Emerging Infectious Diseases
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently developed a program called the Pandemic Prevention Platform (P3) designed to stop the spread of any viral disease outbreak before it can escalate to pandemic status.
The P3 program comes after a years-long effort by DARPA in... Read More »
A grant worth $12 million given to the National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC) was recently doubled to $24 million, allowing for the expansion of services for the center.
Specifically, the funds were given to the three co-leads of the NETEC, the University of Nebraska Medical... Read More »
According to a recent study conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a novel, gene-based investigational vaccine protected both mice and monkeys against Zika virus infection after a single dose.
The vaccine candidate was developed by researchers at the... Read More »
According to a study recently published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, a lineage of multidrug resistant P. falciparum malaria superbugs has spread through parts of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, resulting in high treatment failure rates for artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs).
The... Read More »
Investigators at the University Of Miami Miller School Of Medicine and the University of Miami Health System were awarded 12 grants totaling $13,170,784 from the Florida Department of Health’s 2016-17 Zika Research Grant Initiative.
“I am proud to announce the recipients of these important... Read More »
The governments of Germany, Japan, and Norway, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, recently pledged $460 million to launch the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to combat the spread of epidemics by developing effective vaccines against known... Read More »
PharmAthene, Inc. recently entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Altimmune, Inc. in an all-stock transaction to create an immunotherapeutics company, which will target infectious diseases.
The merged company will be a fully-integrated and diversified immunotherapeutics company with... Read More »
Emergent Biosolutions Inc. recently initiated a Phase 1b multiple ascending dose study to evaluate the safety and tolerability of UV-4B, the company’s novel antiviral candidate for the treatment of dengue viral infection.
Dengue is the leading cause of illness and death in the tropics and... Read More »
Research teams at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center recently developed a new detection test for Zika virus that is faster and more accurate than contemporary tests.
“The new diagnostic test was designed to more... Read More »
A team of scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently studied a new mouse model that shows how early responses of the immune system can affect the development of the Ebola virus disease (EVD).
Researchers said the model could help identify protective... Read More »
Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), along with colleague Catharine I. Paules, recently published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association calling for continued research into the Zika virus even as individual diagnoses... Read More »
At a recent gathering of students, academics, and government officials at Georgetown University, a group of world health experts spoke on the need for the incoming Trump Administration to plan for an inevitable pandemic.
The event was organized by the Center for Global Health Science and... Read More »
Physicians at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine published a case study this week on the first locally-transmitted case of Zika virus.
The study, titled Cutaneous Eruption in a U.S. Woman with a Locally Acquired Zika Virus Infection, focused on the skin rash associated with the... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released its Morbidity and Mortality Report, which highlights 10 critical contributions the agency has made in the fight against the spread of Zika virus in 2016.
CDC highlighted new public health surveillance and infection... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded a grant worth $10 million to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) to establish a new center to help combat the spread of diseases carried by mosquitos and ticks.
“With UTMB’s unparalleled... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded a $10 million grant to four Florida-based universities to collaborate on a newly-formed research center that will focus on combating diseases such as the Zika virus.
The facility, called the Southeast Regional Center of... Read More »
According to a recently published study, an experimental Ebola virus vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV, was highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial that took place in Guinea.
The study was conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with Guinea’s Ministry of Health,... Read More »
A research team at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai recently published two studies that identify the three-dimensional shapes of two enzymes critical to replication and survival of the Zika virus.
The first study, published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, examined... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded $184 million in funding to states, territories, local jurisdictions and universities to support initiatives to protect Americans from the spread of Zika virus.
The awards are part of the $350 million in funding provided... Read More »
The Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) recently released a study using DNA markers to discern coccobacillus Francisella bacteria to provide a means to distinguish them from the harmful F. tularensis, a virulent pathogen that causes the disease tularemia.
“This large study is particularly... Read More »
A research team at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston recently developed the first vaccine for chikungunya fever, which was made in part from an insect-specific virus that does not have any effect on people.
The new vaccine quickly produces a strong immune defense and... Read More »
Health Canada recently approved a new drug submission from Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. for its botulism antitoxin, BAT, which is indicated for the treatment of symptomatic botulism. BAT is administered following documented or suspected exposure to botulinum neurotoxin serotypes A through G in... Read More »
A team of researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently published a study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases on the impact big data, such as electronic health records and social media, could have on identifying emerging disease threats or potential outbreaks.
Traditional... Read More »
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) recently released new guidelines for preventing and combating an emerging parasitic infection called leishmaniasis.
The leishmania parasite is found in approximately 90 percent of... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) on Friday announced the selection of Rick Bright for the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, and Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
“BARDA succeeds through... Read More »
A new study, which could lead to the development of vaccines to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, has found that administering a human antibody to both pregnant female and male mice neutralizes the virus.
Researchers isolated immune B cells from the blood of three people who contracted Zika... Read More »
Research teams at the Emory Vaccine Center, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Mahidol University of Thailand recently conducted a study on the role of CD8 T immune cells in combating dengue virus infection.
The study involved a number of dengue-infected children in India. The... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently agreed to increase funding for the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement by $44.25 million for public health emergency preparedness efforts in 2016 and 2017.
The funds were directed to 62... Read More »
According to a recent clinical trial conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), ZMapp was found to be a safe and effective treatment for Ebola virus disease, but more study remains.
The trial, known as Partnership for Research on Ebola Virus in Liberia... Read More »
A bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators recently urged the Obama administration in a letter to clarify their position on the growing cholera epidemic in Haiti.
The group includes U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Edward Markey (D-MA) and Robert Melendez (D-NJ).
“The... Read More »
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., released positive results on Wednesday from a proof-of-concept study of its broad spectrum antiviral, BCX4430, for the delayed treatment of Ebola virus infection in rhesus macaques.
The study sought to assess the effects of different dosing regimes of BCX4430... Read More »
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently awarded $2.4 million to Chicago, Houston, New York City, Philadelphia and Los Angeles County for information-gathering systems to detect microcephaly.
Microcephaly is a serious birth defect of the brain that is closely linked to... Read More »
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday confirmed that a major part of the largest emergency vaccination campaign against yellow fever attempted in Africa has been completed.
The campaign successfully vaccinated 7.7 million people in less than two weeks targeting the population of... Read More »
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) recently provided Takeda Vaccines, Inc., with a grant to develop a Zika virus vaccine.
The grant, worth $19.8 million, will be spaced out over the course of the next 18... Read More »
A collaborative research effort by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and Florida State University recently revealed two classes of compounds already in use in the pharmaceutical industry that might prove useful in the fight against Zika virus.... Read More »
