May 23, 2017
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Public Health & Healthcare Preparedness
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REPORT
Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.
Often called "the voice of CDC," the MMWR series is the agency's primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and useful public health information and recommendations.
(CDC, 5/19/17)
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FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
Collaborative HIV and Emerging Diseases Award.
The vision of the Military Human Immunodeficiency Virus Research Program is to address the threat of HIV and other emerging infectious diseases (such as MERS-CoV, Ebola, Lassa, Zika) to the military and global communities by seeking globally effective vaccines; ensuring accurate infectious diseases testing for the military tracking epidemics in active duty populations; assessing the risk of infectious diseases exposure to US and Allied Forces; and providing HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs to civilian and military populations through PEPFAR.
(Grants.gov, 5/18/17)
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| COMMENTARY
Financing of International Collective Action for Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness. Researchers from USAID, CEPI, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the World Bank describe the challenges associated with quantifying the size of losses caused by large-scale outbreaks. (The Lancet, 5/18/17) |
COMMENTARY
Fogarty International Center, a Linchpin of Global Health Research. S
mall but mighty, the Fogarty International Center has had an oversized impact on improving health around the world for the last half century. By providing funding to advance international health research and train health researchers from the United States and low- and middle-income countries, its efforts have benefitted patients worldwide, including the United States.
(JAMA, 5/17/17)
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PRESS RELEASE
The Secretary's Ventures Fund Announces 2017 Projects.
The projects selected by HHS Ventures represent critical areas of opportunity in improving the efficiency of the Department and include: Optimizing Cyber-Molecular Surveillance of Viral Hepatitis, The Fight Against Zika - Leveraging Health Information Technology, Internet Devices to Improve Animal Care, Electronic Signature Capture and Data Transfer, and Streamlining Acquisition of Lab Supplies.
(Department of Health & Human Services, 5/17/17)
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BLOG
How Students Can Empower Their Communities to Protect Against Zika.
Professionals working with students this summer, either in schools, camps, or other youth-led programs, can provide opportunities for students to reach out to members of their community and help inform others about the risks of Zika and how to guard against the disease. Such activities are great ways to involve students in supporting national health security.
(ASPR, 5/17/17)
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NEWS
NBAF on Schedule, Within Budget.
Under construction on a 46.8-acre site at the north end of K-State's main campus, NBAF will be a bio-security Level 4 laboratory and the foremost animal disease research facility under the US Department of Homeland Security.
(The Mercury, 5/16/17)
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NEWS
How HIV Became a Matter of International Security.
Doctors had identified HIV/AIDS more than 15 years before, but only by 2000 was its true global impact beginning to become clear. Richard Holbrooke, the US ambassador to the UN, then sitting as president of the National Security Council, had seen first-hand how AIDS could devastate communities.
(Mosaic, 5/16/17)
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| COMMENTARY
An End to Pandemics is Within Reach, but We Must Redouble Efforts Now. Daniel Schar, senior regional emerging infectious diseases advisor at USAID's regional mission in Bangkok, explains why WHO's new director-general should prioritize developing a focused and targeted approach to ending the pandemic era. (STAT News, 5/15/17) |
BLOG
Preventing Outbreaks: US Investment in Global Health Security Training.
Biological agents including viruses, bacteria, and toxins, can devastate local economies with their potential effects on humans and livestock. In addition to potentially catastrophic immediate impact, these agents could also set in motion long-term disasters, causing regional instability and challenging international security. For these reasons, the US Department of State invests in many programs to reduce biological security risks.
(Department of State, 5/15/17)
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COMMENTARY
Latent Tuberculosis Infection: the Final Frontier of Tuberculosis Elimination in the USA. CDC researchers report that efforts to eliminate tuberculosis in the US
should consist of a surveillance system or registry to monitor progress, scale-up of targeted testing for latent tuberculosis infection in at-risk populations, scale-up of short-course treatment regimens, engagement of affected communities and medical providers who serve those communities, and increased public health staffing for implementation and oversight.
(The Lancet, 5/8/17)
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WORKSHOP
Building a National Capability to Monitor and Assess Medical Countermeasure Use in Response to Public Health Emergencies.
This workshop (sponsored by FDA), will convene experts representing a selection of government, academia and other researchers, the private sector, and public health and health care stakeholders and organizations currently involved with, or who have an interest in the concept of, building a national capability to monitor and assess public health emergency medical countermeasure use after dispensing/administration during public health emergencies. The workshop will take place on June 6-7, 2017 in Washington, DC. Registration is required.
(National Academies, of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 5/17)
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LECTURE
How Deadly Burgers Made Food Safer - The Impact of the 1993 E.coli O157 Outbreak.
In this presentation on Thursday, May 25th, Patricia M. Griffin, MD; Robert Tauxe, MD, MPH; Bala Swaminathan, PhD; and Beth Bell, MD, will discuss the 1993 E. coli O157 outbreak and the subsequent changes in food safety regulation. The speakers will take part in a question-and-answer session. The lecture will be held at the Roybal Campus, Alexander D. Langmuir Auditorium, or may be streamed here.
(CDC, 5/17)
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WEBINAR
Highly Pathogenic Infectious Disease Exercise Planning for Frontline Facilities.
The National Ebola Training and Education Center (NETEC) and ASPR's Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (ASPR TRACIE) are hosting a webinar that will focus on exercise planning for Frontline Facilities -- acute care hospitals and other emergency care settings, such as urgent care clinics and critical access hospitals -- that have not been designated as an Ebola Treatment Center or Assessment Hospital. The webinar will take place on May 24, 2017, 2-3 PM EST. Registration is required.
(ASPR, 5/17)
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Homeland Security & Disaster Preparedness
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GUIDANCE
NIST Releases Six New Community Resilience Planning Guide Briefs.
Communities striving to improve their resilience by better planning for and dealing with hazard events will want to review six new "Guide Briefs" issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The documents complement NIST's Community Resilience Planning Guide for Buildings and Infrastructure Systems, which lays out a six-step process to plan for resilience in the face of natural, technological, and human-caused hazards.
(NIST, 5/17/17)
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Radiological & Nuclear Disaster Preparedness
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NEWS
Why US Nuclear Sites are a Ticking Time Bomb.
On 9 May, the roof collapsed in a tunnel that houses highly radioactive waste at the US Department of Energy's sprawling Hanford site in Washington state. Radiation monitors showed no signs of airborne contamination after the collapse, so workers at the site were released and the hole was filled with fresh soil.
(Nature, 5/17/17)
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BLOG
Nuclear Security Training Center Opens in Kazakhstan. T
he Republic of Kazakhstan, in cooperation with the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA), opened its Nuclear Security Training Center May 12 in Alatau, Kazakhstan.
The training center allows Kazakhstan to train personnel from local, regional, and international nuclear facilities and organizations. It will focus on fundamental and advanced nuclear security topics and provide a venue for discussing best practices
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(NNSA, 5/15/17)
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Science & Technology Policy
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NEWS
How to Sequence DNA in Space.
Last summer, NASA dispatched Kate Rubins, a microbiologist with a doctorate in cancer biology, to try it for the first time. Rubins has spent her career studying infectious diseases and worked with the US Army to develop therapies for the Ebola and Lassa viruses.
(The Atlantic, 5/19/17)
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NEWS
Trump Reportedly Considering New Cuts to Biomedical Research.
According to two sources within the NIH who were briefed on the issue, the administration may pursue a new strategy in its quest for cuts, by proposing a 10 percent cap on the NIH's indirect costs -- the money it gives to grantees to support administration, equipment, libraries, IT, lighting, heating, electricity, and other overhead.
(The Atlantic, 5/17/17)
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| US Public Health Response to the Zika Virus: Continuing Challenges. US House Committee on Energy & Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. 5/23/17, 10 AM. Rayburn 2123. More |
Stopping the Shipment of Synthetic Opioids: Oversight of US Strategy to Combat Illicit Drugs. US Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Government Affairs, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 5/25/17, 9:30 AM. Dirksen 342.
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