Madagascar Plague: Some Additional Details, Updated Case Count ( Outbreak News Today) In a follow-up to a report last Friday on the pneumonic plague outbreak in Madagascar, the WHO offered up an updated case count and additional details surrounding the occurrence of plague on the island nation off the southeast coast of Africa. Go to article

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV)--United Arab Emirates ( WHO) On 23 August 2017, the national IHR focal point of the United Arab Emirates reported 1 additional case of MERS-CoV infection. Go to article

Government Affairs & National Security

CDC Issues Guidance on Storm Recovery ( Reuters) The CDC has been using multiple channels to get the word out about post-storm safety to residents of areas still reeling from the effects of recent hurricanes.  Go to article

Global Health Security

The European Medical Corps: First Public Health Team Mission and Future Perspectives ( Eurosurveillance) The 2013-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa challenged traditional international mechanisms for public health team mobilisation to control outbreaks. Consequently, in February 2016, the European Union launched the European Medical Corps, a mechanism developed in collaboration with the WHO to rapidly deploy teams and equipment in response to public health emergencies inside and outside the EU. Go to article

Global Health and the Future Role of the United States ( The National Academies) Global Health and the Future Role of the United States, released in Spring 2017 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, assesses US investments in global health. Using the same rigor that the National Academies applied in advising US policy for more than 150 years, a committee of experts from across the global health field reached consensus on why and how to continue America's commitment to global health. Go to article

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Its Partners' Contributions to Global Health Security ( Emerging Infectious Diseases) To achieve compliance with the revised World Health Organization International Health Regulations, countries must be able to rapidly prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats. Most nations, however, remain unprepared to manage and control complex health emergencies, whether due to natural disasters, emerging infectious disease outbreaks, or the inadvertent or intentional release of highly pathogenic organisms. Go to article

Medicine & Public Health

Investigational MERS Vaccine Receives Approval for Phase I Trial in South Korea ( Outbreak News Today) GeneOne Life Science, Inc. announces that it has received approval from the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for an Investigational New Drug application for a Phase I/IIa study of its investigational vaccine, GLS-5300, against MERS-CoV. The study in Korea represents the 2nd clinical trial for GLS-5300. Go to article

Mobile Dialysis Could Save Lives in a Disaster. But is There a Cost to Safety? ( STAT News Plus: subscription required) The calls started coming in the days after Hurricane Sandy. Flooded dialysis centers had shuttered across New York and New Jersey. Some patients and practitioners didn't know where to turn. So they dialed Anita Chambers. Go to article

CVS Tightens Restrictions on Opioid Prescriptions in Bid to Stanch Epidemic ( STAT News) CVS Health announced Thursday that it was limiting the amount and strength of prescription opioid painkillers it provides to patients taking the drugs for the first time, a step intended to help curb opioid abuse. Go to article

Nursing Home Disaster Plans Often Faulted as 'Paper Tigers' ( Kaiser Health News) It does not take a hurricane to put nursing home residents at risk when disaster strikes. Around the country, facilities have been caught unprepared for far more mundane emergencies than the hurricanes that recently struck Florida and Houston, according to an examination of federal inspection records. Go to article

Science & Technology

Vaccine Against Zika Virus Must Remain a Priority ( The Lancet) On Sept 1, the pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur announced that it was withdrawing from development of a vaccine against Zika virus infection. This announcement raises concerns about the future of Zika virus vaccine development, at a time when the number of cases is falling and other questions about the virus remain unanswered. Go to article

Bring on the BodyNET (Nature) Electronics are set to merge with our bodies to extend our perceptions. Smartphones and watches will give way to the bodyNET: a network of sensors, screens and smart devices woven into our clothing, worn on our skin and implanted in our bodies. Go to article

Zika Virus and Culex quinquefasciatus ( The Lancet) In early 2016, researchers in northeastern Brazil announced that another mosquito species, Culex quinquefasciatus, which also inhabits domestic environments, could be involved in the transmission of Zika virus. Go to article

Variation in Loss of Immunity Shapes Influenza Epidemics and the Impact of Vaccination ( BMC Infectious Diseases) We developed a range of mathematical transmission models to investigate the effect of variable duration of immunity on the size of seasonal epidemics. Go to article

Other 21st Century Threats

Mexicans Dig Through Quake Rubble as Death Toll Passes 200 ( New York Times) Mexicans, fighting fatigue and ebbing hope, hurried Wednesday to dig out survivors still trapped in dozens of collapsed buildings a day after a powerful earthquake rattled the capital and killed at least 230 people, including 30 schoolchildren. Go to article

The United States Need an Earthquake Warning System Already ( Wired) On Monday night, residents of the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Westwood, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and parts of the San Fernando Valley experienced a mild earthquake--a magnitude 3.6. Most people slept through the temblor and no damage was reported. But a select group of 150 LA residents got a text alert on their mobile phone a full 8 seconds before the quake hit at 11:10pm. Go to article

WHO Condemns Attacks on Hospitals and Health Workers in Idlib and Hama ( WHO) Multiple reported attacks on health facilities and personnel today in the Syrian Arab Republic have killed and injured health workers and disrupted health services for thousands of people. Go to article