl are old enough and have decayed enough that circulating pumps are not needed to keep them safe. “The heat load of the spent fuel storage pool and the volume of cooling water contained in the pool is sufficient to maintain effective heat removal without the need for electrical supply,” the agency said. The other main source of nuclear waste, which is unique to Chornobyl, are the ruins of the destroyed reactor itself. An estimated 200 tons of fuel remain there, in a lava-like mix with molten concrete, sand and chemicals that were dumped on the reactor during the disaster. In the chaotic, jumbled remains of the destroyed Chornobyl reactor, there is no cooling system for a loss of power to affect.
But in recent years there have been episodes in which nuclear reactions have started spontaneously in pockets of these fuel-containing materials, leading to spikes in radiation levels. Without monitoring, of both humidity and radiation, workers would not know if any new episode was occurring. The former employee with knowledge of conditions at the plant said that ventilation systems that helped control humidity levels had stopped operating. New York Times
White House Warns Russia May Use Chemical Weapons in Ukraine
The White House warned Wednesday that Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine or manufacture a “false flag” operation that uses them: “Now that Russia has made these false claims, and China has seemingly endorsed this propaganda, we should all be on the lookout for Russia to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them. It’s a clear pattern,” commented Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ukrainians in the small city of Zolochiv brought in over 80 tons of ammonia and are teaching people in the area how to act correctly after a chemical attack. The Russians provided no evidence of chemical weapons. Security and disinformation experts continue to warn about Russia’s efforts to push a narrative about the conflict that seeks to provide seemingly legitimate reasons for its invasion. CNN, NBC
Why Putin’s Chemical Weapons Are More of a Threat Than Nuclear Warfare
There is no doubt that Russia has a long history of producing chemical and biological weapons. It has also shown a willingness to deploy them both on home soil and abroad with terrifying and lethal results. When Chechen rebels stormed a Moscow theatre in 2002, Russian troops pumped in a gas containing carfentanil, an opiod 10,000 times more powerful than morphine. The idea was to incapacitate the terrorists, but the gas ended up killing 120 of the hostages. In November 2006, Russian agents poisoned Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer, in a London hotel with the radioactive isotope polonium 210. He died in hospital in agony three weeks later of acute radiation poisoning. No charges were ever brought but the killers left a radiation trail stretching all the way back to Russia. In 2018, two active Russian military intelligence officers poisoned Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for British intelligence, in Salisbury with the nerve agent novichok. The Telegraph
Kremlin Recycles Old Narratives to Claim Ukraine is Constructing Dirty Bombs and Bioweapons
In a further attempt to justify its invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin once again accused Ukraine of provoking Russia by developing dirty bombs and biological weapons. Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed on March 6 that the Security Service of Ukraine and Azov Battalion “mined a reactor at an experimental nuclear facility at the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology” in order to “accuse Russia of creating an ecological catastrophe.” The claim was based on an “alert” from Russia’s Ministry of Defense and quotes from the Kremlin-owned outlet Sputnik. The accusation is the latest in a series over the last two weeks in which Russian officials and Kremlin media have claimed without evidence that Ukraine was creating a dirty bomb. Atlantic Council
Ukraine Says Power Has Been Restored to Chornobyl Plant
Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said “heroes” from the national power grid company managed to restore the connection. The power is used to run pumps that keep spent nuclear fuel cool to prevent radiation leaks. Ukrainian officials have said the team of plant operators who ensure safe operations at the decommissioned facility have tried to continue carrying out their work, but under the orders of Russian troops and without being allowed to leave the compound at all. CBS
SURVEILLANCE + DETECTION
Field Performance of Three Ebola Rapid Diagnostic Tests Used During the 2018–20 Outbreak
A retrospective, multicenter observational study using complete and de-identified databases of five mobile laboratories (managed by the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale) to assess the performance of three Ebola virus disease RDTs (QuickNavi-Ebola, OraQuick Ebola Rapid Antigen Test, and Coris EBOLA Ag K-SeT rapid test) run on blood samples of patients with suspected Ebola virus disease in direct comparison with the Cepheid GeneXpert Ebola assay reference test. The Lancet Infectious Diseases
REMBRANDT: Mass COVID-19 Patient Screening Using High Throughput Parallel Sequencing
There are presently no testing platforms that enable more than 10,000 tests per day. Here, researchers describe the foundation for the REcombinase Mediated BaRcoding and AmplificatioN Diagnostic Tool (REMBRANDT), a high-throughput Next Generation Sequencing-based approach for the simultaneous screening of over 100,000 samples per day. This protocol represents a potentially powerful approach for community screening of COVID-19. As new SARS-CoV-2 variants are identified; the REMBRANDT amplicon can be easily shifted to capture new regions required for variant testing. Scientific Reports
Identification of Chemical Species in Aerosols RFI
IARPA seeks information regarding innovative approaches to detect and identify aerosolized chemicals of interest, such as chemical warfare agents, explosives, toxins/pollutants, and pharmaceutical-based agents (PBAs). The need to rapidly identify aerosols is vital to national security because many chemical threats are dispersed as aerosols, such as mustard gas, tear gas, and explosions caused by liquid/solid flammable materials. Identification of chemical species in aerosols is complicated by their complex structures, chemical interferants, and particle sizes. Due 31 March IARPA
Rapid Automated Validation, Annotation and Publication of SARS-Cov-2 Sequences to Genbank
The National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information developed an automated pipeline for the deposition and quick processing of SARS-CoV-2 genome assemblies into GenBank for the user community. The software has processed and published 982,454 annotated SARS-CoV-2 sequences as of October 2021. Similar automated processing strategies have been applied to other sequence data types for GenBank submissions, including ribosomal RNA, ribosomal RNA-internal transcribed spacer, influenza virus, dengue virus, norovirus and metazoan mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit 1. The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation
The Transition Era to New Sequencing Technologies and Their Application to Integrative Omics in Molecular Surveillance
This Research Topic collects contributions at the edge of the transition era to new sequencing technologies and their application to integrative omics in molecular surveillance. The selected articles address various areas of molecular surveillance in human health, animal health, food safety, and related fields using established short-read and novel long-read sequencing technologies as well as integration of multiple omics data sources. Frontiers in Genetics
PUBLIC HEALTH
Data on Transfer of Human Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 from Foods and Packaging Materials to Gloves Indicate That Fomite Transmission is of Minor Importance
The observation of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in swab samples from frozen fish packages in China, confirmed only once by cell culture, led to the hypothesis that food contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles could be the source of an outbreak. Epidemiological evidence for fomites as infection source is scarce, but it is important for the food industry to evaluate this infection path with quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA), using measured viral transfer rates from surfaces to hands and face. The present study provides transfer data for SARS-CoV-2 from various types of foods and packaging materials using quantitative methods that take uncertainties related to the virus recovery from the different surfaces into consideration. Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Experts Map Out ‘New Normal’ as US Enters Third Pandemic Year
The roadmap recommends against future school closings, suggests the United States will need to manufacture 1 billion at-home COVID-19 tests per month, and says the nation can lift pandemic restrictions when it is tallying 165 or fewer deaths per day from the virus. The authors begin the roadmap by acknowledging where America stands: fatigued with the pandemic, some having stopped all COVID-19 protocols, while others still extremely cautious. In the middle are millions who are confused about how to comport themselves now that vaccines and therapeutics make COVID-19 a more manageable disease. CIDRAP
The CDC’s New Mask Guidance Guarantees We’ll Be Too Slow for the Next Surge
Under the old guidelines, a coronavirus case rate of 50 per 100,000 in a county was enough to trigger a recommendation that individuals mask indoors; now the case rate must be four times as high for the recommendation to kick in. (At lower case rates, high hospitalization numbers can also trigger masking recommendations.) A sounder public health strategy would be tailored to respond more quickly and effectively to surges. A recommendation for universal masking should turn on when case counts alone are on the rise, even if they are not yet high. In the context of a highly transmissible variant such as omicron, just a one-week delay in implementing control measures could lead to twice as many cases, as well as preventable hospitalizations and deaths.
Masks are far more powerful as a public health tool implemented through mandates than as an individual protective measure. But the new guidelines on masking are squarely directed at individuals. Even when transmission is considered “high” under the new formulas, the CDC does not provide clear recommendations for states and municipalities, offering this advice instead: “Consider setting-specific recommendations for prevention strategies based on local factors.” And under what the CDC considers “medium” community spread, the agency tells even immunocompromised people to simply “talk to your healthcare provider about whether you need to wear a mask,” punting on the question its officials should lead in answering. Washington Post
The C.D.C. No Longer Recommends Universal Contact Tracing
Instead the CDC now encourages health departments to focus those practices on high-risk settings such as long-term care facilities, prisons and shelters, reflecting the reality that contact-tracing programs in about half of U.S. states have been eliminated. Britain ended contact tracing last week, while Denmark and Finland are among other nations that have scaled back the use of contact tracers. From the start of the pandemic, states and cities struggled to detect the prevalence of the virus because of spotty and sometimes rationed diagnostic testing and long delays in getting results. New York Times
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
The Unsung Heroes Who Ended a Deadly Plague
In late November of 1932, the weather cold and windy, two women set out at the end of their normal workday into the streets of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Great Depression was entering its fourth year. Banks across the country had shut down. The city’s dominant furniture industry had collapsed. Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering, both bacteriologists for a state laboratory, were working on their own time to visit sick children and determine if they were infected with a potentially deadly disease. This is the story of how a team of fearless American women overcame medical skepticism to stop whooping cough, a vicious infectious disease, and save countless lives. Smithsonian Magazine
SPECIAL INTEREST
NAS Launches Effort to Help Support Ukrainian Researchers as They Resettle in Poland
In early March, the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences entered into an agreement with the Polish academy, which offered to help place Ukrainian researchers in an institute of the Polish academy and supply a stipend that provides up to six months of support. However, the financial support from the Polish academy was exhausted within days. As the numbers of refugees and related costs of resettlement grow, the NAS quickly joined the collaboration and is now working with the Polish and Ukrainian academies to collect contributions from individuals and foundations in the U.S. and elsewhere that will provide settlement costs and stipends for the displaced scientists. National Academies of Sciences
IN MEMORIAM
Obituary: Paul Farmer (1959–2022)
“What happens to poor people is never divorced from the actions of the powerful,” Paul Farmer wrote in his 2005 book Pathologies of Power. A doctor, medical anthropologist and activist, Farmer devoted his life to advocating for health equity. As a co-founder of Partners In Health (PIH), a non-profit organization that provides free medical care in low-income countries including Haiti, Peru and Rwanda, he used the group’s results to change global guidelines on how to treat tuberculosis and HIV. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Farmer and his colleagues denounced monopolies on vaccines that help to account for why fewer than 10% of people have been fully vaccinated in low-income countries. Farmer treated patients up until his death in Rwanda, aged 62. Nature