Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases
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Bird Flu Strain Taking a Toll on Humans (
Science) An avian influenza virus that emerged in 2013 is suddenly spreading widely in China, causing a sharp spike in human infections and deaths. Last month alone it sickened 192 people, killing 79, according to an announcement this week by China's National Health and Family Planning Commission in Beijing.
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Guangdong CDC: Two H7N9 'Variants' Isolated from Human Cases (
Avian Flu Diary) Throughout its relatively short (4 year) reign, we've watched H7N9's evolution closely for signs that it might be evolving into a more dangerous pathogen. During that time we've seen its genetic diversity grow rapidly through continual reassortment with other avian viruses (
particularly H9N2), antigenic drift, and its passage through a variety of host species.
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Domestic Preparedness & Response
The Cities That Have Risen from Ruins (
The Atlantic: City Lab) Earthquakes have rattled cities to rubble, fires have burned them to ashes, and wars have reduced mighty metropolises to utter ruins. It's easy to look at the aftermath of Syria's civil war in Aleppo, once the heart of both commercial success and historic preservation, and wonder if the city can ever return to its glory days.
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Government Affairs & National Security
Trump's Threat to Public Health (
NYR Daily) Measles is a severe virus than can result in high fever, diarrhea, pneumonia, deafness, brain swelling, and death. It is very hardy and therefore wildly contagious; it can survive in the air for up to two hours after an infected person has sneezed or coughed. Among those who aren't immune, nine out of ten people who are exposed to measles will contract the virus. It is one of the leading causes of childhood death worldwide--and it is a growing threat to the US.
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America's Dangerous and Dwindling Commitment to Global Health (
The Hill) The overwhelming media focus on President Trump's executive order on immigration obscures a looming disaster developing in the background. The White House is writing a prescription for an American public health catastrophe by questioning the value of prevention and preparedness for emerging global health threats.
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Medicine & Public Health
How Best to Prepare for Epidemics? Strengthen Primary Care (
The Conversation) In global public health, 2016 was a year defined by the end of two important emergencies: Ebola and Zika. But that doesn't mean the risk either of these viruses pose has gone away. Zika transmission continues despite the WHO declaring it is no longer a public health emergency in November. And some have characterized Ebola's resurgence in 2017 as "a certainty." We have to be prepared for these viruses to return, causing future epidemics.
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Science & Technology
Genome Sequencing Reveals Zika Virus Diversity and Spread in the Americas (
bioRxiv) Despite great attention given to the recent Zika virus epidemic in the Americas, much remains unknown about its epidemiology and evolution, in part due to a lack of genomic data. We applied multiple sequencing approaches to generate 100 ZIKV genomes from clinical and mosquito samples from 10 countries and territories, greatly expanding the observed viral genetic diversity from this outbreak.
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Other 21st Century Threats
Why Is Oroville a Big Deal? Look at All the Places That Need Its Water (
Wired) Lake Oroville contains about 3.2 million acre feet of water, making it the second-largest reservoir in California. It provides water for more than 22 million people and 700,000 acres of farmland. The lake nearly ruptured this week, swollen by a constant deluge of rain that overwhelmed the spillways and threatened to flood everything downstream.
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