This week’s topics include the retreat of U.S. support for global and domestic health security, outbreak of deadly unknown disease in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Uganda, and the USDA’s new plan to support poultry producers confronting H5N1 losses.
FEATURED
‘Unknown Disease’ That Can Kill Within Days Leaves 53 Dead in the DRC
An unknown illness has killed 53 people in a northwestern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a significant portion of deaths taking place within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, according to the World Health Organization, which describes the outbreak as posing “a significant public health threat.” The outbreak has been traced, tentatively, to three children who ate a bat, and known threats like Ebola and Marburg have been ruled out. At least 431 cases have been reported since January of individuals suffering from fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle aches, headaches and fatigue. The illness — believed to have broken out in two separate villages in Équateur province — has a fatality rate of 12.3 percent, the WHO said. Further tests will be done for malaria as well as sampling of food and water. Washington Post
A 4-Year-Old Boy Dies of Ebola in Uganda as U.S. Pulls Back on Help
The Ebola outbreak in Uganda, which had seemed to be in retreat, has claimed a new victim: a 4-year-old boy who died this week. News of the child’s death comes even as the Trump administration has canceled at least four of the five contracts with organizations that helped manage the outbreak. It also placed the manager of the Ebola response at U.S.A.I.D. on administrative leave. New York Times
U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World
Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails, landing in inboxes for malaria interventions, Ebola contact tracing and safe burial, tuberculosis clinics, widely impactful polio vaccination projects and thousands of other organizations that received crucial funding from the United States for lifesaving work. New York Times
USDA Rolls Out 5-Step Plan to Battle Avian Flu in Poultry. For Now, Cattle Will Have to Wait.
Newly confirmed US Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, JD, on Feb. 26 introduced new steps to battle avian flu in poultry and stabilize the egg supply, which includes $500 million to help poultry producers shore up biosecurity measures. Since 2022, the H5N1 avian flu virus has led to the loss of more than 166 million poultry, including 19 million over the past 30 days. Up to $100 million will go towards poultry vaccine research and development, with an overall goal of reducing the need to depopulate flocks. But the new plan does not include any additional efforts to curb the spread of the virus among dairy cattle. CIDRAP, STAT
POLICY + GOVERNMENT
Meeting of Key CDC Vaccine Advisory Panel, Under Scrutiny by Trump’s New HHS Secretary, Cancelled
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was to meet from Feb. 26 to 28, its first gathering since the Trump administration took office. ACIP advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine policy — a group believed to be in the crosshairs of new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. STAT
FDA Cancels Meeting of Vaccine Experts Scheduled to Advise on Flu Shots
Not long after the CDC ACIP meeting was cancelled, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) learned on Feb 26. that its upcoming meeting (scheduled for March 13) to discuss next year’s flu vaccines had been cancelled. One committee member warned that it could interfere with or delay production of flu vaccines. “It’s a six-month production cycle. So one can only assume that we’re not picking flu strains this year.” According to the C.D.C., 86 children and 19,000 adults have died from flu this season. About 430,000 people were hospitalized. New York Times, The Guardian
Musk Says DOGE ‘Restored’ Ebola Prevention Effort. Officials Say That’s Not True.
Elon Musk on Feb. 26 acknowledged that the U.S. DOGE Service “accidentally canceled” efforts by the U.S. Agency for International Development to prevent the spread of Ebola — but the billionaire entrepreneur insisted that the initiative was quickly restored. Yet current and former USAID officials said that Musk was wrong: USAID’s Ebola prevention efforts have been largely halted since Musk and his DOGE allies moved last month to gut the global-assistance agency and freeze its outgoing payments. The teams and contractors that would be deployed to fight an Ebola outbreak have been dismantled, they added. Washington Post, NPR, Wired, New York Times
RFK Jr. Moves to Eliminate Public Comment in HHS Decisions
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a document on Feb. 28 proposing to strip public participation from much of the business his department conducts. The move comes during a time of major upheaval across federal health agencies, and as the public waits to see how Kennedy will enact his pledge of “radical transparency” at the department. Normally, before issuing a new rule or regulation, the public is given an opportunity to submit written comments in support or in opposition to government proposals. This has been the case for years under the Administrative Procedure Act. STAT
Proposed Legislation Targets Breaking Up NIAID
The new bill, introduced by republican lawmakers, would dismantle the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as it currently exists, replacing it with three separate research institutes. “For us, on the scientific and clinical side, it doesn’t make a lot of sense because these areas are really kind of joined. Infectious disease research and immunology research have a lot of overlap… so, when we think about infectious diseases, we constantly think about what the immune response [to an] infectious disease is.” MedPage Today
NIH Funding Freeze Stalls Applications on $1.5 Billion in Medical Research Funds
After weeks of being blocked by the Trump administration, one crucial step in the National Institutes of Health process for funding biomedical research is being largely restored, but it seems that won’t immediately allow new grants to be approved and resume the flow of millions of dollars to universities and medical schools. The freeze occurred because the Trump administration had blocked the NIH from posting any new notices in the Federal Register, which is required before many federal meetings can be held. While that may seem arcane, the stoppage forced the agency to cancel meetings to review thousands of grant applications. Already, the meeting freeze has stalled about 16,000 grant applications vying for around $1.5 billion in NIH funding. On Monday (Feb. 24), NIH employees within the Office of the Director were told that Federal Register notices for study sections run by the agency’s Center for Scientific Review — which reviews most major academic research grants, fellowships, and small business grants — will start being permitted again. However, it appears that notices of meetings of advisory councils, which provide additional review and make final funding recommendations, will not. STAT, NPR, Inside Medicine
Upheaval and Firings at CDC Raise Fears About Disease Outbreak Response
Recent mass firings, primarily aimed at new and temporary workers, have thinned the ranks of the workforce that would aid in the response to outbreaks at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to interviews with more than half a dozen current staff. “The big thing that’s impacting us now is the demoralizing work environment, intentional chaos, uncertainty over our jobs. Outbreak responses are very stressful when you have all the available resources. To be on outbreak response now in this climate is a whole new level of complexity and stress.” NPR
Trump-Vance Administration Taps Gerald Parker as New Head of Pandemic Office
Gerald Parker, a veterinarian and former top-ranking federal health official, was reported on 6 Feb. as being the new appointee to head the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, a position created by Congress after the COVID-19 pandemic. This office was charged with crafting recommendations for new rules governing research that could create riskier pathogens. Parker has worked for the Departments of Defense, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security, and was previously the associate dean for Global One Health at Texas A&M University. CBS
Trump Administration Ends Global Health Research Program
An obscure but influential program that gave detailed public health information to about half of the world’s nations will fold as a result of the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid. The Demographic and Health Surveys were the only sources of information in many countries about maternal and child health and mortality, nutrition, reproductive health and H.I.V. infections, among many other health indicators. New York Times
Trump Cuts Target Next Generation of Scientists and Public Health Leaders
The cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services — coming on the heels of the coronavirus pandemic, the worst public health crisis in a century — have been especially jarring. Experts say the firings threaten to leave the country exposed to further shortages of health workers, putting Americans at risk if another crisis erupts. New York Times
Robert F Kennedy Cancels Flu Vaccination Ad Campaign
The new US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to halt its publicity campaign encouraging uptake of this year’s seasonal flu vaccine. CDC’s “wild to mild” ad campaign, running since 2023, aimed to promote flu vaccination by highlighting its ability to prevent severe complications even when it doesn’t stop infection. The BMJ
MEDICAL COUNTERMEASURES
Recombinant Detoxified Holotoxin as a Potent Candidate Vaccine Against Botulism
A core challenge in designing a full-length detoxified vaccine for BoNTA lies in maintaining its immunogenicity while eliminating its toxicity to ensure vaccine safety. This study laid the foundation for research on a novel recombinant detoxified full-length botulinum toxin vaccine. Vaccines
Groundbreaking Ebola Vaccination Trial Launches in Uganda
In a global first, Uganda’s Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and other partners on 3 Feb. launched a first-ever clinical efficacy trial for a vaccine from Ebola from the Sudan species of the virus. It is the first clinical trial of the vaccine during an outbreak. IAVI, the provider of the vaccine, previously conducted trials for safety and immunogenicity. Years of planning to persuade countries to conduct these trials are finally paying off, with the rapid deployment of the trial only three days after the outbreak was first announced. Contacts of the man who died from the disease, and their contacts will be vaccinated in this ring vaccination trial. Over the weekend, the first 2,160 doses of the trial vaccine and treatments arrived in the capital, Kampala. World Health Organization, The Lancet Microbe, CIDRAP, STAT, BBC
Malaysia Outbreak Survivors Retain Detectable Nipah Antibodies and Memory B Cells After 25 Years
A total of 25 survivors of NiV infection from the 1998 outbreak were recruited for sample collection. The serum IgG antibody response to NiV antigens, specifically nucleocapsid (N), fusion glycoprotein (F) and attachment glycoprotein (G) was evaluated using ELISA. Additionally, the samples were tested for neutralizing antibodies and memory B cell responses. Findings highlight the potential of NiV-F and NiV-G as reliable markers for NiV exposure. Journal of Infection
Anti-Ebola Virus mAb Protects Highly Viremic Animals From Fatal Outcome
Study showed in two EVD animal models that the monoclonal antibody complex (3A6) provided therapeutic benefit at high-viremia advanced disease stages and at the lowest dose yet demonstrated for any anti-EBOV mAb-based monotherapy. The findings reported here can guide design of next-generation highly potent anti-EBOV therapeutics and vaccines. Nature Communications
Funding: Study the Mechanisms of Combination Adjuvants in Vaccines
Studies funded by this NOFO must explore the mechanisms of action of combination adjuvants that have already been shown individually to be effective in enhancing or modulating immune responses when compared with an antigen alone. NIAID
Steps Towards Licensure of Self-Amplifying RNA Vaccines
With the recent approval of a novel mRNA-based vaccine against human respiratory syncytial virus by the FDA and European Medical Agency, it is clear that mRNA-based vaccines will remain part of the future vaccine landscape. With multiple self-amplifying mRNA-based vaccines in development6,10 it will be crucial to study acceptance rates of such vaccines and factors affecting those rates to maximise their potential. The Lancet Infectious Diseases
Molecular Simulations Driven Identification of Natural Compounds as Marburg Inhibitors
Currently, there are no approved treatments for MarV infections, though various antiviral interventions, including small-molecule inhibitors like Favipiravir, are under development. This study employs a multi-scale molecular simulation approach to identify potential inhibitors of Marv VP35 from an African natural compounds library. Structure-based virtual screening was performed to identify potent hits, with Favipiravir as the reference compound. A total of 134 molecules outperformed Favipiravir in docking scores, and these were further evaluated for toxicity and pharmacokinetics. Fifteen compounds were shortlisted, all but one demonstrated greater stability than Favipiravir. ChemRxiv
BIOSECURITY + BIOPREPAREDNESS
The Erasing of American Science
Every dollar invested in research and development has been estimated to return at least $5 on average—billions annually. But attempts to defund science on the whole could affect work across fields, throttling drug discovery, clinical trials, climate adaptation, and more. By deleting data and imposing restrictions on the ways in which new data can be collected, the government has also set a worrying new standard for its reach into American research. The Atlantic
Ukrainian Biolabs: The Never-Ending Narrative
The narrative about US-funded biolabs in Ukraine has been a regular weapon in the propagandist arsenal for over a decade. The 2024 surge of messages about US-funded biolabs focused on two key narratives: first, the transfer of the majority of US biolab activity to Africa from Ukraine, and second, allegations that bird flu originated in one of the Ukrainian labs. The narrative alleging that the US is founding and operating biolabs in Africa first emerged en masse in the summer and fall of 2024, with claims promoted by the late General Igor Kirillov, former head of the Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Defense Troops of the Russian Armed Forces. DFRLab at the Atlantic Council
USAID Employees, Contractors Sue Musk, DOGE
Twenty-six former and current USAID employees have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, stating the billionaire has decimated the agency without the authority to do so. “The scope and reach of his executive authority appears unprecedented in U.S. history,” states the initial complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland late last week. “But Defendant Musk has not been nominated by President Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, as Article II of the United States Constitution requires.” DevEx
Amid Layoffs at HHS, Experts Warn About Impact on Public Health
Among the programs that have been affected by the cuts is the CDC’s Public Health Associate’s Program, a 2-year paid training program that assigns trainees to state, tribal, local, and territorial public health agencies to gain hands-on experience. Roughly two dozen employees from CDC’s Laboratory Leadership Service were reportedly dismissed, and the cuts included scientists working on outbreak investigations involving skunk rabies, dengue fever, and Oropouche virus. Reaction to the dismissals, and what they could mean for public health now and in the future, has been swift. “We are losing people on the front lines trying to keep people healthy. At the same time, we’re losing the years of experience that exist in these agencies.” CIDRAP
Who is Protecting Americans From Marburg Right Now?
“Our best hope for protecting Americans when an outbreak like this occurs is to stop it at its source. When the World Health Organization heard about the suspected outbreak (in Tanzania), one of their first actions was to alert the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…As I’ve watched the Trump administration announce a series of actions that undermine our ability to detect and respond to biological threats, including stopping CDC staff from communicating or traveling and sending National Security Council staff home indefinitely, I wonder: Who is protecting the American people from Marburg right now?” STAT
SELECT AGENTS + PRIORITY PATHOGENS
Health Workers Risk Their Lives as Lassa Fever Spreads in Nigeria
It’s Lassa season again, and with PPE supplies occasionally running short in hard-hit places, doctors and nurses are unanimous in their hope for a vaccine against the deadly haemorrhagic fever. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) in late December 2024 raised the alarm over a spike in Lassa fever infections, with 1,154 confirmed cases and 190 deaths recorded during the year. By the end of the year, the death toll had increased to 214 out of 1,309 confirmed cases. In the first six weeks of 2025, 1913 suspected cases, 413 confirmed cases and 80 deaths had been reported, according to NCDC data. Gavi
Researchers Find Relative of Deadly Hendra Virus in the US
Researchers at The University of Queensland have identified the first henipavirus in North America. Dr Rhys Parry from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences said Camp Hill virus was confirmed in shrews in the US state of Alabama. “The discovery of a henipavirus in North America is highly significant, as it suggests these viruses may be more globally distributed than previously thought.” The University of Queensland
Lassa Virus Protein–Protein Interactions As Mediators Of Lassa Fever Pathogenesis
This review provides an update in recent literature of significant LASV host-virus interactions important in informing the development of targeted therapies and improving clinical outcomes for Lassa fever patients. Virology Journal
Janice Fung’s Quest to Combat Plague Through Vaccine Innovation
Fung is exploring ways to optimize an intranasal subunit vaccine against Yersinia pestis to enhance its protection against various forms and strains of plague, targeting the primary site of infection to create a stronger, more immediate immune response. New York Medical College
Near Real-Time Genomic Characterization of the 2025 Sudan Ebolavirus Outbreak in Uganda’s Index Case: Insights into Evolutionary Origins
The findings suggest that the current outbreak is not a continuation of the 2022 transmission chain and does not support the hypothesis of persistent human-to-human transmission from convalescent individuals or undetected subclinical cases. Instead, the strong phylogenetic relationship with the 2012 Luwero lineage raises the possibility of a shared epidemiological origin, potentially involving a common zoonotic reservoir or an independent spillover event, rather than a direct viral lineage continuation from previously known outbreaks. These data emphasize the need for expanded genomic surveillance to better understand the mechanisms driving SUDV emergence and spillover in Uganda. Virological
‘Beware of the Bat’: How a Mine in Kigali Became the Focus of Marburg Virus Research
The fatality rate for the disease is usually 88%, but during a recent outbreak in Rwanda, deaths were kept to 23%. A new approach based on studying miners may be the reason why. In addition, Rwanda used a candidate vaccine made by the Sabin Vaccine Institute in a bid to immunise people at higher risk against the virus. It also gave hospitalised Marburg patients Gilead Science’s remdesivir, an antiviral medicine. The Guardian
Why The Good News About the Mpox Outbreak of 2025 Isn’t Really Good After All
There seemed to be encouraging news at the end of January, when the number of new cases dropped suddenly. But mpox trackers are not celebrating. “This decrease in terms of cases is not the reality,” says the Director of the African CDC. Instead, he says, this is a sign that the ability to monitor and tally new cases has been interrupted. He attributes this to two things: “The combination between insecurity [and] lack of funding.” NPR
AVIAN INFLUENZA
Trump Administration Struggles to Rehire Fired Bird Flu Employees
The USDA is struggling to rehire key employees working on the virus outbreak who were fired as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping purge of government workers. Roughly a quarter of employees in a critical office testing for the disease were cut, as well as scientists and inspectors. The dismissals have already helped trigger a partial shutdown at one of the department’s research facilities, interrupting some workers’ efforts to fight bird flu and help livestock recover from illness. Now, agency officials are running into logistical challenges in reinstating its bird flu staff — and convincing them to return to jobs while the president repeatedly attempts to squeeze government workers. Politico
HHS Weighs Rescinding Moderna Bird Flu Vaccine Contract
The Trump administration confirmed it is reevaluating a $590 million human bird flu vaccine contract awarded to Moderna in the waning days of the Biden administration. The company was awarded the contract Jan. 17 by HHS’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). The funding review is part of a broader Trump Administration push to examine spending on mRNA vaccines. The new HHS Secretary, in charge of BARDA, was a frequent critic of vaccinations in general and the COVID-19 vaccine platform. The Hill
C.D.C. Study Finds Silent Bird Flu Infections in Dairy Veterinarians
Three dairy veterinarians, including one who worked only in states with no known bird flu outbreaks in cows, had recent, undetected bird flu infections, according to a new study from the CDC. The results are based on antibody testing of 150 veterinarians working in 46 U.S. states. The new study, which was published on Feb. 13 in the CDC’s flagship Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, was initially slated for publication several weeks ago but was delayed by the Trump administration’s pause on public communications from health and science agencies. New York Times
‘A Dangerous Virus’: Bird Flu Enters a New Phase
A pandemic is not inevitable, scientists say. But the outbreak has passed worrisome milestones in recent weeks, including cattle that may have been reinfected. Toothless guidelines, inadequate testing and long delays in releasing data — echoes of the missteps during the Covid-19 pandemic — have squandered opportunities for containing the outbreak. New York Times
Cambodia Reports Fatal H5N1 Infection in a Toddler
The boy’s H5N1 infection is Cambodia’s 18th since early 2023, half of which were fatal. The most recent case involved a 28-year-old man from Kampong Cham province in central Cambodia. He died in January following exposure and after possibly consuming sick poultry. CIDRAP
Preparedness, Prevention and Control Related to Zoonotic Avian Influenza
A risk assessment framework was developed to evaluate the zoonotic potential of avian influenza (AI), focusing on virus mutations linked to phenotypic traits related to mammalian adaptation identified in the literature. Virus sequences were screened for the presence of these mutations and their geographical, temporal and subtype-specific trends. Spillover events to mammals (including humans) and human seroprevalence studies were also reviewed. Thirty-four mutations associated with five phenotypic traits (increased receptor specificity, haemagglutinin stability, neuraminidase specificity, enhanced polymerase activity and evasion of innate immunity) were shortlisted. European Food Safety Authority
CHEMICAL + RADIOLOGICAL THREATS
Trump Admin Scrambles to Rehire Hundreds of Nuclear Weapons Workers
The Trump administration rescinded firings for most of hundreds of employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which oversees the nation’s arsenal of nuclear weapons, after haphazardly gutting the staff. Some lost access to email before they’d even learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices to find they were locked out. “We cannot expect to project strength, deterrence, and world dominance while simultaneously stripping away the federal workforce that provides strategic oversight to ensure our nuclear enterprise remains safe, secure, and effective,” Rob Plonski, a deputy division director at NNSA. One of the hardest hit offices was the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, which saw about 30% of the cuts. Those employees work on reassembling warheads, one of the most sensitive jobs across the nuclear weapons enterprise, with the highest levels of clearance. AP, USA Today, The Hill
WMD Nonproliferation Regimes: An Overlooked Casualty of Russia’s War on Ukraine
The Kremlin has for three years been pushing false biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear weapons disinformation narratives alleging illicit or suspect behavior by Ukraine and the United States. Meanwhile, Russia’s seizure and occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant undermines a number of regimes for the security of nuclear material even as drone attacks demonstrate weakening military restraint towards Zaporizhzhia and other Ukrainian nuclear power plants and fighting endangers external power supplies and other services critical to their safety and security. Stimson Center
Cytokine Therapy of Acute Radiation Syndrome
Therapy of hematopoietic-acute radiation syndrome (H-ARS) is complex and requires accurate dose, dose-rate, source-term parameters and field uniformity estimates based on physical, biological and computational measurements. Unfortunately, these data are often unavailable and estimates have wide confidence intervals. Potential interventions include supportive care with RBC and platelet transfusions, anti-bacterial and -viral drugs, molecularly-cloned hematopoietic growth factors and hematopoietic cell transplants. This paper focuses on focus is on FDA-approved drugs including filgrastim and sargramostim. Best Practice and Research Clinical Haematology
Detection of Novichok and V-Group Nerve Agents by Chemosensors
This paper presents the results of experiments aiming for the detection and differentiation of selected nerve agents of the Novichok and V-group using simple strip detectors containing colourimetric indicator, specifically chemosensor Nile Blue A, immobilized in cellulose matrix. The proposed strip detectors indicate a promising approach towards the development of low-cost, easily portable, and usable means of detection of the respective nerve agents. Chemosensors
Chernobyl Nuclear Catastrophe: Lessons for Sustainability and UNSDGS in Health, Energy, and Environmental Recovery
This study provides a comprehensive review of the research surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear incident, focusing on its far-reaching impacts on human health, and environmental contamination. Frontiers in Public Health
SURVEILLANCE + DETECTION
The Role of Mortality Surveillance in Pandemic Preparedness and Response
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical limitations in the availability of timely mortality data to inform situational assessments and guide evidence-based public health responses at local, national and global levels. Less than half of the Member States of the WHO (73 out of 194) generated the required mortality data. Member States able to meet the sudden demand for real-time data did so through strong public health leadership and strategies for coordinated data acquisition, analysis and dissemination. Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Pandemic Center Brief: National Wastewater Surveillance
National wastewater surveillance efforts reach a significant portion of the US population, with the most extensive coverage coming through CDC National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) network of 1,539 active sites spanning all 50 states, six territories, and some tribal lands, though the specific pathogens tracked vary by location. Of the active NWSS sites on public dashboards, 324 are tracking H5 influenza, 389 are tracking mpox, and 598 are tracking RSV. The differences in coverage result from the decentralized structure of NWSS, as each site independently selects the pathogens it monitors. While the CDC offers strong recommendations and at times provides funding to support tracking certain pathogens, individual jurisdictions retain discretion in their monitoring choices. Brown University School of Public Health
Technique for On-Site Nipah Virus Nucleic Acids Detection
Study on a point-of-care nucleic acid detection (POC-NAD) system integrating one-step RT-PCR, lateral flow immunoassay, and microfluidic technologies. The diagnostic tool was found to be suitable for real-time nucleic acid testing and NiV surveillance in resource-limited field environments. Scientific Reports
AI + CYBERBIOSECURITY
Mitigating Risks at the Intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Chemical and Biological Weapons
This report assesses the risks posed by AI to generate or exacerbate chemical and biological threats and how AI’s potential misuse could be mitigated or prevented. As AI technologies advance, they will likely lower the barrier for all actors (including malign actors) across the sophistication spectrum to conceptualize, plan, and conduct CBW attacks. RAND
Learning the Language of Life With AI
In 2021, a year before ChatGPT took the world by storm amid the excitement about generative artificial intelligence (AI), AlphaFold 2 cracked the 50-year-old protein-folding problem, predicting three-dimensional (3D) structures for more than 200 million proteins from their amino acid sequences. This accomplishment was a precursor to an unprecedented burgeoning of large language models (LLMs) in the life sciences. That was just the beginning. In recent months, we have moved into a hyperaccelerated phase of new foundation models, pretrained on massive datasets, with the ability to perform a wide range of tasks that are helping us understand the structure, biology, evolution, and design of proteins, RNA, DNA, and ligands, as well as their biomolecular interactions. Science
INFECTIOUS DISEASES
CDC Investigating Hospitalizations of Five People Who Recently Received Chikungunya Vaccine
CDC is currently investigating five hospitalizations for cardiac or neurologic events following vaccination with IXCHIQ among people 65 years of age and older. Chikungunya vaccine is recommended for U.S. persons aged 18 years and older traveling to a country or territory where there is a chikungunya outbreak. This topic is slated to be discussed at an upcoming meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), although it’s uncertain if the meetings will proceed under the new Trump Administration. CNN Health, CDC
Unvaccinated Child Dies of Measles in Texas Outbreak, Rising Case Count
Outbreaks of measles in parts of Texas and New Mexico have sickened at least 124 people, according to state health officials who warned that the number of cases was expected to rise. A majority of the cases have been in a Texas county where vaccination rates have lagged behind the rest of the state. Children must receive the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to attend public schools in Texas, though exemptions can be granted for “reasons of conscience.” But Gaines County had one of the highest exemption rates in the state last year, with more than 13 percent of K-12 students exempted from receiving the vaccine. “Every single outbreak, illness, hospitalization and death is a tragedy, because it is entirely preventable with those vaccines.” New York Times, AP, Texas DSHS
Measles Cases Reported in New Jersey, Kentucky Amid Ongoing Outbreak in Texas
The Kentucky Department for Public Health (KDPH) and the Franklin County Health Department announced on Wednesday a confirmed case of measles in an adult resident, the first in the state in two years. Meanwhile, in New Jersey, health officials confirmed two new measles cases in Bergen County linked to a patient whose case was confirmed earlier this month. ABC News
Interim Estimates of 2024–2025 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness
A survey of four vaccine effectiveness networks in the U.S. showed that among children and adolescents, vaccine effectiveness was 32%, 59%, and 60% in outpatient settings (three networks) and 63% and 78% against influenza-associated hospitalization (two networks). These findings support recommendations that all eligible persons aged ≥6 months should receive an annual influenza vaccination. CDC MMWR
Novel Introductions of Human-Origin H3N2 Influenza Viruses in Swine, Chile
Influenza A virus (IAV) continuously threatens animal and public health globally, with swine serving as a crucial reservoir for viral reassortment and evolution. In Chile, H1N2 and H3N2 subtypes were introduced in the swine population before the H1N1 2009 pandemic, and the H1N1 was introduced from the H1N1pdm09 by successive reverse zoonotic events. Here, we report two novel introductions of IAV H3N2 human-origin in Chilean swine during 2023. Our study reveals a closer relationship between recent human seasonal H3N2 and novel swine strains. Interestingly, one strain maintains all the genes from the original human virus, but the other strain is already a reassortment of human H3N2 and an H1N2 previously observed on the farm. Frontiers in Veterinary Science
CDC: 13% of Kids Who Died From Flu This Year Had Brain Damage
New research from the CDC says that 13% of children who have died from seasonal flu this season had influenza-associated encephalopathy or encephalitis, a severe neurologic complication. The data come from the Influenza-Associated Pediatric Mortality Surveillance System, which has tracked kids’ flu deaths since 2004. CIDRAP
Dengue Outbreak and Response — Puerto Rico, 2024
During 2024, Puerto Rico reported 6,291 dengue cases and surpassed the epidemic threshold, prompting declaration of a local public health emergency. Approximately one half of patients (52.3%) were hospitalized, 264 (4.2%) had severe dengue cases, and 11 (0.2%) persons died. Persons aged 10–19 years accounted for 28.4% of severe cases. CDC MMWR
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE CRISIS
Urban Waste Piles are Reservoirs for Pathogenic Bacteria with High Levels of Multidrug Resistance
A year-long spatiotemporal sampling survey in a densely populated informal settlement in Malawi, quantifying enteric bacterial pathogens including ESBL-producing E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and Vibrio cholerae. Elevated levels of these pathogens precede typical infection outbreaks, suggesting that urban waste piles may be an important source of community transmission. Notably, many pathogens displayed increased levels of AMR, including against several ‘last resort’ antibiotics. Journal of Hazardous Materials
Estimating Use of Next-generation Gram-negative Antibiotics Across More Than 700 Hospitals in the U.S.
Across 832 hospitals, 3 890 557 admissions (61.9% of all admissions) included an antibiotic prescription. New antibiotics were prescribed in 9768 admissions (0.25% of antibiotic-prescribing admissions) across 537 hospitals. Sepsis (76%), pneumonia (46%), and urinary tract infection (39%) were the most common clinical indications. Ceftazidime-avibactam and ceftolozane-tazobactam remain the most frequently prescribed new antibiotics, with uptake of subsequently approved agents trailing. Open Forum Infectious Diseases
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Interim Estimates of 2024–2025 COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Among Adults
Vaccine effectiveness of 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine was 33% against COVID-19–associated emergency department or urgent care visits among adults aged ≥18 years and 45%–46% against hospitalizations among immunocompetent adults aged ≥65 years, compared with not receiving a 2024–2025 vaccine dose. VE against hospitalizations in immunocompromised adults aged ≥65 years was 40%. MMWR
Lessons from the Use of Monoclonal Antibodies During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein were deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic. While all of the clinically authorized mAbs were eventually defeated by SARS-CoV-2 variants, they were highly effective in preventing disease progression when given early in the course of the disease. The experience with mAbs to SARS-CoV-2 offers important lessons for the use of mAbs in future infectious disease emergencies, such as choosing mAbs that target conserved epitopes and designing cocktails to reduce the emergence of escape variants. Annual Reviews of Medicine
The Hospital And Mortality Burden of COVID-19 Compared with Influenza in Denmark 2022-2024
This nationwide, observational cohort study included all residents of Denmark. The COVID-19 pandemic has been on a downward trend since May, 2022, but it continues to cause substantial numbers of hospital admissions and deaths. Among 5,899,170 individuals, COVID-19 admissions (24, 400) were more frequent than influenza admissions (8,385) particularly during the first year of the study (May 2022 – May 2023) versus the second year. COVID-19 admissions were more frequent in the summer versus the winter, and among people aged 65 years or older. The Lancet Infectious Diseases
Effect of Early and Delayed Treatment With Remdesivir on Mortality in Patients Hospitalized With COVID-19
Study estimates the association between early and delayed initiation of remdesivir with mortality in hospitalized adults between May 2020, and July 2024, with varying COVID-19 clinical severity. Early treatment with remdesivier is associated with reduced mortality risk in hospitalized COVID-19 patients either not on supplemental oxygen or receiving noninvasive supplemental oxygen. Open Forum Infectious Diseases
HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
New Study Challenges Timeline of the Black Death’s Arrival
A new study suggests that plague may have played a role in epidemics as early as the 13th century—nearly a century before the Black Death—based on evidence from contemporary chroniclers and physicians. SciTech Daily
Money and Murder: The Dark Side of the Asilomar Meeting on Recombinant DNA
The famed 1975 conference about a controversial genetic technology is feted as an example of how scientific self-regulation works. But more significant is what wasn’t discussed. Nature
SPECIAL INTEREST
Public Health Publication from Harvard Shutting Down
“The bad news is, Harvard Public Health is shutting down. Journalism is expensive and outside of a university’s core mission of teaching and research. It takes time to build revenue streams, and we ran out of time.” Harvard Public Health
Spotlight: Joseph Okwororo, Tanzania, Rapid Responder
Dr. Joseph Okwororo has been a medical professional for 21 years. Specializing in epidemiology, he is the focal person for infection prevention and control (IPC) at Tanzania’s Ministry of Health. He has worked in many disease outbreak responses across the African region, including Ebola, mpox and Marburg. World Health Organization
IN MEMORIAM
Renowned Virolgist and Expert in Medical Microbiology Ana Gligić
Ana Gligić, a renowned virologist, expert in medical microbiology, and senior research associate at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade (Belgrade, Serbia), passed away on Jan 4, 2025, in Belgrade, aged 91 years. She significantly contributed to infectious disease control, including that of smallpox in Yugoslavia in 1972. Apart from smallpox, Gligić also carried out important research activities on Marburg virus, hantaviruses, West Nile virus, and Rickettsiae bacteria. She was one of the first to isolate the Marburg virus in 1967. The Lancet Infectious Diseases
Microbiologist Dickson Despommier Dies at 84
Despommier was an American academic, microbiologist and ecologist who was a professor of microbiology and Public Health at Columbia University. From 1971 to 2009, he conducted research on intracellular parasitism and taught courses on parasitic diseases, medical ecology and ecology. In recent years, he was a regular panel-member of the podcast This Week in Virology (TWiV) and a one of the founders of the podcast This Week in Parasitism (TWiP). New York Times, This Week in Virology
ALSO READING
Pandemic preparedness: analyzing national plans for respiratory pathogen pandemics in the Americas region. The Journal of Infectious Diseases
High risk, low compliance: surprising post-pandemic influenza vaccine trends in a children’s hospital. Open Forum Infectious Diseases
Reports of encephalopathy among children with influenza-associated mortality across the 2010-2025 influenza seasons. CDC MMWR
Anthrax toxin lethal factor’s structure in solution differs greatly from its crystal structures. Biophysical Journal
CEPI, Brown, NTI Partner with rising leaders to take biological threats off the table. NTI