News highlights on health security threats and countermeasures curated by Global Biodefense
This week’s selections include a progress report on the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework; ProMED early warning system in crisis; and the State Department’s new consolidated global health security bureau.
POLICY + GOVERNMENT
Research Alliance for Veterinary Science and Biodefense BSL-3 Network (RAV3N)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility (USDA NBAF) has partnered with Texas A&M University through its Global Health Research Complex to establish the Research Alliance for Veterinary Science and Biodefense BSL-3 Network (RAV3N). This collaborative network aims to establish strategic and coordinated approaches for harnessing collective large-animal biocontainment infrastructure and research capacity to improve bio-surveillance, diagnostics, and countermeasure development against high-consequence pathogens of veterinary and zoonotic importance. Antiviral Research
A Crucial Early Warning System for Disease Outbreaks Is in Jeopardy
The ProMED website and listserv is now caught between financial shortfalls and staff turmoil. Internal dissent within the mostly volunteer disease-news network —which alerted the world to the earliest cases of Covid, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and SARS—has broken out into the open and threatens to take down the internationally treasured network unless an external sponsor can be found. Wired, STAT, Science, Nature
The State Department’s New Global Health Security and Diplomacy Bureau
On August 1, 2023, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken launched the new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy. The event marked less than a year of planning since the first announcement, including the congressional notification process, to reorganize three units—the Office of International Health and Biodefense within the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, the Coordinator for Global COVID-19 Response and Health Security, and the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator—into a single unit. Any reorganization has risks. Undoubtedly, some may be concerned that the new Bureau might affect PEPFAR’s performance due to a muddling down of the statutory authority. But there are reasons to be optimistic the maturity of the PEPFAR program will help as it comes under the new structure. Center for Global Development, US State Department, NPR
Second Session of the Working Group on Strengthening the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention
The Working Group is scheduled to convene in Geneva from 7 to 18 August 2023, as decided by the Ninth BWC Review Conference (2022), to discuss proposals and developments relating to national implementation of the BWC/BTWC. BioWeapons Prevention Project
NTI | bio Hosts Congressional Educational Event on Dual-Use Bioscience Oversight
The event, “Encouraging Congressional Action on Dual-Use Bioscience Research of Concern,” stressed the need to urgently implement the NSABB January 2023 recommendations on DURC and provide oversight to ensure their implementation. “Congress can also provide clear guidelines, incentives, and regulations for benchtop DNA synthesis device manufacturers; support the development of biosecurity standards for use by funders, who are well-positioned to incentivize the incorporation of biosecurity measures; and require biosecurity practices through funding conditions, legislation, and directing regulation and guidance.” NTI
How to Catch Pandemic Fraud? Prosecutors Try Novel Methods.
Federal prosecutors are scrambling to recoup the estimated $200 billion in pandemic aid from people who falsely obtained funds from government programs that were intended to keep the economy afloat during the Covid shutdowns. In some districts, prosecutors are screening those suspected of a violent crime for potential involvement in pandemic fraud schemes. Other investigators are putting together “strike force teams” to unravel the most sophisticated enterprises or leaning on local officials to steer them toward potential fraudsters in their areas. Thousands of investigations are still underway. New York Times
Senators Push IRS to Launch Nonprofit Hospital Probe
Nonprofit hospitals are often subsidized by state or federal funding and exempt from many taxes. In exchange, they are required to aid their surrounding area through public health programs and providing free or discounted care to low-income patients. However, advocates have long argued that the tax code’s broad definition of community benefits has hospitals logging costs like physician training and research rather than direct community benefits like health screenings, free clinics, and care for the uninsured. STAT
Lawmakers, Concerned About Shortages, Urge FDA to Assess DSCSA Readiness
Members of Congress are urging the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to assess the readiness of manufacturers in implementing the serialization systems called for in the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) before the 27 Nov 2023 deadline, asserting that drug shortages could result if manufacturers do not have these systems in place. Legislators suggested that FDA consider a phased approach to implementing the drug supply chain law to minimize supply chain disruptions and avoid drug shortages, an approach that is aligned with Healthcare Distribution Alliance’s (HDA) request for a two-year enforcement delay of DSCSA’s pharmaceutical tracking provisions. Regulatory Focus
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
Single-Dose Mucosal Replicon-Particle Vaccine Protects Against Lethal Nipah Virus Infection Up to 3 Days After Vaccination
No therapeutics or vaccines are currently licensed for NiV infection. Given the severity of disease and the public health threat posed by NiV, substantial efforts are focused on developing safe and efficacious vaccine candidates for reactive use in outbreak response. This study reports on the clinical impact of a novel NiV-derived nonspreading replicon particle lacking the fusion (F) protein gene (NiVΔF) as a vaccine in three small animal models of disease. Science Advances
The Monkeys Who Died to Fight COVID
Hundreds of rhesus macaques live at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, one of a handful of federally designated national primate-research centers in the U.S. and the only one in the state. Traditionally the institutions that conduct primate research haven’t sought to draw attention. The use of animal subjects has long attracted fierce opponents, who argue that the practice is unethical and the science derived from it unreliable. But having played a significant role in the rapid development of COVID-19 treatments, their efforts have been critical to saving lives. Emerging technologies (computer-modeling and organs on chips) could spell an end to the need for biomedical research on nonhuman primates, but experts agree that we’re not there yet. Texas Monthly
SIGA Earnings Call Transcript – Context on Mpox, Smallpox Countermeasures
“In the case of an orthopox epidemic, be it Mpox or smallpox, use of TPOXX for PEP will be important to reduce the morbidity and mortality in the population. With respect to Mpox trials, five randomized controlled trials as well as multiple observation studies continue to enroll patients and collect data.” Seeking Alpha
Emergent BioSolutions Plans 200 Layoffs, Scaled-Back Operations at Bayview Plant in East Baltimore
An East Baltimore pharmaceutical manufacturing plant is all but shutting down as Emergent BioSolutions plans to shift away from contract development and manufacturing in the wake of troubles with COVID-19 vaccine production. Emergent had been realigning its contract manufacturing business in the wake of troubles stemming from a contract to make COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. The firm was given $163 million in 2015 to build and prepare the Baltimore plant to produce vaccine for any pandemic, then was awarded a $628 million contract to make COVID-19 vaccines. The Biden administration canceled the deal in November 2021 after the FDA flagged manufacturing troubles and paused production. In its recent announcement, Emergent said it plans to lay off 400 workers companywide. Baltimore Sun
BIOSECURITY + BIOPREPAREDNESS
Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework: Annual Progress Report
Outbreak detection and response trainings are critical for pandemic influenza readiness. In 2022, 133 outbreak detection and response trainings were conducted in 27 countries. Additionally, 28 country-level HAI risk assessments, coordination meetings, and joint investigations were conducted in seven countries. In 2022, a National Influenza Centre (NIC) was newly recognized by WHO in one country – bringing the total number of NICs globally to 149 in 125 countries. These activities strengthen influenza detection and response readiness. World Health Organization
New Vaccine Research Centre in UK to Help Scientists Prepare for ‘Disease X’
The state-of-the-art Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre is based at the UK Health and Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Porton Down campus in Wiltshire. VDEC will include over 2,800 square meters of laboratory space and be co-located with Defense Science and Technology Laboratory facilities. Efforts at the VDEC will consist of over 200 scientists working on around 100 different projects. The Guardian, Forbes
Animal Agrocrime: An Overlooked Biological Threat
Crime and terrorism surrounding animal health are often overlooked threats but can have substantial impacts on animal health and welfare, public health, food security, food authenticity, and even national security. The animal health sector has several unique characteristics that render it vulnerable and attractive to crime and terrorism. Animal diseases, including those of a zoonotic nature, have the ability to spread quickly on a farm and at national, regional, and international levels. Intensive farming practices and complex supply chains both nationally and internationally could quickly disperse potentially infectious products. Health Security
Kidney Doctors Push to Protect Patients by Including Dialysis Machines in Emergency Stockpile
As Congress debates the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act that would fund the emergency stockpile, some fear that the 550,000 people on dialysis in the U.S. will again be overlooked. In a public health emergency, which includes everything from pandemics and nuclear accidents to hurricanes and wildfires, the federal government can tap into the stockpile to keep local authorities from running out of necessary equipment. Dialysis machines were, for the first and only time, part of the stockpile from 2019 to 2022. Real-world examples of dialysis machine shortages following hurricane damage in the U.S. should make the case. But with limited funds will this vulnerable population be left out? STAT
The Biggest Risk From Advanced Artificial Intelligence is Biological.
Large language models — which are very good at answering questions and teaching about dual-use knowledge — may in particular increase the accessibility of biological weapons. It is difficult to define the extent of tacit knowledge barriers and how much impact ChatGPT and the like may have on lowering it. However, one fact seems clear: If chatbots and AI-powered lab assistants make the creation and modification of biological agents seem more accessible, then it is likely that more individuals will try their hand. And the more who try, the more who will eventually succeed. Vox
The Search for Evidence to Support Practices in the Laboratory—Foot and Mouth Disease Virus
Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious infection of cloven-hoofed animals. This project aims to identify gaps in the data required to conduct evidence-based biorisk assessments and strengthen control measures appropriate for local and national laboratories. Applied Biosafety
NYC Practices Its Response to Marburg Virus Following Outbreak in Africa
Dozens of New York City fire and health officials lined up behind Bellevue Hospital last week afternoon to watch as paramedics in silver hazmat suits and oxygen masks transferred a man wrapped up in sheets like a burrito from an ambulance onto a stretcher. The scene was one of the final steps in a lengthy practice drill simulating what would happen if a patient showed up at an NYC health clinic with symptoms of Marburg virus, a severe hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola that’s rarely seen in the U.S. After outbreaks of Marburg popped up in Tanzania and Equatorial Guinea earlier this year, city health officials decided it should be the subject of the annual simulation, in which they practice the protocols for responding to a case of a rare or emerging disease. “It’s a low-probability event, but low doesn’t mean zero.” Gothamist
SELECT AGENTS + PRIORITY PATHOGENS
Reconstructing Household Transmission Dynamics to Estimate the Infectiousness of Asymptomatic Influenza Virus Infections
There has long been controversy over the potential for asymptomatic cases of the influenza virus to have the capacity for onward transmission, but recognition of asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 stimulates further research into this topic. PNAS
Inequitable Access to Ebola Vaccines and the Resurgence of Ebola in Africa
The scale and persistence of recent Ebola outbreaks, as well as the risk of widespread global transmission and its potential for bioterrorism, have led to a rethinking of public health strategies to curb the disease, such as the expedition of Ebola vaccine production. This review describes the inequality of vaccine production in Africa and the resurgence of EVD, emphasizing the significance of health equality. Journal of Medical Virology
China is Suddenly Dealing With Another Public Health Crisis: Mpox
While the Americas and Europe have mostly contained the mpox outbreak that started in mid-2022, Asia has emerged as the disease’s new hot spot. Japan, South Korea, and Thailand, which all saw sporadic imported cases last year, have reported weekly new case numbers in the double digits in 2023, meaning the virus has been spreading in the domestic population. But according to the latest data reported to the WHO, China has surpassed all other countries in the world, with 315 confirmed cases in just the past three months—though irregular case reporting from Beijing means it’s impossible to know the true scale of the disease at this point. MIT Technology Review
AVIAN INFLUENZA
Bird Flu Has Never Done This Before
Experts worry that H5N1 avian influenza is now endemic in North America. Scientists can’t yet say why this particular flu virus has found such unprecedented success in North America, only that it has. In the two years since its arrival, it has infiltrated more birds and mammals—including species not previously known to be vulnerable to avian flus—than has any other pathogen of its ilk. Among the most affected creatures have been wild birds, a major departure from previous strains that primarily attacked poultry. And although past viruses in this family have been relatively slow to evolve, this one keeps amping up its genetic diversity by mixing its genome with bits of other bird-borne flus—tweaks that may be helping H5N1 find even more new hosts and execute further genomic changes still. The Atlantic
CHEMICAL + RADIOLOGICAL THREATS
Reducing the Risks of Nuclear War—The Role of Health Professionals
Current nuclear arms control and nonproliferation efforts are inadequate to protect the world’s population against the threat of nuclear war by design, error, or miscalculation. The health community has had a crucial role in efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear war and must continue to do so in the future. In the 1980s the efforts of health professionals, led by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), helped to end the Cold War arms race by educating policy makers and the public on both sides of the Iron Curtain about the medical consequences of nuclear war. As editors of health and medical journals worldwide, we call on health professionals to alert the public and our leaders to this major danger to public health and the essential life support systems of the planet—and urge action to prevent it. JAMA
My Grandfather Helped Build The Bomb. ‘Oppenheimer’ Sanitized Its Impacts
Oppenheimer does not show a single image of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. By erasing the specific victims of the bombings, it repeats a sanitized treatment of the bomb that enables a lighthearted attitude and limits the power of the film’s message. I know this sanitized version intimately, because my grandfather spent his career building nuclear weapons in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the site of uranium enrichment for the Hiroshima bomb. My grandfather died before I was born, and though there were photographs of mushroom clouds from nuclear tests hanging on my grandmother’s walls, we never discussed Hiroshima, Nagasaki, or the fact that Oak Ridge, still an active nuclear weapons production site, is also a 35,000-acre Superfund site. One telling scene shows Oppenheimer at a lecture on the impacts of the bomb. We hear the speaker describe how dark stripes on victims’ clothing were burned onto their skin, but the camera remains on Oppenheimer’s face. He looks at the screen, gaunt and glassy-eyed, for a few moments, before turning away. Americans are still looking away. As a country, we’ve succumbed to “psychic numbing,” which leads to general apathy about nuclear weapons—and pink Barbenheimer mushroom clouds and bomb props for selfies. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
SURVEILLANCE + DETECTION
Evaluation of Ebola Virus Surveillance System to Promptly Detect a New Outbreak in Liberia
Liberia was heavily affected by the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak. With substantial investments in interventions to combat future outbreaks, it is hoped that Liberia is well prepared for a new incursion. Here researchers assessed the performance of the current EVD surveillance system in Liberia, focusing on its ability to promptly detect a new EVD outbreak. BMJ Global Health
Albuquerque Biothreat Security Startup Pulls in $5.4M to Scale Manufacturing
Just over four months after expanding into a new, larger facility, BioFlyte, an Albuquerque biothreat surveillance startup, announced Thursday it raised $5.4 million to expand the reach of its biosecurity products. Founded in 2020 as a spin-off of Maryland-based biodefense and medical device company ZeteoTech, BioFlyte has a pair of products to identify biological threats. Those products are designed to keep different locations — from train stations to concert halls to federal office buildings — safe from harmful toxins, viruses and bacteria like anthrax and ricin. New Mexico Inno
Towards a Post-Pandemic Future for Global Pathogen Genome Sequencing
This essay discusses the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the field of pathogen genomics and outline the challenges we must address to further improve the utility of pathogen genome sequencing in the future. Given the massive growth in the size of the sequencing community and the need for rapid turnaround of data, we face important challenges regarding workflow standardization, quality assurance, and the dissemination of results. PLOS Biology
Optical Biosensors for the Diagnosis of COVID-19 and Other Viruses—A Review
This review paper categorizes the potential optical biosensors into the three main categories, spectroscopic-, nanomaterial-, and interferometry-based approaches, used for detecting various types of viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. The tremendous progress made by lab-on-a-chip technology in conjunction with smartphones for improving the point-of-care and portability features of the optical biosensors is also discussed. Diagnostics
ENVIRONMENTAL FLUX
As Climate Change Leads to More And Wetter Storms, Cholera Cases Are on the Rise
Different storm patterns featuring more intensity or hitting new geographic areas are acting as risk multipliers for spreading disease in their aftermath. Flash floods spread sewage into lakes and boreholes, wash away pipelines and sanitation infrastructure, and ruin roads integral to the delivery of supplies. People displaced from their homes turn to whatever water sources are available, often ones that were highly contaminated, and transmit the disease as they move to new areas. Climate change doesn’t only affect cholera through worsening floods and storms. Hotter temperatures and longer and drier droughts can also have an impact. Another factor is a surge in disasters causing shortages of vaccines at critical times. CBS 19
INFECTIOUS DISEASE ALERTS
CDC Reports Two Human Infections with Swine Flu Viruses
The first two U.S. human infections with swine flu viruses were detected this year, caused by two different types of flu viruses that normally spread among pigs, occurring in two people who attended different agricultural fairs in Michigan and had exposure to pigs. The influenza A(H3)v and influenza A(H1N2)v virus infection patients each had symptom onset within 10 days of exposure to pigs. Neither patient has required hospitalization and no person-to-person contact has been identified. CDC
Second Deadly TB Outbreak Linked to Tainted Bone Grafts
U.S. health officials are racing to control an outbreak of tuberculosis linked to contaminated bone graft material that has killed one person and infected at least four others — the second outbreak of the rare disease in two years. Eight people died in 2021 when the same type of bone repair product used in spinal surgery was also contaminated with the bacteria that causes tuberculosis. Washington Post
Unprecedented Outbreak of West Nile Virus Alarms Colorado Health Officials
The number of mosquitos infected with West Nile virus this season is the highest Colorado health officials have seen in years. A Weld County resident recently died from the virus, marking the state’s first West Nile-related fatality in 2023. State data shows at least 12 human cases of West Nile virus confirmed across eight counties as of Aug. 4, more cases than typical at this time of year. 20 people died from West Nile in Colorado last year, and more than 200 were infected. Axios
Experimental Study Suggests Bed Bugs Could Be Vector For MRSA Spread
The results of an experimental study suggest bed bugs may be able to acquire and transmit methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). “These results do not prove that bed bugs are relevant vectors of MRSA in nature,” the study authors wrote. “However, when considered together [with] the detection of MRSA in field-collected bed bugs and clinical reports associating bed bugs with Staphylococcus infections, they provide support for the hypothesis that bed bugs may contribute to the transmission of MRSA in some settings.” CIDRAP
Leprosy May Be Endemic in Central Florida, Scientists Report
Leprosy, a fearsome scourge of ancient civilizations, may have become a permanent fixture in Florida, according to a new study. The number of cases in the United States is fewer than 200 each year, and it is not rising. “Our paper simply highlights that there appears to be this really intriguingly strong geographic predilection for this illness that’s very uncommon.” Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is caused by slow-growing bacteria called Mycobacterium leprae. About 95 percent of people are genetically resistant to the bacteria. Hansen’s disease does not spread easily from person to person. New York Times
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
COVID Hospitalizations Are Going Up. Are We…In a Surge?
“We have been at a very low level of COVID prevalence for several months,” says Bob Wachter, the Chair of the UCSF Dept of Medicine. Comparatively, what’s happening right now could be described as a surge. But “it’s very small compared to the surges that we saw in summer 2021 and December 2022 with the Omicron surge.” It’s more accurate to say it’s an uptick. Hospital admissions have increased by 12.1 percent in the most recent week. The new weekly hospital admissions on July 22 were just over 8,000. A year ago, the new admissions for that same week were nearly 45,000. Slate
New SARS-Cov-2 Variant Gains Dominance in US Amid Mild Summer COVID Wave
The seemingly milder wave is likely due to a combination of factors, including immunity from vaccines and past infections and the fact that many people vulnerable to the virus died in previous waves. SARS-CoV-2’s seasonality is still unclear, and researchers don’t know exactly what’s driving the summer waves, which often start in the southern part of the country. A leading hypothesis is that the upticks coincide with summer vacations, travel, and get-togethers. Another potential factor for waves is newly emerging variants. Currently, a new omicron subvariant—EG.5, which is related to XBB.1.9.2—is gaining dominance in the US. However, monitoring for SARS-CoV-2 variants has declined so steeply that the CDC only has enough data to estimate variant prevalence for three of the country’s 10 health regions (the areas around California, New York, and the Southeast). ARS Technica
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
The Pandemic Your Grandparents Forgot
A mysterious new respiratory virus was on the move out of China, cutting through a global population with virtually no immunity. But the year wasn’t 2020—it was 1957, 63 years earlier. Before the global H2N2 influenza pandemic wound down, it would kill 116,000 people in the United States and as many as 4 million people around the world. Millions dead is a catastrophe by any measure. Yet this pandemic has almost entirely vanished from cultural memory. Nautilus
SPECIAL INTEREST
Shaping Health Security: In Conversation with UKHSA’s Chief Scientist
The UK Health Security Agency recently published its first ever science strategy, which looks at how to prepare for threats over the next decade. Its chief scientist Isabel Oliver shares the highlights. Civil Service World
Meet the Scientists Trying to Stop the Next Global Pandemic From Starting in Africa
Lassa fever has been simmering in West Africa for at least half a millennium, killing roughly 5,000 people each year, according to the most recent estimates. But it was only 15 years ago when patients first started being diagnosed and treated in Nigeria, the result of two geneticists’ collaboration — Christian Happi at Redeemer’s University and Pardis Sabeti halfway across the world at the Broad Institute. Together, they helped a local hospital set up PCR testing for Lassa and assisted it in procuring the antiviral ribavirin. Before not too long, patients began trooping in from hundreds of kilometers away just to be seen at this center. The experience taught Happi and Sabeti something profound: Society labels some viruses as novel or rare, not because they actually are but because nobody tests for them. STAT
Exploring the Parallels Between Reality and Film: Outbreak, Contagion & the COVID-19 Pandemic
While movies often serve as an escape from reality, during the COVID-19 pandemic many people were drawn to stories depicting viral outbreaks. Perhaps it was the desire to make sense of the current situation or the need for a shared experience; or perhaps these stories fed our natural curiosity about the unpredictable nature of viral outbreaks and pandemics. NETEC
ALSO READING
Outbreaks Following Natural Disasters: A Review of the Literature. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
Study says biosecurity still best to combat viruses in animal feed. Feed Strategy
Tackling Global Health Security by Building an Academic Community for One Health Action. Infectious Diseases of Poverty
Disruptive 3D in vitro models for respiratory disease investigation. Biomaterials and Biosystems
Rabies experts on demand: A cross-sectional study describing the use of a rabies telehealth service. Public Health Challenges
Strengthening coordination and collaboration of one health approach for zoonotic diseases in Africa. One Health Outlook
Novel pathogen introduction triggers rapid evolution in animal social movement strategies. eLife
Sabin polio virus protein 1 (VP1) evolution in patients with acute flaccid paralysis from 2010 to 2016 in Uganda. Virology Journal
The potential for zoonotic malaria transmission in five areas of Indonesia inhabited by non-human primates. Parasites & Vectors
Measles virus transmission patterns and public health responses during Operation Allies Welcome. The Lancet Public Health