Zika
Epidemiological and Ecological Determinants of Zika Virus Transmission in an Urban Setting (
bioRxiv) Zika has emerged as a global public health concern. Although its rapid geographic expansion can be attributed to the success of its
Aedes mosquito vectors, local epidemiological drivers are still poorly understood. The city of Feira de Santana played a pivotal role in the early phases of the Chikungunya and Zika epidemics in Brazil. Here, using a climate-driven transmission model, we show that low Zika observation rates and a high vectorial capacity in this region were responsible for a high attack rate during the 2015 outbreak and the subsequent decline in cases in 2016, when the epidemic was peaking in the rest of the country.
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Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases
Brazil Yellow Fever Outbreak Expands, Rio de Janeiro Request Vaccines (
Outbreak News Today) In a follow-up on the yellow fever outbreak in Brazil, through the first 18 days of 2017, 206 suspected and probable cases of yellow fever were reported, including 53 deaths in Minas Gerais state, according to the Pan American Health Organization. This is up from 110 cases and 30 deaths reported one week ago. In addition, four suspected cases of yellow fever have been reported in neighboring Espírito Santo state. In bordering Rio de Janeiro state, health officials are advising the public in the fourteen municipalities in the North and Northwest Fluminense regions that border Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo states about awareness of yellow fever.
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Global Health Security
The Solidarity and Health Neutrality of Physicians in War & Peace (
PLOS: Currents Disasters) The wars in the Middle East have led to unprecedented threats and attacks on patients, healthcare workers, and purposeful targeting of hospitals and medical facilities. It is crucial that every healthcare provider, both civilian and military, on either side of the conflict become aware of the unique and inherent protections afforded to them under International Humanitarian Law.
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At Least Seven Countries Are Jockeying to Host the EU's Medicine Watchdog After Britain Leaves (
Science) When a relationship ends, there are usually just two people to fight over who gets what. Not so with Brexit. The UK hasn't even triggered the negotiations to end its membership of the European Union, but already half a dozen countries are jockeying to host the European Medicines Agency, currently located in London. This week, the Dutch government became the latest to announce it wants to host the influential regulatory agency once Brexit is a done deal.
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Medicine & Public Health
Science & Technology
The Rise of the Ethical License (
Nature Biotechnology) In September 2016, the Broad Institute announced that it had licensed its patents for the groundbreaking CRISPR technology on terms intended to benefit a party not at the negotiating table: the public. As broader policy positions on gene editing technologies emerge, this agreement illustrates how licensing can serve as a tool to limit potentially controversial uses of patented technologies as they enter the marketplace.
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Biotech Firm Backs Controversial CRISPR Challenger (
Nature) A major enzyme manufacturer has signed an agreement with a Chinese university to explore uses for a protein claimed to be a powerful alternative to the popular genome-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9. Several scientists have failed to reproduce the results of the paper that first made the claim and doubt that the protein, NgAgo, works as a gene editor.
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Transmission Bottleneck Size Estimation from Pathogen Deep-Sequencing Data, with an Application to Human Influenza A Virus (
bioRXiv) The bottleneck governing infectious disease transmission describes the size of the pathogen population transferred from a donor to a recipient host. Accurate quantification of the bottleneck size is of particular importance for rapidly evolving pathogens such as influenza virus, as narrow bottlenecks would limit the extent of transferred viral genetic diversity and, thus, have the potential to slow the rate of viral adaptation. Previous studies have estimated the transmission bottleneck size governing viral transmission through statistical analyses of variants identified in pathogen sequencing data.
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Other 21st Century Threats
Doctors and Nurses of Aleppo Wonder What to Do Next (
NPR) Right up until he absolutely had to leave, 24-year-old nurse Abu Hussam was determined to stay in Aleppo. Months of airstrikes and assaults couldn't dissuade him - his community needed him. When forces supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad moved in to take control of the city last month, Abu Hussam was among the last of the civilians evacuated from the city. He couldn't stay, because the Syrian government has persecuted medical staff and their families for treating rebels.
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