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The deadline to submit an abstract for presentation at ASM Biothreats 2019 has been extended to October 19th at 5:00p.m. For more information, see the conference website

Today's Headlines: October 19, 2018

Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases

An Ebola Outbreak Presents a New Mystery Involving Children ( STAT) Epidemiologists working on the world's latest Ebola outbreak are racing to try to solve a mystery. Why have so many children - some still infants - been infected with the virus? The disproportionate number of recent infections among children in the Democratic Republic of Congo - specifically in Beni, the outbreak's current hot spot - has come as a surprise; typically young children don't make up a big proportion of cases during an Ebola outbreak. Go to article

Ebola Virus Disease Democratic Republic of the Congo - External Situation Report 11 ( WHO) The Ebola virus disease outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to be closely monitored by the Ministry of Health, WHO and partners. Significant improvements have been made over the past weeks, including strong performances by field teams conducting vaccinations and improved community engagement and risk communication in priority areas. However, as new cases continue to emerge from both Beni and near Kasenyi, which is in a security 'red zone' and close to internally displaced person camps, it is clear that risks remain and that strong response measures need to be maintained. Go to article

Welcome to the First War Zone Ebola Crisis ( Foreign Policy) The signs of a coming Ebola crisis are mounting. The disease is spreading rapidly in a region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where health care workers have been facing unprecedented violent attacks, both by insurgent militants and anxious locals. Go to article

More Ebola Cases Reported from Beni, WHO Update Covers More 'Red Zone' Risks ( CIDRAP) The Democratic Republic of Congo health ministry today reported three more lab-confirmed Ebola cases, all from Beni, the current outbreak hot spot. Go to article

West Nile Virus and Other Nationally Notifiable Arboviral Diseases - United States, 2017 ( MMWR) Arthropodborne viruses (arboviruses) are transmitted to humans primarily through the bites of infected mosquitoes or ticks. West Nile virus is the leading cause of domestically acquired arboviral disease in the continental US. Other arboviruses, including Jamestown Canyon, La Crosse, Powassan, St. Louis encephalitis, and eastern equine encephalitis viruses, cause sporadic cases of disease and occasional outbreaks. This report summarizes surveillance data reported to CDC from US states in 2017 for nationally notifiable arboviruses. Go to article


Domestic Preparedness & Response

An App Built for Hurricane Harvey Is Now Saving Lives in Florida ( Wired) Last Wednesday, Hurricane Michael slammed into the Florida Panhandle at 155 miles per hour, flattening neighborhoods, turning subdivisions into rubble, and plunging the coast into darkness. On Friday, Trevor Lewis packed up two trucks with crowbars, chainsaws, sledgehammers, ropes, walkie talkies, and five other guys from Cocoa Beach, where he lives on the east side of the state. As night fell they began the drive up into the worst of the wreckage. By 4 am on Saturday they were responding to their first call for help. Go to article


Government Affairs & National Security

US Health Security National Action Plan: Strengthening Implementation of the International Health Regulations ( Public Health Emergency) On October 18, 2018, the US Government released the US Health Security National Action Plan: Strengthening Implementation of the International Health Regulations based on the 2016 Joint External Evaluation, containing hundreds of cross-sectoral activities to make our country better prepared to prevent, detect, and respond to public health emergencies. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the US Department of Health and Human Services led the coordination of the plan's development, working closely with the National Security Council and more than 40 US government departments and agencies to identify key activities and ensure long-term support for its implementation. Go to article

HHS Activates Aid for Uninsured Floridians Needing Medicine after Hurricane Michael ( HHS.gov) Thousands of uninsured Floridians are eligible for no-cost replacements of critical medications lost or damaged by Hurricane Michael. This relief comes from the Emergency Prescription Assistance Program, managed by the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The program pays for prescription medications for people without health insurance who are affected by disasters. More than 4,900 Florida pharmacies participate in EPAP, and more than 72,000 pharmacies participate nationwide. Go to article


Medicine & Public Health

The Biggest Pandemic Risk? Viral Misinformation ( Nature) A hundred years ago this month, the death rate from the 1918 influenza was at its peak. An estimated 500 million people were infected over the course of the pandemic; between 50 million and 100 million died, around 3% of the global population at the time. Go to article

New Addition to the Sentinel Level Clinical Laboratory Protocols for Suspected Biological Threat Agents and Emerging Infectious Diseases ( American Society for Microbiology) In coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Association of Public Health Laboratories, ASM developed protocols designed to offer Laboratory Response Network Sentinel Level Clinical Laboratories standardized, practical methods and techniques to rule out microorganisms suspected as agents of bioterrorism, or to refer specimens to public health laboratories for confirmation. The tests and phenotypic characteristics described for each organism are conventional manual tests commonly performed in the laboratory. Go to article

APIC and CDC Develop Quick Observation Tools to Help Prevent HAIs ( APIC) The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today announced the availability of free, downloadable Quick Observation Tools for infection control to help healthcare facilities quickly identify infection prevention deficiencies and take corrective action in real time to protect patients from healthcare-associated infections. Go to article

Developmental Roadmap for Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Systems ( Nature Reviews Microbiology) Antimicrobial susceptibility testing technologies help to accelerate the initiation of targeted antimicrobial therapy for patients with infections and could potentially extend the lifespan of current narrow-spectrum antimicrobials. Although conceptually new and rapid AST technologies have been described, including new phenotyping methods, digital imaging and genomic approaches, there is no single major, or broadly accepted, technological breakthrough that leads the field of rapid AST platform development. Go to article


Science & Technology

Estimating the Cost of Vaccine Development Against Epidemic Infectious Diseases: A Cost Minimisation Study ( Lancet Global Health) The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations was established in 2016, to develop vaccines that can contribute to preparedness for outbreaks of epidemic infectious diseases. Evidence on vaccine development costs for such diseases is scarce. Our goal was to estimate the minimum cost for achieving vaccine research and development preparedness targets in a portfolio of 11 epidemic infectious diseases, accounting for vaccine pipeline constraints and uncertainty in research and development preparedness outcomes. Go to article

See Also: The Cost and Challenge of Vaccine Development for Emerging and Emergent Infectious Diseases ( Lancet Global Health) The Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, and Zika outbreaks each highlighted substantial and varied gaps in vaccine development. First, vaccine research was reactive. Even for Ebola, despite three decades of vaccine research, human trials were limited to two vaccine candidates in the early to mid-2000s. Second, vaccine trials occurred during epidemics with an evolving epidemiology. And third, while funding materialised to combat each outbreak, interest and financial support waned as case prevalences fell and imminent danger receded. These issues highlighted the urgent need for a coordinated and consistent approach to vaccine development for emerging and emergent pathogens. Go to article

Novel DNA Vaccine Design Offers Broad Protection Against Influenza-A H3N2 ( EurekAlert!) Researchers developed a novel DNA influenza vaccine based on four micro-consensus antigenic regions selected to represent the diversity of seasonal H3N2 viruses across decades. The DNA vaccine protected mice against a lethal challenge with more than one influenza-A H3N2 virus and protected them from severe H3N2-related illness despite the lack of an exact sequence match between the vaccine immunogen and H3 immunogen. Go to article

The EKG Is Only a Start. Apple Wants to Seize the Market for Patient Monitoring ( STAT) Apple's EKG app stands out in a maze of health technologies for its ability to monitor a user's heart function around the clock from any location, generating a stream of data that could personalize cardiology care and lead to the development of more effective treatments. Go to article


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