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The purpose of this project was to develop an evidence-informed checklist that outlines action steps for medical and public health authorities, in partnership with nongovernmental organizations and private industry, to assess and strengthen the resilience of their community's health sector in the face of Ebola Virus Disease or other high consequence infectious diseases. Read now

Today's Headlines: June 27, 2017
 
Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases

Influenza Update No 292--26 June 2017, Based on Data up to 11 June, 2017 ( WHO) Information in this report is categorized by influenza transmission zones, which are geographical groups of countries, areas or territories with similar influenza transmission patterns. Go to article

Nigeria: After Six Months, Meningitis Outbreak over ( Outbreak News Today) The meningococcal meningitis C outbreak in Nigeria that began in mid-December 2016 in Zamfara State has been declared over, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Friday. The Emergency Operations Centre responding to the epidemic has stepped down as the outbreak has been in constant decline for eight weeks. Go to article


Domestic Preparedness & Response

EMS Infectious Disease Playbook ( HHS/ASPR/TRACIE) This document was created using official or best practice information taken from multiple organizations that was vetted and assembled by subject matter experts working for the Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange at the request of the US Department of Health and Human Services/Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The aim was not to develop novel guidance for emergency medical services agencies, but to unify multiple sources of information in a single planning document addressing the full spectrum of infectious agents to create a concise reference resource for EMS agencies developing their service policies. Go to article


Government Affairs & National Security

More Lawmakers Want the Army to Hold a Hearing on Zika Vaccine Pricing ( STAT) A half dozen US senators want the US Army to hold a public hearing to explore the controversy over the pricing of a Zika virus vaccine that Sanofi is developing with taxpayer dollars. Go to article


Global Health Security

Tens of Thousands Have Fled Violence in Congo Republic ( Thomson Reuters Foundation) More than 80,000 people have fled their homes in Pool province surrounding Congo Republic's capital since the government began a military operation there last year, a joint UN and government statement said. The campaign, involving occasional aerial bombardments, aims to curb what the government says is a resurgent rebellion led by Pastor Ntumi, an enemy of President Denis Sassou Nguesso from the oil-rich country's 1997 civil war. Go to article

Stopping Pandemics Before They Start ( New York Times) Imagine that enemies possessed a class of weapons with which they attacked your people from time to time. Decades could go by with no attack, but eventually one would come. Imagine also that these weapons were growing more potent, and the attacks were becoming more frequent. Go to article


Medicine & Public Health

CDC's EIS Program Molds Clinicians into Public Health Professionals ( Healio) The EIS program is famous in the medical community for investigating outbreaks around the globe. Many of its reports, including Dirlikov's dispatch about the rabies case, are published in MMWR. But the program is less well known by the general public, despite having its boot prints on some of the biggest health crises of the last 60-plus years. Go to article

Clinical Laboratory Values as Early Indicators of Ebola Virus Infection in Nonhuman Primates ( Emerging Infectious Diseases) The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa during 2013-2016 demonstrated the need to improve Ebola virus disease diagnostics and standards of care. This retrospective study compared laboratory values and clinical features of 3 nonhuman primate models of lethal EVD to assess associations with improved survival time. Go to article

DNA Testing Reveals the Chance of Bad News in Your Genes ( MIT Technology Review) Whole-genome sequencing provides a full readout of all six billion letters in a person's DNA. That can be a powerful tool to diagnose serious, and usually mysterious, diseases. Go to article

Accuracy of Zika Virus Disease Case Definition During Simultaneous Dengue and Chikungunya Epidemics ( PLOS One) Zika is a new disease in the American continent and its surveillance is of utmost importance, especially because of its ability to cause neurological manifestations as Guillain-Barre syndrome and serious congenital malformations through vertical transmission. The detection of suspected cases by the surveillance system depends on the case definition adopted. Go to article


Science & Technology

Oxford Nanopore's Hand-held DNA Analyzer Has Traveled the World ( MIT Technology Review) Last June, a British-Brazilian scientific team boarded a bus that had been turned into a makeshift laboratory and headed out to tour six cities across northeastern Brazil. The researchers were there to find mosquitoes infected with the Zika virus and sequence its genome in their blood, since the evolution of the viral genome contains clues to the epidemic's origins. But rather than collect insects and send the samples back to a central lab, they'd outfitted the bus with everything they needed to do the research. The most important item: a DNA sequencer about the size and weight of a deck of cards that runs off a laptop USB plug and costs just $1,000. Go to article


Other 21st Century Threats

STAT Forecast: Opioids Could Kill Nearly 500,000 Americans in the Next Decade ( STAT) Opioids could kill nearly half a million people across America over the next decade as the crisis of addiction and overdose accelerates. Deaths from opioids have been rising sharply for years, and drug overdoses already kill more Americans under age 50 than anything else. Go to article

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