Domestic Preparedness & Response
Government Affairs & National Security
Achievements, Challenges and Major Outputs for 2016 (
ECDC) 2016 was another busy year for ECDC. Throughout the year, ECDC provided scientific and technical support to the European Commission, the Parliament, and the Member States. To give you just one example: during the course of the year, ECDC responded to 41 formal requests from the Commission, 19 of which were forwarded from Members of the European Parliament.
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Global Health Security
After Syria Sarin Attack, Doctors Train to Treat Chemical Weapons Victims (
Reuters) Wearing chemical suits and gasmasks, Syrian doctors rush to a house where white smoke wafts over a group of people choking and coughing, some calling out for help. It is a training exercise but the scenario is all too real for many of the doctors, who treated victims of a chemical attack 3 months ago and suffered symptoms themselves after being contaminated by a deadly nerve agent.
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Medicine & Public Health
Govt to Provide Not-Yet-Approved Medicines in Outbreaks (
The Japan News) The government intends to provide free medicine to developing nations where there have been outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Ebola virus disease and bird flu, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. The medicines have not yet been approved in Japan, but they are expected to be effective against such diseases.
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Science & Technology
Could Cows be the Vaccine Factories of the Future? (
STAT News) Famously, the word vaccine comes from the Latin word for cow--a namesake that traces back to the late 1700s. Now cows are once again at the cutting edge of vaccine science. Thanks to a quirk of how cows make antibodies, they are helping researchers understand human immunity.
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Other 21st Century Threats
Artificial Intelligence and National Security (
Belfer Center Study) Partially autonomous and intelligent systems have been used in military technology since at least the Second World War, but advances in machine learning and Artificial Intelligence represent a turning point in the use of automation in warfare. Though the US military and intelligence communities are planning for expanded use of AI across their portfolios, many of the most transformative applications of AI have not yet been addressed.
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