News highlights on health security threats and countermeasures curated by Global Biodefense
This week’s selections include key biodefense elements in the FY2024 President’s budget request; swine-origin pandemic risks; post-exposure anthrax vaccine approval; and biosecurity in the age of AI.
POLICY + GOVERNMENT
Guarding Against Catastrophic Biological Risks: Preventing State Biological Weapon Development and Use by Shaping Intentions
The international community was woefully unprepared for a pandemic that has led to millions of deaths and trillions of dollars in economic losses, and has upended daily life. Notwithstanding the severe damage caused by COVID-19, it should be viewed as a warning shot. It will not be the last pandemic humanity faces, and the next high-consequence biological event could be as destructive or substantially worse. Health Security
Gain-of-Function Research is About Much More Than Dangerous Pathogens
Critical gain-of-function work is necessary to develop animal models that reasonably mimic human infection. This step minimizes direct human experimentation and provides insights on how diseases enter and progress inside such models. This work then provides crucial insights into how scientists can develop diagnostics and medical countermeasures. The eroding trust in science — encouraged by certain adversaries taking advantage of the diffuse nature of the internet — is troubling as life sciences research will be critical in the coming years to address the accelerated emergence of biological threats. STAT
Health Deadlines Pile Up as Congress Adjourns for August
Lawmakers leave town at the end of this week with a lengthy to-do list, several health programs expiring Sept. 30 and very few work days left. The Senate is expected to return from its August recess on Sept. 5, while the House is not slated back until Sept. 12. That leaves only 11 legislative days with both chambers in session before the end of the fiscal year. Looming expirations include laws to fund the government and community health centers, reauthorize emergency response and pandemic preparedness programs and renew substance use and mental health aid. Roll Call
Strengthening Global Health Security through Critical Immunization Programs
The decades-long effort to ensure equitable global access to vaccines is under threat. The Covid-19 pandemic sparked the most significant decrease in immunization coverage rates in three decades. With rates of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, diphtheria, and polio rising even before the pandemic, the persistent gaps in immunization coverage point to greater global vulnerabilities to deadly and disruptive disease outbreaks. CSIS
We Need Biological Verification and Attribution Tools to Combat Disinformation Aimed at International Institutions
The door has been kicked fully open for regimes to use the UN and associated venues such as the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) meetings as mouthpieces for state-sponsored propaganda. It is imperative that more sophisticated biological verification and attribution tools be developed, and the BWC implement a legally binding verification mechanism. The development of better verification methods to verify whether biological research is for civil or military purposes will help to remove ambiguity around laboratory activities around the world. It will also make it harder for benign activities to be misidentified as offensive biological weapons activities. Federation of American Scientists
Africa CDC Criticizes the Pandemic Fund’s First Grant Allocation
Last week, the Pandemic Fund allocated its first set of 19 grants and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is not pleased with the outcome. Only five African countries will benefit from this funding, representing less than 5% of the continent’s population. Africa CDC also criticized the fund for not allowing it to apply for grants independently on behalf of African nations so that it can coordinate this funding with a regional approach. The fund, which was set up last year, is hosted by the World Bank and is led from a technical standpoint by the World Health Organization. It’s a pool of public and private financing aimed at helping low- and middle-income countries in pandemic preparedness and response. DevEx
Key Biodefense Elements in the FY2024 President’s Budget Request
The FY2024 budget calls for a brand new $50 million funding line to the Public Health Emergency Fund (PHEF). This appropriation could be used by all HHS agencies in case of a declared public health emergency. The new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), launched in 2022, is set to receive $2.5 billion—a $1 billion baseline increase from what Congress appropriated for fiscal year 2023. CDC requested $340 million for its Public Health Data Modernization Initiative—almost double the $175 million that Congress appropriated last year. CDC launched this initiative in 2020 to address weaknesses in public health data systems exposed by COVID-19. ASPR requested $1 billion for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)—$50 million more than last year’s baseline appropriation. The FY2024 budget also proposes $400 million in new discretionary funding for BARDA/ASPR’s pandemic and biodefense preparedness efforts. Council on Strategic Risks
Unraveling the Knot: The Complex and Multi-Pronged Negotiations of Global Pandemic Response Reform
One of the most discussed pieces of current pandemic negotiations is the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB), which is spearheading the creation of a new Pandemic Treaty at the WHO by May 2024. A key principle underscoring the pandemic instrument discussions has been equity, particularly in relation to access to and distribution of medical countermeasures, such as vaccines. Running parallel to the INB is the Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (WGIHR). The WGIHR is tasked with considering proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005), a legally binding agreement between 194 WHO Member States. PLOS Blogs: Speaking of Medicine and Health
Canada’s Fragmented COVID-19 Response Lost the Public’s Trust
While Canada had lower numbers of cases and deaths and higher vaccination rates than most other G10 countries, these successes mask inequities across communities, socio-economic conditions and demography. They also hide challenges in data sharing and loss of public trust over time, evidenced by the “freedom convoy” movement that occupied Canada’s capital, Ottawa, in early 2022. Global Biodefense
The U.S. Government and Global Health Security
The U.S. government has supported global health security work for more than two decades and is the single largest government donor to such efforts, providing financial support and technical assistance to help build countries’ capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. The U.S. also was instrumental in launching the international “Global Health Security Agenda” (GHSA) initiative in 2014 and “The Pandemic Fund” financing mechanism in 2022. The U.S. approach centers on bilateral financial and technical support for capacity-building programs in certain partner countries as well as multilateral support and cooperation. In 2021, under the Biden administration the U.S. re-engaged with and restored funding to WHO and stated that it would take steps to strengthen U.S. leadership in the global COVID-19 response and elevate U.S. efforts in support of GHSA. KFF
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
An Optimal Mechanism to Fund the Development of Vaccines Against Emerging Epidemics
This analysis aims to assist public funders in identifying the appropriate level of funding under a wide range of outbreak scenarios and technical landscapes. Suppose, for example, that several vaccine candidates have shown promise in early stages of development. How many should be supported? Should support focus on the single most promising candidate? Or does the notoriously low probability of success in vaccine trials call for supporting several candidates? It may not be efficient to support all potential candidates since the least productive of them may have extremely high costs, and there is a reasonable chance that some vaccine candidates succeed without including every candidate. Journal of Health Economics
FDA Approves Post-Exposure Anthrax Vaccine Cyfendus
Emergent BioSolutions has received FDA approval of Cyfendus (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed, Adjuvanted), previously known as AV7909, a two-dose anthrax vaccine for post-exposure prophylaxis use. Emergent’s anthrax franchise also includes the BioThrax vaccine, which will continue to serve a critical purpose, as well as two treatments, Anthrasil, a polyclonal antibody therapeutic, and raxibacumab, a monoclonal antibody therapeutic. Global Biodefense
Establishment of a Nipah Virus Disease Model in Hamsters and Comparison of Intranasal and Intraperitoneal Routes of Challenge
The data demonstrate the successful establishment of the hamster model of NiV disease for subsequent use in the evaluation of vaccines and antivirals. Pathogens
Vietnam Approves Commercial Use of First African Swine Fever Vaccines
Vietnam has approved the domestic commercial use of two home-grown vaccines against African Swine Fever (ASF), making them the world’s first commercial vaccines against the deadly disease. African swine fever has for years disrupted the $250 billion global pork market. In the worst outbreak in 2018-19, about half the domestic pig population died in China, the world’s biggest producer, causing losses estimated at over $100 billion. Reuters
After Missing the Mark in COVID Trial, Revive Therapeutics Pursues Bucillamine as CBRN Medical Countermeasure
The company announced this week it will repurpose Bucillamine as a potential medical countermeasure for chemical warfare agent exposures to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Global Biodefense
Correlates of Protection for Booster Doses of SARS-Cov-2 Vaccine BNT162b2
Interim analysis of the Clalit HCPs Booster study—a multicenter prospective trial in healthcare providers with increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection designed to identify novel correlates of protection for booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Findings suggest combinations of IgA and IgG binding antibody baseline immune markers provide improved correlates of protection. Nature Communications
BIOSECURITY + BIOPREPAREDNESS
Could the Next Pandemic Start at the County Fair?
Since 2011, there have been more human swine flu cases reported in the United States than anywhere else in the world. Most have occurred at farm-animal showcases. Granted, that may be because other nations are doing less testing and surveillance, and many cases here and abroad are likely to go undetected. But there is real risk in our own backyards — and barnyards. Although flu is often mild in pigs, the animals are renowned for giving rise to novel flu variants. In 2009, one of these new variants, which originated in pigs in Mexico, set off a pandemic that killed at least 150,000 people. New York Times
AI is Revolutionizing Scientific Research. It Should Also be Revolutionizing Biodefense.
NATO’s Science and Technology committee released a report in 2021 that highlighted the simultaneous advances in genetic engineering and AI technology arguing that the ability to exploit massive amounts of data could lead to more pathogenic bioweapons decreasing some of the key technical barriers in biological research. While significant amounts of technical knowledge, practical skills, and financial resources are still required to successfully build and deploy a bioweapon, AI technologies could significantly reduce the barrier to entry and highlight the need for the U.S. to develop and employ a comprehensive offensive and defensive plan to minimize the risk of AI-enabled creation of bioweapons. National Security Institute
Preparing for Future Pandemics and Public Health Emergencies: An American College of Physicians Policy Position Paper
This position paper offers policy principles and recommendations around federal planning and responsibilities; promoting a resilient health care workforce with adequate safety protections and surge capacity; centering health equity in preparedness and response efforts; supporting the rapid development and ethical distribution of evidence-based vaccines and treatments; investing in robust and reliable medical supply chains and adequately supplied stockpiles; and implementing measures and guidelines to protect the health and well-being of the public when engaging in social and economic activities during a pandemic. Annals of Internal Medicine
Pandemics Move Faster Than Funders
Epidemics and pandemics often emerge from low-resource settings, but they only receive attention when higher-resource countries are affected. Weak research infrastructure, limited expertise, insufficient funding, politicization, and inaccurate information all contributed to an inefficient and ineffective global research response to COVID-19. With a few notable exceptions, the obstructive bureaucracy that impedes clinical research worsened during the pandemic. The Lancet
Biosecurity in the Age of AI
AI Bioconvergence will profoundly augment our ability to prepare for and rapidly respond to naturally occurring, accidental, or weaponized pandemic threats. Moreover, expanded access to distributed biology tools and research has and will continue to furnish life-saving breakthroughs in diagnostics, vaccines, and other medical treatments. But this democratization of access will also transform the risk landscape by raising the ceiling on the potential harmfulness of engineered viruses and empowering a growing number of actors with the ability to modify or create pandemic-level pathogens. Helena Institute
SELECT AGENTS + PRIORITY PATHOGENS
Anthrax Revisited: How Assessing the Unpredictable Can Improve Biosecurity
This study transdisciplinarily explores many intertwined fields within public health, natural science and security studies to question the widespread narrative, that significant advances in science and technology could increase the anthrax biothreat and its accessibility to a broader realm of actors. It evaluates if and how synthetic biology, genome editing, information availability, and other emerging and converging sciences and technologies would impact a contemporary attempt to use B. anthracis as a weapon of bioterror. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology
Young Male Tests Positive for MERS-CoV in Abu Dhabi
The 28-year-old was hospitalized in critical condition and on June 13 referred to an intensive care unit (ICU) at a specialized government tertiary hospital where he was put on mechanical ventilation. He deteriorated and a nasopharyngeal swab was collected on 21 June and tested positive for MERS-CoV by PCR on 23 June 2023. The case has no known co-morbidities, no history of contact with MERS-CoV human cases, and no recent travel outside the UAE. The patient has no known history of direct contact with animals including dromedary camels, nor consumption of their raw products. Prior to this notification, the last MERS-CoV infection reported from the UAE was in November 2021. The first laboratory-confirmed case of MERS-CoV in UAE was in July 2013. Since then, the UAE has reported 94 cases of MERS-CoV (including this current case) and 12 associated deaths (Case Fatality Ratio (CFR): 13%). World Health Organization
Variations in Small-Scale Movements of a Marburg Virus Reservoir Bat Species
The movements of known viral hosts are an important component for disease risk assessments as they can potentially identify regions of higher risk of contact and spillover. Using radiotelemetry, researchers tracked the small-scale movements of Rousettus aegyptiacus, a species of bat known to host Marburg virus and other viruses with zoonotic potential, in a rural settlement in South Africa. The tracked bats exhibited seasonal variations in their movement patterns including variable usage of residential areas which could translate to contact between bats and humans and may facilitate spillover. Frontiers in Zoology
Long-Term Prophylaxis Against Aerosolized Marburg Virus in Non-Human Primates
To address the potential threat of aerosol exposure, a monoclonal antibody that binds MARV glycoprotein was tested for its efficacy as a prophylactic. These results suggest that intramuscular dosing of mAbs may be a clinically useful prophylaxis for MARV aerosol exposure. The Journal of Infectious Diseases
Genomic Analysis of Yersinia pestis Strains: Search for Virulence Factors
The belief that the plague has already been eradicated and that it is restricted to the distant past of humanity is a serious mistake, as it continues to be active and causes deaths throughout the world. The African continent is the place with the highest incidence of cases. In Madagascar, 2323 cases were recorded between 2013 and 2018, and there are also records of 410 cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 36 cases in Tanzania, and 22 in Uganda. In the same period, some cases were reported in Asia, China, and Mongolia, with five cases reported in each of these countries. In South America, 40 cases were registered in Peru and 3 in Bolivia. Even in more developed countries, with greater control and better sanitary conditions, cases have been registered, such as the 40 cases registered in the United States between 2013 and 2018. The complex life cycle of the bacillus includes the ability to grow and multiply in diverse organisms, such as ectoparasites and mammals. Pathogens
AVIAN INFLUENZA
Norway, Finland Battle Rapid Spread of Bird Flu
Norway and Finland face record outbreaks of bird flu this year which have killed thousands of seagulls and other species, put livestock at risk and restricted travel in some areas, officials said. Officials in the Arctic town of Vadso, part of Norway’s Finnmark county, said they had collected more than 10,000 dead birds in the area and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority on Thursday imposed a travel ban covering three nature reserves. “The outbreaks we are seeing in various places in Finnmark this year are much larger than we have seen in the past in Norway.” Reuters
California Condor HPAI Response Update
Vaccination of condors in managed care continued this week. Blood samples from the birds will be collected at 21-days and 42-days following vaccination to evaluate the immune response from two different vaccination approaches. The first sample will be collected on August 8. Trials will run into September. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Reverse-Zoonoses of 2009 H1N1 Pandemic Influenza A Viruses and Evolution in U.S. Swine Results in Viruses with Zoonotic Potential
The 2009 H1N1 pandemic (pdm09) lineage of influenza A virus (IAV) crosses interspecies barriers with frequent human-to-swine spillovers each year. These spillovers reassort and drift within swine populations, leading to genetically and antigenically novel IAV that represent a zoonotic threat. Ongoing surveillance is particularly relevant in light of the current highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreak in North America; if pigs could be infected with HPAI, reassortment with pdm09 in swine may result in viruses with increased host range and transmissibility in mammals. This work demonstrates how a one health perspective is beneficial and that IAV pandemic planning requires the regular assessment of swine IAV to minimize the potential for another swine-origin pandemic. PLOS Pathogens
South Korea Detects H5N1 Avian Flu in Shelter Cats
The new detections in cats, coming on the heels of an unusual outbreak in Polish cats across a wide geographic area, raise concerns about the risk of the pets passing the virus to people, which is unlikely but possible, the CDC said in a recent risk assessment. The infections in cats add to concerns about the rising number of H5N1 detections in mammal species, including at fur farms in Finland. CIDRAP
Avian Flu Outbreak Ravages South America
More than 40% of all Peruvian pelicans died over a period of a few weeks in early 2023. High numbers of other bird types are also dying off. “South America has been incredibly hard hit and the numbers are staggering … Outbreaks are having very real species and population-level effects, such that there is concern that some populations may never recover. The situation is extremely distressing.” The Guardian
SURVEILLANCE + DETECTION
SOCOM Seeks Development of Lightweight, Ruggedized Biomedical Tools
Research areas of interest for BAA funding include CBRNE rapid diagnostics and treatments; ruggedized and thermostable assays and diagnostics; biosensors for wide range of health hazard exposures (including foodborne pathogens, radiological agents, environmental toxins, blast injury); mRNA and NLP advancements for improved immune responses to threats; and emergency medical and surgical tools for austere environments (blood substitutes, wound management). Global Biodefense
Prospecting for Zoonotic Pathogens by Using Targeted DNA Enrichment
More than 60 zoonoses are linked to small mammals, including some of the most devastating pathogens in human history. Millions of museum-archived tissues are available to understand natural history of those pathogens. Here researchers aimed to develop a panel of biotinylated baits, or probes, to identify the eukaryotic and bacterial pathogens responsible for 32 major zoonoses (both known and related pathogens capturing sequences that are ≤10% divergent). The final library contains hundreds or thousands of orthologous loci with single-nucleotide variants or indels from the targeted pathogen groups that can then be used for population or phylogenetic analyses. Emerging Infectious Diseases
ENVIRONMENTAL FLUX
Why Brain Eating Amoeba Infections Are Climbing in Northern States
Increasing temperatures are creating the perfect environment for the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri to thrive in. Northern U.S. states including Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota have seen infections from the bacteria climb, causing public health officials to warn clinicians to be prepared. Historically, the brain-eating amoeba has been found in the warm climates of southern states like Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Becker Hospital Review
Worms Revived After 46,000 Years Frozen in Siberian Permafrost
At a time when the mighty woolly mammoth roamed the Earth, some 46,000 years ago, a minuscule pair of roundworms became encased in the Siberian permafrost. Millennia later, the worms, thawed out of the ice, would wriggle again. The worms, which were buried approximately 130 feet in the permafrost, were revived simply by putting them in water. New York Times
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Long COVID Fatigue Can Shatter a Person
In Ed Yong’s last piece for The Atlantic, he writes about the struggle for those suffering from Long COVID fatigue. Fatigue is among the most common and most disabling of long COVID’s symptoms, and a signature of similar chronic illnesses such as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS). Fatigue turns the most mundane of tasks into an “agonizing cost-benefit analysis.” The Atlantic
The CDC Sees Signs of a Late Summer COVID Wave in U.S.
“After roughly six, seven months of steady declines, things are starting to tick back up again. We’ve seen the early indicators go up for the past several weeks, and just this week for the first time in a long time we’ve seen hospitalizations tick up as well.” The amount of coronavirus being detected in wastewater, the percentage of people testing positive for the virus and the number of people seeking care for COVID-19 at emergency rooms all started increasing in early July. Overall, the numbers still remain very low — far lower than in the last three summers. NPR
NIH Begins Long-Delayed Clinical Trials for Long Covid, Announces New Research Office
The National Institutes of Health on Monday took long-delayed steps to begin enrolling patients in clinical trials to test long Covid treatments, and the Department of Health and Human Services created an Office of Long Covid Research that the Biden administration first announced nearly a year ago. The first effort is focused on whether a longer regimen of Pfizer’s antiviral Paxlovid alleviates symptoms of viral persistence. Another trial to address symptoms of brain fog will test brain training software, as well as a device used for home-based transcranial direct current stimulation. STAT, CIDRAP
As Pandemic Raged, Global South Lacked Vaccines. Never Again, Researchers Vow.
The damage caused by global vaccine inequity in 2021 was still fresh on people’s minds as the mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer Hub met at a side event May 23 at the World Health Assembly. “The pandemic showed us that you can’t depend on others when the whole world is competing for a resource. We need to make our own.” Since the project’s start, hubs in Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Vietnam have built laboratories to develop mRNA vaccines. By early next year, Brazil expects to start clinical trials on its mRNA vaccine against the coronavirus. Washington Post
Republicans’ Excess Death Rate Spiked After COVID-19 Vaccines Arrived, a Study Says
From the pandemic’s start in March 2020 through December 2021, excess mortality was significantly higher for Republican voters than Democratic voters after COVID-19 vaccines were available to all adults, but not before. The excess death rate among Republican voters was 43% higher than the excess death rate among Democratic voters after vaccine eligibility was opened, with Ohio standing out as being impacted by their low vaccination rate. It’s the latest research to suggest the perils of mixing partisan politics with medical advice and health policy. NPR
Saliva Microbiome in Relation to SARS-Cov-2 Infection in a Prospective Cohort of Healthy US Adults
The clinical outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection vary in severity, potentially influenced by the resident human microbiota. This study aimed to assess the variation in the upper respiratory tract microbiome using saliva specimens in a cohort of individuals with primarily mild to moderate disease. Mild to moderate infections did not significantly disrupt the stability of the salivary microbiome, however severe SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with temporary reductions in microbiome diversity. eBioMedicine
Monoclonal Antibody Levels and Protection From COVID-19
Aggregate data from randomized controlled trials assessing the use of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) in preventing symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here researchers demonstrate a relationship between the monoclonal antibody concentration and efficacy in preventing COVID-19. Further, they estimate the concentration of antibody required to have a high confidence of maintaining at least 50% protection. Counterintuitively, although antibodies with a longer half-life are expected in general to provide protection for longer, these are also expected to lose more ‘days of protection’ for a given fold increase in IC50 (to a new variant), compared to mAbs with shorter half-lives. Not unexpectedly, the estimated in vivo concentration of antibody required for 50% protection from COVID-19 is much higher than the level of antibody required to neutralize virus in vitro (~100-fold), suggesting that in vivo neutralization may be much less efficient than the observed neutralization in vitro. Nature Communications
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
Germs, Genes and Soil: Tales of Pathogens Past
The first documented epidemic of syphilis broke out in the French army during its invasion of Naples in 1495. From there, the sexually transmitted disease spread quickly across Europe — but where did it come from? Beyond historical curiosity, the lives of microbes that coexist with people are closely intertwined with the stories of humanity in ways that are important to unravel. Armed with DNA sequencers and powerful computational tools, archaeogeneticists are turning their attention towards ancient microbes to give bacteria their due in human history. Nature
Benjamin Franklin Had to Deal With Smallpox Anti-Vaxxers. We Can Learn From His Approach.
Exactly 300 years ago, in 1721, Benjamin Franklin and his fellow American colonists faced a deadly smallpox outbreak. Their varying responses constitute an eerily prescient object lesson for today’s world, similarly devastated by a virus and divided over vaccination three centuries later. Writing his autobiography in 1771, Franklin reflected on the death of his son and advocated for inoculation. He explained that he “regretted bitterly and still regret” not inoculating his son, adding, “This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.” Upworthy
SPECIAL INTEREST
Vaccine Scientist Peter Hotez Chatted with Readers About Misinformation, Masks and More
“I never dreamed I would have to defend vaccines. But now we’ve gone into this dark place where we have organized and politically motivated attacks against biomedical science and scientists, even elected officials in the U.S. Congress that make the outrageous and false claims that COVID vaccines killed Americans or that scientists made the COVID virus. We have to remember that their motivation is purely political and that this is an old-school authoritarian attempt to portray scientists as enemies of the state. Stalin did the same in the 1930s 40s. Eventually I believe this will autocorrect, but we are going through dark times right now and it will likely worsen as we head closer to the 2024 U.S. presidential election. I think the key is for our scientific societies and National Academies of Science and Medicine to remain strong and back prominent American scientists under attack.” Washington Post
Anthony Fauci on Australia’s COVID Response, AI and the Next Pandemic
The man who became the face of the coronavirus response in the United States says Australia’s willingness to accept science and resist conspiracy theories will help the country stave off future pandemics, but is concerned growing animosity and threats towards scientists will stifle the next generation of experts inspired by the events of the past three years. “Those who promote falsehoods and disinformation can always find some outlier of a scientist or some outlier of a public health person to get up in front of a hearing or in front of the television and say something that’s absolutely not true.” Sydney Morning Herald
ALSO READING
Atypical Ebola Virus Disease in a Rhesus Macaque. The Journal of Infectious Diseases
BSL-4 laboratories, combatting conspiracies, and using a culture-centered approach to improve risk and crisis communication in a One Health framework. World Medicine and Health Policy
The impact of pre-existing influenza antibodies and inflammatory status on the influenza vaccine responses in older adults. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses
The R&D landscape for infectious disease vaccines. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
Advanced high-throughput biosensor-based diagnostic approaches for detection of SARS-CoV-2. Revolutionary Strategies to Combat Pandemics
Phase 2 Data on OVX836, a Nucleoprotein-Based Universal Influenza A Vaccine Candidate. The Lancet Infectious Diseases
Opinion: Why is it legal to sell meat contaminated with Salmonella? Food Safety News
The intersection of infectious diseases and public health: strengthening career paths. IDSA
Gaining New Insights into Fundamental Biological Pathways by Bacterial Toxin-Based Genetic Screens. Bioengineering
America has immunized troops since George Washington’s time. Here’s how to improve military (and civilian) vaccination programs. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Recent Developments in the National Implementation of Biological Weapons Convention: What Happened Since Resolution 1540? Journal of Conflict & Security Law
Detection of Hantavirus during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Arizona, USA, 2020. Emerging Infectious Diseases