Dr. Asha George understands firsthand the threats biological agents can cause. George, who is executive director of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense, served in Operation Desert Storm. She knows what it’s like to be standing on the battlefield … Read More
A new study suggests that comprehensive health system planning can stymie the effects of a deliberate release of smallpox in a city, a nightmare scenario for public health officials. The research, which was published today in the online journal PLOS … Read More
The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) risks spreading to Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, according to testimony by public health experts on Tuesday before the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs. The outbreak … Read More
The United States’ ability to manage health emergencies has steadily improved over the last six years, according to a nationwide index of health security. The 2019 National Health Security Preparedness Index, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), analyzes … Read More
It’s not far-fetched to think that Ebola could be used as an agent of bioterrorism, according to researchers working on vaccines and treatments for the virus. In theory, a terrorist could mass disseminate the hemorrhagic virus by small particle aerosol. … Read More
A new global index offers an original way to monitor national-level preparedness for infectious disease, providing a holistic view of a country’s capacity to mitigate the spread of illness and pandemics. Created by researchers at Metabiota, the Epidemic Preparedness Index (EPI) … Read More
The United States is not as prepared as it could be in key areas of public health disaster management, according to a recently issued report by Trust for America’s Health. In Ready or Not: Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, … Read More
The U.S. government has changed course in terrorism prevention efforts since Sept. 11, 2001, relying more on community networks at the local level rather than a top-down approach from federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security. That was part … Read More
Medical breakthroughs and advances in public health systems have enabled countries to contain the effects of infectious diseases, but these gains are tempered by insecurities from forces in economics, globalization, and synthetic biology. That was the takeaway from The Global … Read More
A vaccine candidate for the Zika virus shows that it is effective in guarding against the infection in non-human primates and is a promising candidate to protect pregnant women as well, scientists at the University of Hawaii announced this month. … Read More
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Argentum Medical — a company whose invention is widely-used by the military to treat wounds and burns — $8.4 million to continue research on their product to determine its efficacy … Read More
Thirty years ago, Nancy Connell was working to get thousands of scientists, including Nobel laureates, to sign a pledge presented at the United Nations, an agreement that said they would not knowingly engage in research that would lead to the … Read More
Federal officials are pushing for the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2018 (PAHPA), which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in September, to be signed into law this year. In a discussion on … Read More
Declining stock prices caused by low returns on antibiotic research and development have caused companies to abandon antibiotic R&D, putting additional pressure on the few remaining companies focused on drug discovery. This is according to a statement recently issued by … Read More
Merck has started the submission of a rolling Biologics License Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an investigational vaccine to combat the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus, the company recently announced. The V920 vaccine, scientifically known … Read More
In an international effort to reduce global catastrophic risks associated with technological advancements, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) has established a multi-year project that will develop and promote actions that limit the potential misuse of biotechnology. Launched last month, the … Read More
Rapidly evolving wearables and 3D printed devices are among the inexpensive and portable diagnostic tools on the market today, some of which can detect and diagnose disease in less than an hour for biosurveillance. However, developing these devices on a … Read More
Combating diseases such as Ebola, influenza, and a host of other global catastrophic biological risks could be addressed by 15 emerging technologies, many of which are easy to use, high-tech and low cost. In “Technologies to Address Global Catastrophic Biological … Read More
SIGA Technologies announced this month that it has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases to study the post-exposure prophylactic use of TPOXX, a drug currently stockpiled by the U.S. government to treat … Read More
The Chinese government is investing more than the United States in the use of non-human primates as laboratory models for deadly infectious disease research, according to expert testimony delivered on Tuesday during a meeting of the Blue Ribbon Study Panel … Read More
In 2015 it was discovered that a U.S. laboratory spent more than a decade inadvertently sending the bacteria that causes anthrax to 194 laboratories worldwide. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has recently released its findings regarding how effective the U.S. … Read More
Fiji is subjected to a smallpox outbreak where social norms breakdown and medical experts scramble to get the outbreak under control. This wasn’t reality, but it was the simulation exercise for participants of a workshop held last month at the … Read More
Researchers are still a decade away from seeing a Valley Fever vaccine realized for humans, who are in recent years being infected at a greater degree with the fungal spores that cause the disease. The illness primarily affects people living … Read More
Two national organizations that represent biopharmaceutical and business interests have penned a letter to each member of the U.S. House of Representatives urging lawmakers to approve the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2018, H.R. 6378, before … Read More
Developing drugs for rapid response to treat emerging infectious diseases requires overcoming numerous hurdles. For a start, there are few large-scale pharmaceutical campaigns. The reality is quite the opposite, as it can be a challenge for the government to convince … Read More
It would cost the U.S. government only half a day’s worth of federal spending — anywhere between $5 billion and $6 billion — to create the infrastructure needed to counteract the threat of chemical or biological attacks, according to findings … Read More
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a new drug for the treatment of smallpox, a pill stockpiled in case the virus is used as a bioweapon. TPOXX, a small-molecule antiviral treatment, is the first therapy approved for … Read More
The hectic nature of public health emergencies may hardly leave officials time to reflect on what lessons are being learned on the ground, and in real time. The Outbreak Observatory aims to change that. Comprised of experts in public health … Read More
The United States may be prepared for emerging biological terror and disease outbreaks, but members of Congress questioned during a recent hearing whether coordination among federal agencies, local health departments, and private companies are optimal to tackle such threats. The … Read More
Officers in the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), a program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have for seven decades tackled some of the most pressing public health challenges in the United States and abroad. However, student loans might … Read More
