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Today's Headlines: January 22, 2018

Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases

Pakistan is Close to Eradicating Polio. A Double Slaying Shows the Grim Challenges Still in the Way. ( Washington Post) The long struggle to eliminate polio from Pakistan has faced many obstacles--public ignorance about the disease, myths about a Western plot to sterilize Muslims, claims about fake vaccination drives being used to cover up spying. Add to that list: Attacks by anti-government insurgents on teams delivering the polio vaccine, mostly around the lawless northwest tribal areas. Go to article

Yellow Fever--Brazil ( WHO) From 1 July 2017 through 14 January 2018, 35 confirmed human cases of yellow fever were reported in Brazil, including 20 deaths and 145 suspected cases who are under investigation. In recent weeks, the number of confirmed human cases of yellow fever has tripled in Brazil, mainly in the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais. Go to article


Government Affairs & National Security

Why the CDC, NIH, and FDA Shutdown Has Us Worried ( Vox) The US Congress and the White House didn't agree on a new budget by midnight on Friday, and now the US government is officially shut down. All furloughed federal employees can't do their jobs--or even use their work emails or cell phones--and many government programs and research labs are grinding to a halt. And tens of thousands of them work at the agencies responsible for public health. Go to article

HHS Extends Trump's Emergency Declaration for Opioids ( The Hill) The Trump administration has extended the opioid public health emergency issued by President Trump, days before that declaration was set to expire. In October, President Trump announced in the White House's East Room that he was declaring the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency. The move was without precedent, as such declarations had in the past been reserved for natural disasters and the outbreak of infectious diseases. Go to article


Global Health Security

CDC to Scale Back Work in Dozens of Foreign Countries Amin Funding Worries ( The Wall Street Journal: subscription required) The CDC currently works in 49 countries as part of an initiative called the global health security agenda, to prevent, detect and respond to dangerous infectious disease threats. It helps expand surveillance for new viruses and drug-resistant bacteria, modernize laboratories to detect dangerous pathogensand train workers who respond to epidemics. Go to article

WHO Airlifts Critical Medical Supplies to Yemen ( Healio) WHO announced today that the agency has airlifted 200 metric tons of medical supplies--including insulin vials, antibiotics, rabies vaccines and IV fluids--to war-torn Yemen. Go to article

Delays in Global Disease Outbreak Responses: Lessons from H1N1, Ebola, and Zika ( AJPH) In global disease outbreaks, there are significant time delays between the source of an outbreak and collective action. Some delay is necessary, but recent delays have been extended by insufficient surveillance capacity and time-consuming efforts to mobilize action. Go to article

Inferring the Risks Factors Behind the Geographical Spread and Transmission of Zika in the Americas ( PLOS: Neglected Tropical Diseases) An unprecedented Zika virus epidemic occurred in the Americas during 2015-2016. The size of the epidemic in conjunction with newly recognized health risks associated with the virus attracted significant attention across the research community. Our study complements several recent studies which have mapped epidemiological elements of Zika, by introducing a newly proposed methodology to simultaneously estimate the contribution of various risk factors for geographic spread resulting in local transmission and to compute the risk of spread (or re-introductions) between each pair of regions.  Go to article

Brazil Declares Yellow Fever Emergency in Minas Gerais ( BBC News) Brazil's south-eastern state of Minas Gerais has declared a public health emergency following a deadly outbreak of yellow fever. At least 15 people have died there since December. Many areas, including the state capital Belo Horizonte, have been affected. Go to article


Medicine & Public Health

Flu Hospitalizations Climb as US Season Hits New Heights ( CIDRAP) Flu hospitalizations across the country are still increasing, and at least by one metric the season has reached a height not seen since the 2009-10 pandemic, according to the latest data from the CDC's FluView, which tracks national influenza surveillance. Go to article


Science & Technology

A Paper Showing How to Make a Smallpox Cousin Just Got Published. Critics Wonder Why ( Science) Today, a highly controversial study in which researchers synthesized a smallpox relative from scratch is finally seeing the light of day. The paper, in PLOS ONE, spells out how virologist David Evans at the University of Alberta in Canada, and his research associate Ryan Noyce ordered bits of horsepox DNA from the internet, painstakingly assembled them, then showed that the resulting virus was able to infect cells and reproduce. Go to article

See also: The Problem of Horsepox Synthesis: New Approaches Needed for Oversight and Publication Review for Research Posing Population-Level Risks ( The Bifurcated Needle) In summer 2017, a team of Canadian scientists revealed that they had synthesized the horsepox virus in a lab at the University of Alberta, and planned to publish their research. I and others expressed strong concern about the work at that time, and we have opposed its publication. Today, the science journal PLOS ONE published this research online, so it is now globally available. Go to article

The Global State of Science ( arsTechnica) By law, NSF is required to do a biennial evaluation of the state of science research and innovation. This is one of the years it's due, and the NSF has gotten its Science and Engineering Indicators report ready for delivery to Congress and the president. The report is generally optimistic, finding significant funding for science and a strong return on that investment in terms of jobs and industries. But it does highlight how the global focus is shifting, with China and South Korea making massive investments in research and technology. Go to article

China, Unhampered by Rules, Races Ahead in Gene-Editing Trials ( The Wall Street Journal: subscription required) In a hospital west of Shanghai, Wu Shixiu since March has been trying to treat cancer patients using a promising new gene-editing tool. US scientists helped devise the tool, known as Crispr-Cas9, which has captured global attention since a 2012 report said it can be used to edit DNA. Doctors haven't been allowed to use it in human trials in America. That isn't the case for Dr. Wu and others in China. Go to article
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