News highlights on health security threats and countermeasures curated by Global Biodefense
This week’s selections include governments prematurely scaling back SARS-CoV-2 surveillance programs; disarming Russia’s WMD propaganda; and a large wildfire on the Gruinard “Anthrax” Island.
POLICY + GOVERNMENT
This is No Time to Stop Tracking COVID-19
Around the world, the frequency of national reporting has slipped below five days a week for the first time since the early months of the pandemic. The downward trend in reporting is subtle, but it mirrors other signs of complacency about COVID-19. Public-health decisions need to be informed by the best available data. Cutting the ability to track and respond to the virus while most of the world remains unvaccinated makes these decisions less reliable. Nature
Statement of the Thirty-first Polio IHR Emergency Committee
The Emergency Committee reviewed the data on wild poliovirus (WPV1) and circulating vaccine derived polioviruses (cVDPV). Technical updates were received about the situation in the following State Parties: Afghanistan, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. World Health Organization
Disarming Russia’s Bioweapons Disinformation: Protecting Ukraine’s Laboratory Infrastructure is Crucial to Prevent a Health Crisis
Spurious allegations about Ukraine’s biological laboratories and the pathogens they house clearly aim to obfuscate any analysis of the threats posed by direct violence against the facilities. The WHO acted prudently in recommending that laboratories in Ukraine destroy samples of pathogens that could cause disease if inadvertently released. It provided an explicit recommendation to public health laboratories across the country to destroy high-consequence biological agents safely and securely to avert any risk of “accidental spill” if facilities came under attack or were taken over by Russian forces. The fact that the WHO made this request has been twisted to imply that the specialized UN agency was aware of illicit activities. But standard operating procedures recommend that laboratories consider safely destroying pathogen samples when facing possible breaches of physical integrity, whether from a natural disaster or deliberate threat. Think Global Health
Preventing Pandemics Requires Funding
The total cost of the pandemic in the United States is estimated at $16 trillion. Even if a pandemic of this magnitude only happens once every 100 years, it would be worth it for the government to spend up to $160 billion every year towards preventing the next pandemic. For reference, the US spends $175 billion each year on counterterrorism. Despite having “a 9/11 in deaths every day” for much of the pandemic, the federal government has not moved to act in even a remotely proportionate manner. Congress has mostly fallen asleep at the wheel. Institute for Progress
UK Government to Burn Mountains of Unusable Covid PPE at Rate of 500 Lorryloads a Month
Ministers wasted £8.7 billion on inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE) during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic – with vast quantities of shields, gowns, and other items not meeting basic medical standards. Many were bought under the so-called “fast-track” lane where companies with links to Tory ministers were handed lucrative contracts with limited checks. Independent
Clean Air in Buildings Challenge
Infectious diseases like COVID-19 can spread through the inhalation of airborne particles and aerosols. This document provides basic principles and general actions recommended to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) in buildings and reduce the risk of airborne spread of viruses and other contaminants. These actions, as well as technical assistance and tools provided through the links, are intended to support building owners and operators, as well as organizational leaders and decision makers, to make ventilation and other IAQ improvements. EPA, White House
Biden Administration Seeks $2.1B Funding Boost for FDA, Part of Pan-Agency Pandemic Preparedness Plan
The Biden administration has proposed a $2.1 billion boost in funding for the FDA in 2023 to support the Cancer Moonshot program and pandemic preparedness. In total, the FDA could be up for $8.39 billion, a 34% increase over the $6.25 billion enacted for 2022. Elsewhere, the White House requested $5 billion for Biden’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA‑H, initiative. Fierce Pharma
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
Malawi, Neighbors to Begin Mass Vaccination Campaigns Against Polio
The effort is a response to the discovery in February that a 4-year-old girl who lives on the outskirts of the country’s capital, Lilongwe, was stricken by type 1 polio — Malawi’s first polio case in three decades and the continent’s first since being declared free of wild polio in 2020. It was also evidence that wild polioviruses had made their way to Malawi from Pakistan, one of only two countries on the planet where wild polio still circulates. Four neighboring countries in East Africa will join the mass vaccination campaign — Zambia, Mozambique, and Tanzania initially, and in later rounds scheduled for May and June, Zimbabwe will also join the effort. STAT
Scientists Recruit Nipah Survivors in Bid to Create First Vaccine
More than 50 people who have recovered from Nipah in Bangladesh will take part in efforts to research the immune response to the virus, which is categorised as a pathogen with pandemic potential by the WHO. While some of the survivors are relatively healthy, many were left with significant neurological complications after contracting Nipah – a nasty infectious disease which can rapidly attack the respiratory and central nervous systems. The Telegraph
FDA Halts Use of GlaxoSmithKline and Vir’s COVID-19 Drug Sotrovimab in 8 Northeast States
With new strains of the coronavirus showing their elusiveness and pushing more antibody treatments toward irrelevance, is there danger of an over-reliance on COVID-19 oral antivirals, especially Pfizer’s Paxlovid? Friday, the U.S. paused the distribution of GlaxoSmithKline and Vir Biotechnology’s antibody drug Xevudy in the northeast, where the omicron subvariant BA.2 now accounts for more than half of new infections. Lab testing shows that a 500-mg dose of Xevudy is not “fully active” against the BA.2 variant, the FDA said. In response, Vir said it’s “preparing a package of data in support of a higher dose of sotrovimab for the omicron BA.2 variant and will be sharing these data with regulatory and health authorities around the world. Fierce Pharma
PUBLIC HEALTH
Free COVID-19 Tests Ending for Uninsured Americans
This week, federal funding to cover the cost of COVID-19 testing and treatment for uninsured Americans officially dried up; any further infusion of cash hinges on Congress passing the White House’s request for billions more in COVID relief, which is still stuck at an impasse. “We are still in a public health emergency. We’re not out of the woods yet — we don’t want to start taking apart pieces of the response.” ABC News
Community Testing Ends in England on 1 April and Will Be Scaled Back Across UK as Infections Rise
Come the end of March, the lights will dim on the UK’s Covid epidemic. Despite infection levels rising, cases will plummet, as free lateral flow and PCR tests are stopped for the majority of people in England, with other countries in the UK also set to reduce free testing in the coming weeks and months. The Guardian
CDC Updates Covid-19 Guidance to Allow Patients Wear N95s
Many hospitals around the U.S. have been asking visitors to remove their N95s and replace them with less protective surgical masks, sparking outrage amongst patients and their caregivers. “CDC’s choice not to set highly protective masks as the default standard of protection disproportionately harms chronically ill, disabled and immunocompromised Americans,” noted Matthew Cortland, a disability rights advocate. The nation’s public health agency now says on its website that people should “use the most protective form” of masks. While facilities can continue to offer patients surgical masks, facilities “should allow the use of a clean mask or respirator with higher level protection by people who chose that option based on their individual preference.” Politico
Invasive Meningococcal Disease in Older Adults in North America and Europe: Is This the Time for Action?
This comprehensive literature review found evidence that invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) caused by Neisseria meningitidis in older adults (those aged ≥ 55 years of age) is mainly caused by serogroups W and Y, which are generally not the predominant circulating strains in any given country or region, and older adults generally have higher CFRs than other age groups (likely linked to underlying comorbidities). Older adults also appear to be more likely to present with atypical symptoms. In addition, there appears to be a shift in invasive meningococcal disease prevalence from younger to older people. BMC Public Health
BIOSECURITY + BIOPREPAREDNESS
Preparing for the Next Pandemic: Learning Lessons from the Republic of Korea to Bolster Public Health Disease Surveillance in the United States
Immediate response is critical at the start of a pandemic like COVID-19 because case counts can grow exponentially. Mandatory reporting laws are an important means to support accurate situational awareness. In the Republic of Korea, testing efforts were coupled with a national mandate that all physicians and laboratories report confirmed COVID-19 cases immediately, as other Class 1 infections, with this information reported up to the national level. In the U.S, in addition to a few federal requirements, states adopted their own COVID-19 reporting requirements applicable to healthcare providers, laboratories, and others, with states reporting information to the US CDC for national-level surveillance. Health Security
Popular Podcasters Spread Russian Disinformation About Ukraine Biolabs
Amid a reckoning over the role of podcasts in disseminating coronavirus-related misinformation, the promotion of this Russian propaganda by prominent American podcasters is the latest example of how podcasting has become a powerful and largely overlooked vector in the spread of mis- and disinformation. Over a 10-day period beginning March 8—when U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said that the U.S. had provided funding to Ukrainian labs carrying out research to prevent the diffusion of harmful pathogens (not bioweapons)—13 popular political podcasters with large audiences devoted segments in 30 episodes to the false theory that the U.S. had funded biological weapons research in Ukrainian labs. As the notion that the United States funded biological weapons development in Ukraine spread from fringe QAnon groups to Fox News, podcasts appear to have played a key role in facilitating its proliferation while at the same time mostly escaping scrutiny. Brookings, NPR
What Makes Biological Weapons So Dangerous, and Does Russia Have Them?
The weapons are banned, but the ban is poorly policed. Weak international oversight exacerbates the danger. Although the UN’s Biological Weapons Convention bans the development or use of the weapons, there is no way to verify if countries are complying. Only three people work on the convention full-time, with a budget of just $1.5m a year. Models suggest a kilogram of anthrax, dropped on a city, could kill 100,000 people. Agricultural weapons could wipe out a country’s food supply and cripple its economy. And infectious pathogens, such as smallpox or coronaviruses, can quickly take on a “life of their own. The Economist
The Pandemic: A Series of Failures, A Few Miracles — And a Lesson for Next Time, Global Health Experts Say
As the nation exhales at the sight of descending curves of Covid-19 infections and deaths, top global health experts assessed the Biden administration’s handling of the pandemic, and the reviews weren’t good. “I think we’ve done very, very bad this year,” said Michael Mina, an epidemiologist, immunologist, and physician who has been a leading voice — and an often critical one — during the Covid crisis. STAT
Gaps in Prehospital Care for Patients Exposed to a Chemical Attack – A Systematic Review
The survivability of mass casualties exposed to a chemical attack is dependent on clinical knowledge, evidence-based practice, as well as protection and decontamination capabilities. The aim of this systematic review was to identify the knowledge gaps that relate to an efficient extraction and care of mass casualties caused by exposure to chemicals. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine
SELECT AGENTS + PRIORITY PATHOGENS
Three States Report More Avian Flu Outbreaks in Poultry
Iowa, New York, and South Dakota reported more highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks in poultry, most of them involving commercial flocks. The spread of the Eurasian H5N1 strain, which first appeared in North American wild birds in January, has affected poultry in 17 states and led to the loss of at least 13.6 million birds. CIDRAP
Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Case Found in UK
The woman, who is being treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London, had recently travelled to Central Asia, where this tick bite infection is endemic. The disease does not spread easily between people. BBC
Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody, mAb 10D8, is an Effective Detoxicant Against Abrin-a Both In Vitro and In Vivo
Currently, neutralizing antibodies remain the most effective therapy against biotoxin poisoning. Here a high-affinity neutralizing monoclonal antibody10D8 shows a potent pre- and post-exposure protective effect against cytotoxicity and animal toxicity induced by abrin-a or abrin crude extract. Further research on the antitoxic mechanism of mAb 10D8 against abrin will be conducted in the future, which may facilitate the application of mAb 10D8 in humans. Toxins
Bacterial Inhibition of Fas-mediated Killing Promotes Neuroinvasion and Persistence
Infections of the central nervous system are among the most serious infections, but the mechanisms by which pathogens access the brain remain poorly understood. The model microorganism Listeria monocytogenes is a major foodborne pathogen that causes neurolisteriosis, one of the deadliest infections of the central nervous system. Researchers here have uncovered a specific mechanism by which a bacterial pathogen confers an increased lifespan to the cells it infects by rendering them resistant to cell-mediated immunity. This promotes the persistence of Listeria monocytogenes within the host, its dissemination to the central nervous system and its transmission. Nature
Identification of Novel Ebola Virus Inhibitors Using Biologically Contained Virus
In this study, researchers used biologically contained Ebola virus to screen over 4,200 small-molecule drugs and drug-like compounds provided by the Medicines for Malaria Venture (i.e., the Pandemic Response Box and the COVID Box) and the Centre for Drug Design and Discovery. In addition to confirming known Ebola virus inhibitors, illustrating the validity of their screening assays, they identified eight novel selective Ebola virus inhibitors. Antiviral Research
Disruption of Anthrax Toxin Receptor 1 in Pigs Leads to a Rare Disease Phenotype and Protection from Senecavirus A Infection
Senecavirus A (SVA) is a cause of vesicular disease in pigs, and infection rates are rising within the swine industry. Recently, anthrax toxin receptor 1 (ANTXR1) was revealed as the receptor for SVA in human cells. Herein, the role of ANTXR1 as a receptor for SVA in pigs was investigated by CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. Strikingly, ANTXR1 knockout (KO) pigs exhibited features consistent with the rare disease, GAPO syndrome, in humans. Fibroblasts from wild type (WT) pigs supported replication of SVA; whereas, fibroblasts from KO pigs were resistant to infection. Scientific Reports
Interleukin-17 Contributes to Chikungunya Virus-Induced Disease
There are currently no clinically approved vaccines or specific antiviral drugs targeting CHIKV. The upregulation of IL-17 detected in CHIKV disease patients and the reduced disease seen in IL-17-deficient mice suggest a correlation between IL-17 signaling pathways and CHIKV-induced arthritic inflammation. With an established role in contributing to the pathogenesis of immune-mediated diseases, such as psoriatic arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, IL-17 signaling plays an important role in alphavirus arthritides. mBio
Gruinard Island: Fire on Island Used for Anthrax Experiments
An uninhabited Scottish island where government scientists once conducted experiments with Anthrax has been hit by a large wildfire. The island was the site of WWII-era bioweapons testing. In 1986, Gruinard was remediated by teams of scientists, vaccinated against anthrax and dressed in protective clothing, who sprayed the soil with seawater and formaldehyde. Finally, on 24 April 1990, the MoD declared Gruinard anthrax free. BBC
Reoccurring Bovine Anthrax in Germany on the Same Pasture After 12 Years
The zoonotic disease anthrax, caused by the endospore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis, is very rare in Germany. In the state of Bavaria, the last case occurred in July of 2009, resulting in four dead cows. In August of 2021, the disease reemerged after heavy rains, killing one gestating cow. Notably, both outbreaks affected the same pasture, suggesting a close epidemiological connection. Journal of Clinical Microbiology
CHEMICAL + RADIOLOGICAL THREATS
Abramovich and Ukrainian MP May Have Been Poisoned This Month
The latest round of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, set to begin on Tuesday in Istanbul, have been overshadowed by claims that the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and other members of an informal Russian-Ukrainian negotiating group suffered symptoms consistent with poisoning during an informal round of talks earlier this month. The poisoning claims were first reported in the Wall Street Journal and by the investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat, although an unnamed US official told Reuters on Monday evening the evidence did not point to poisoning. The Guardian
March 27 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine
In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine informed the IAEA yesterday evening that a nuclear research facility had come under renewed fire but it was not yet possible to assess the damage. The facility, which has also previously been hit, has been used for R&D and radioisotope production for medical and industrial applications. Its nuclear material is subcritical and the radioactive inventory is low. Ukraine told the IAEA today that it still did not know when the next staff rotation at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) might take place, almost a week after the most recent turnover of technical personnel at the site. Out of the country’s 15 operational reactors at four sites, the regulator said eight were continuing to operate, including two at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhya NPP, three at Rivne, one at Khmelnytskyy, and two at South Ukraine. International Atomic Energy Agency
Dirty Bomb Ingredients Go Missing from Chornobyl Monitoring Lab
Anatolii Nosovskyi, Director of the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP) in Kyiv, described to Science the insecurity of radioactive waste materials in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. In the chaos of the Russian advance, he said, looters of a radiation monitoring lab in Chornobyl village apparently make off with radioactive isotopes used to calibrate instruments and pieces of radioactive waste that could be mixed with conventional explosives to form a “dirty bomb” that would spread contamination over a wide area. ISPNPP has a separate lab in Chornobyl with even more dangerous materials: “powerful sources of gamma and neutron radiation” used to test devices, Nosovskyi says, as well as intensely radioactive samples of material leftover from the Unit Four meltdown. Nosovskyi has lost contact with the lab, he says, so “the fate of these sources is unknown to us.” Science
Could an Attack on Ukrainian Nuclear Facilities Cause a Disaster Greater Than Chernobyl?
Russia’s military attacks on the Zaporizhzhya plant raise great concerns about the possibility of nuclear accidents. Some experts have suggested the attack on Zaporizhzhya could have caused a huge catastrophe; others were much more conservative in their estimates of possible radiation releases from such an attack. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
OPCW Executive Council Briefed on Chemical Weapons Destruction Progress in the United States
During the chemical demilitarisation transparency event, American officials provided an update on destruction progress at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) in Richmond, Kentucky. The U.S. is in the years-long process of completing destruction of its remaining chemical weapons stockpiles in line with a decision of the Conference of States Parties. Inspectors from the OPCW monitor and verify destruction progress 24/7. As of 28 February 2022, the United States has completed the destruction of 97.65% of its declared Category 1 chemical weapons. All Category 2 and 3 chemical weapons declared by the United States have been destroyed. Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Vapor Pressure and Toxicity Prediction for Novichok Agent Candidates Using Machine Learning Model: Preparation for Unascertained Nerve Agents after Chemical Weapons Convention Schedule 1 Update
To prevent continued threats from new types of nerve agents, the OPCW updated the chemical weapons convention (CWC) Schedule 1 list. However, this information is vague and may encompass more than 10,000 possible chemical structures, which makes it almost impossible to synthesize and measure their properties and toxicity. To assist this effort, here researchers successfully developed machine learning models to predict the vapor pressure to help with escape and removal operations. Chemical Research in Toxicology
Opinion: Deter Russia’s Use of Chemical Weapons in Ukraine
Russia remains a member in good standing of the OPCW. This must change immediately. Washington and its allies should press for Russia’s suspension, just like they did with the Assad regime last April after Damascus refused to admit its continued possession and use of chemical weapons. That move had bipartisan support, as would Russia’s suspension. While primarily a political penalty, it would also prevent Moscow from continuing to manipulate OPCW votes to serve Russia’s and Syria’s narrow interests, and from using the organization as a platform to spread lies. Defense One
SURVEILLANCE + DETECTION
Field Validation of Paper-Based Tests for the Detection of the Zika and Chikungunya Viruses in Serum Samples
Results of double-blinded studies of the performance of paper-based cell-free expression diagnostic tests for the Zika and chikungunya viruses in a field setting in Latin America. The tests involved a cell-free expression system relying on isothermal amplification and toehold-switch reactions, a purpose-built portable reader and onboard software for computer vision-enabled image analysis. Nature Biomedical Engineering
Airborne Transmission: Are CO2 Monitors a Long Term Solution or “Pandemic Hack?”
Various countries around the world have used Carbon dioxide (CO2) monitors to give some sense of how safe an indoor space is during the pandemic. Japan is one of the most prominent, with CO2 monitors installed in shopping centres, cinemas, and offices. In Washington State in the US, some restaurants and bars have used the devices when setting up covered outside seating areas “to ensure adequate exchange with outdoor air. In the UK, the government has distributed more than 350,000 CO2 monitors to schools. Our understanding of how CO2 monitors, specifically, can help in the pandemic is arguably still nascent. Despite all the caveats with CO2 monitors, there remain few other ways in which people can gauge indoor air quality. The BMJ
The Pandemic Revolutionized Disease Surveillance. Now What?
Researchers warn that relaxing restrictions and surveillance at the same time could be unwise, since these surveillance systems act as early warning systems for new variants or mysterious bumps in cases. With the end of mass free testing, the pool of samples to sequence will be far smaller. With stripped-back restrictions, data is all we’ve got. “It’s like sticking your fingers in your ears and going ‘La, la, la—if I don’t look for it, then the bad thing must have gone away.” Wired
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
Plagues and Prejudice: The Social Construction of the Tuberculosis Pandemic
In her new book “Phantom Plague”, investigative journalist Vidya Krishnan gives a forceful and articulate account of humanity’s ongoing face-off with TB, from 19th century TB deaths influencing vampire lore, to fashion changes as women were encouraged to wear skirts above floor-length to prevent dragging in germs from the spit-covered Victorian-era sidewalks. In some ways, we have come a long way, from being oblivious to the very existence of microorganisms, to identifying the specific bacterium that causes TB, and finally to developing tools to diagnose and treat it. But in other ways, as Vidya points out, we have not progressed in the fight against this ancient disease, in large part due to challenges that are not technological or scientific, but social and political. PLOS Speaking of Medicine
SPECIAL INTEREST
Detecting BS: Studying the Spread of Misinformation Should Become a Top Scientific Priority, Says Biologist Carl Bergstrom
When Carl Bergstrom worked on plans to prepare the U.S. for a hypothetical pandemic, in the early 2000s, he and his colleagues were worried vaccines might not get to those who needed them most. “We thought the problem would be to keep people from putting up barricades and stopping the truck and taking all the vaccines off it, giving them to each other,” he recalls. When COVID-19 arrived, things played out quite differently. One-quarter of U.S. adults remain unvaccinated against a virus that has killed more than 1 million Americans. “Our ability to convince people that this was a vaccine that was going to save a lot of lives and that everyone needed to take was much, much worse than most of us imagined,” Bergstrom says. He is convinced this catastrophic failure can be traced to social media networks and their power to spread false information—in this case about vaccines—far and fast. Science
He Goes Where the Fire Is’: A Virus Hunter in the Wuhan Market
For years, Edward Holmes worried about animal markets causing a pandemic. Now he finds himself at the center of the debate over the origins of the coronavirus. Dr. Holmes’s Covid research has won him international acclaim, including Australia’s top science prize. But it has also garnered claims that his research had been overseen by the Chinese military, along with a flood of attacks on social media and even death threats. Through it all, Dr. Holmes has continued to publish a torrent of studies on Covid. Longtime colleagues attribute his steady output through unsteady times to an exceptional knack for building big scientific teams, and a willingness to dive into controversial debates if he thinks they are important. New York Times
Meet the Flu Hunters Trying to Stop the Next Pandemic in its Tracks
Remember flu? Despite lockdowns holding it at bay, a small group of international scientists is searching the globe for deadly new strains – and to work out what to put in next winter’s vaccines. The Guardian