EID Journal: A New Bat-HKU2-like Coronavirus in Swine, China, 2017 (
Avian Flu Diary) Until SARS emerged on the world stage in 2003 (see SARS and Remembrance), coronaviruses were believed only capable of producing mild `cold-like' illnesses in humans. Six coronaviruses capable of infecting humans have now been identified, but only two of them (MERS-CoV & SARS-CoV) are routinely linked to severe illnesses.
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Additional Cases of Human Plague in Santa Fe County (
New Mexico Department of Health) The New Mexico Department of Health is reporting two recent confirmed plague cases in 52-year-old and 62-year-old females from Santa Fe County. With the addition of these cases, there have been three human plague cases from Santa Fe County in 2017. All three cases required hospitalization. There have been no deaths from plague in 2017.
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Human Infection with Avian Influenza A(H7N9) Virus - China (
WHO) On 2 June 2017, the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China notified WHO of nine additional laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus in China. On 9 June 2017, the NHFPC notified WHO of 12 additional laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus in mainland China.
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Maine CDC Investigating Case of Measles, First Case Since 1997 (
WCSH 6 Portland) The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a travel-associated confirmed case of measles in Franklin County. The CDC says there are currently no other cases of measles in Maine. Maine Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory confirmed the case and says the last case of measles was in 1997.
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Domestic Preparedness & Response
The True Test of a Successful Crisis Response: Public Trust (
Domestic Preparedness) First and foremost, to help maintain public trust, emergency managers must be prepared to provide a credible, timely response to a crisis. They must be prepared to meet basic needs through responders and perform to the best of their abilities. The path to achieving this is clear, with resources and trainings available to ensure managers can deliver.
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Government Affairs & National Security
Senate Republicans Put Off Health-care Vote (
The Atlantic) Senate Republican leaders have abandoned plans to vote on legislation overhauling the Affordable Care Act this week, bowing to opposition within their own party and demands from several senators for more time to consider the bill.
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Congressional Appropriators Consider Fogarty's Impact (
NIH: Fogarty International Center) As the Fiscal Year 2018 budget is being considered by Congress, a number of appropriators have discussed Fogarty's role in global health research. The Center represents only a sliver of the NIH's budget yet it has "an outsized impact" on the prevention and mitigation of outbreaks in the world, observed Rep. Rosa DeLauro during the recent NIH House appropriations hearing.
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Medicine & Public Health
Novel Plasmid-Mediated Colistin Resistance Gene mcr-3 in Escherichia coli
(
mBio) The mobile colistin resistance gene
mcr-1 has attracted global attention, as it heralds the breach of polymyxins, one of the last-resort antibiotics for the treatment of severe clinical infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. To date, six slightly different variants of
mcr-1, and a second mobile colistin resistance gene,
mcr-2, have been reported or annotated in the GenBank database.
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How to Treat Ebola Virus Infections? A Lesson from the Field (
Current Opinion in Virology) The reported case fatality ratios of Ebola virus disease have been as high as 90% in previous outbreaks. While the cumulative CFR among patients medically evacuated and treated in Western countries was inferior to 20%, it peaked to approximately 75% between September and December 2014 in West Africa, thereafter decreasing to less than 40% (May 2015) without current evidence of major virus mutations capable to alter virus pathogenicity over the course of the epidemic. Therefore, the observed diminution of CFR is likely to reflect improvement of EVD patient care. Here, we summarize major lessons learned, that is, progresses and knowledge gaps, about the clinical management of patients in West African settings during the 2014-2016 outbreak.
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Science & Technology
The Moral Question That Stanford Asks Its Bioengineering Students (
The Atlantic) When students in Stanford University's Introduction to Bioengineering course sit for their final exams, the first question that they have to answer is about our ability to write DNA. Scientists have fully sequenced the genomes of humans, trees, octopuses, bacteria, and thousands of other species. But it may soon become possible to not just read large genomes but also to write them--synthesizing them from scratch.
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See Also:
The Safety, Immunogenicity, and Acceptability of Inactivated Influenza Vaccine Delivered by Microneedle Patch (TIV-MNP 2015): a Randomised, Partly Blinded, Placebo-controlled, Phase 1 Trial (
The Lancet) Microneedle patches provide an alternative to conventional needle-and-syringe immunisation, and potentially offer improved immunogenicity, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, and safety. We describe safety, immunogenicity, and acceptability of the first-in-man study on single, dissolvable microneedle patch vaccination against influenza.
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A Clever New Way to Predict Next Year's Flu (
The Atlantic) Flu evolves remarkably fast. Consider the example of H3N2, one of two major subtypes of flu that cause trouble every winter. In some cases, a single extremely well-adapted variant of the H3N2 virus can replace all other H3N2 viruses on Earth over just a few years. Then once enough humans become immune to it, the whole cycle begins anew.
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Drones to the Rescue (
MIT Technology Review) If we could send fleets of drones flying medical supplies to people in some of the poorest and most remote parts of the world, would it be worth it? Who's going to pay for the drones, or the equipment needed to house and recharge them? Who'll pay for the personnel to operate them, and the training required?
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Other 21st Century Threats
Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat (
Defense Intelligence Ballistic Missile Analysis Committee) Many countries view ballistic and cruise missile systems as cost-effective weapons and symbols of national power. These weapons present an asymmetric threat to US forces. Many ballistic and cruise missiles are armed with weapons of mass destruction. However, numerous types of ballistic and cruise missiles have achieved dramatic improvements in accuracy that allow them to be used effectively with conventional warheads. These highly accurate weapons can be used in anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) missions. The term A2/AD refers to capabilities designed to deter or counter adversary forces from deploying to or operating within a defined space.
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'Petya' Ransomware Hits at Least 65 Countries; Microsoft Traces It to Tax Software (
NPR) The "Petya" cyberattack that has now struck computers in at least 65 countries can be traced to a Ukrainian company's tax accounting software, Microsoft says. "We saw the first infections in Ukraine - more than 12,500 machines encountered the threat," Microsoft says. "We then observed infections in another 64 countries, including Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Russia, and the US."
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