October 9, 2018

RESEARCH

Factors Contributing to Congenital Syphilis Cases - New York City, 2010-2016. During 2010-2016, 578 New York City women with syphilis infection were noted to be pregnant, and in 510 (88.2%) pregnancies congenital syphilis did not occur. In the majority of the 68 congenital syphilis cases, maternal syphilis diagnosis occurred too late to prevent congenital syphilis.   (MMWR, 10/5/18)

PRESS RELEASE

Readout of Secretary Azar's Meetings at the G20 Health Ministerial Meeting. Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar attended the G20 Health Ministerial Meeting in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Secretary Azar delivered the following remarks at the plenary session on antimicrobial resistance.  (HHS, 10/4/18)

PERSPECTIVE

New Tools in the Ebola Arsenal. Human Ebola virus disease can be caused by four viruses: Sudan virus, Tai Forest virus, Bundibugyo virus, and Ebola virus (EBOV, species Zaire ebolavirus). The 2014 outbreak of EBOV in West Africa was the worst ever, with more than 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths in Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Mali.  (NEJM, 10/3/18)

PRESS RELEASE

HHS, Genentech Join Forces on Medicines to Combat Influenza, Other Health Security Threats. The company and ASPR's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will jointly manage and share the cost to develop a portfolio of medicines that meet national health security requirements and have commercial uses. The partners will focus first on developing a first-in-class therapeutic for hospitalized influenza patients and a treatment for lung injuries caused by inhaling sulfur mustard gas.  (HHS, 10/1/18)

RESEARCH

Estimates of Flu Vaccination Coverage among Children - United States, 2017-18 Flu Season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data from the National Immunization Survey-Flu (NIS-Flu) to estimate flu vaccination coverage for the US population of children 6 months through 17 years during the 2017-18 flu season. Receipt of flu vaccination was determined by parental report. Vaccination coverage with >1 dose of flu vaccine was 57.9%, a decrease of 1.1 percentage point from the previous flu season.  (CDC, 9/27/18)

NEWS

National Press Conference Kicks Off 2018-2019 Flu Vaccination Campaign. On September 27, 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) along with other public health and medical groups kicked off the 2018-2019 flu vaccine campaign at a press conference held at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. CDC early estimates indicate that more than 900,000 people were hospitalized and more than 80,000 people died from flu last season.  (CDC, 9/18)

See Also:  Influenza and Pneumococcal can be Serious, Health Officials Urge Vaccination (National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, 9/27/18)

MEETING

Science Board to the Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee. The Science Board provides advice to the Commissioner of Food and Drugs and other appropriate officials on specific, complex scientific and technical issues important to FDA and its mission, including emerging issues within the scientific community.  (FDA, 9/18)

NEWS

Wildfire Management Bill Advances Through Committee. The US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee recently advanced the Wildfire Management Technology Advancement Act, which would better reduce the risks from wildfires, increase the effectiveness of wildfire response and increase the use of technology to keep firefighters and communities safe.  (Homeland Preparedness News, 10/5/18)

NEWS

Homeland Security, Energy Department Officials Meet to Discuss Energy Security. Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) met with the Oil and Natural Gas Sector Coordinating Council this week to discuss how industry and government can work strategically to secure pipelines and other critical infrastructure.  (Homeland Security Preparedness, 10/5/18)

NEWS

DHS Conducting Research on Threat Detection of Homemade Explosives. The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is researching the detection and prevention of homemade explosives at various labs and test facilities across the country.  (Homeland Preparedness News, 10/4/18)

NEWS

State and Federal Disaster Funds Top $210 Million. Three weeks after the federal disaster declaration for Hurricane Florence, more than $210 million in state and federal funds has been provided directly to North Carolinians to aid in their recovery.  (FEMA, 10/4/18)

NEWS

Cellphone Users Nationwide Just Received a 'Presidential Alert.' Here's What to Know. Wednesday's test of the Wireless Emergency Alerts system is the first time that emergency management officials have used the nationwide alerting capabilities reserved for the office of the president.  (The Washington Post, 10/4/18)

NEWS

FBI Arrests Utah Man in Ricin Scare at Pentagon. The FBI on Wednesday arrested a Navy veteran suspected of sending two envelopes to the Pentagon this week that contained raw materials for the deadly poison ricin.  (The New York Times, 10/3/18)

PRESS RELEASE

HHS Seeks to Repurpose Burn Dressings for Radiation Emergencies. To prepare for radiological and nuclear emergencies, the US Department of Health and Human Services will work with Argentum Medical, LLC of Geneva, Illinois, to repurpose its commercial product Silverlon for radiation injuries of the skin.  (HHS, 10/2/18)

RESEARCH

Tracking Health Seeking Behavior during an Ebola Outbreak via Mobile Phones and SMS. The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa was an exemplar for the need to rapidly measure population-level health-seeking behaviors, in order to understand healthcare utilization during emergency situations. Taking advantage of the high prevalence of mobile phones, the authors deployed a national SMS-poll and collected data about individual-level health and health-seeking behavior throughout the outbreak from 6694 individuals from March to June 2015 in Liberia.  (Nature, 10/2/18)

BLOG

In the Eye of the Storm: DoD Has Its Own Hurricane Hunters. The military always comes to the rescue of people in need after hurricanes, just as the National Guard and other service members have been doing in the Carolinas since Hurricane Florence hit. But did you know they're also responsible for helping collect the data that lets us know the storms are coming?  (Department of Defense, 10/2/18)

BLOG

ASPR and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Forge New Partnership to Deliver Novel and Robust Health Security Capabilities. On September 18, marking seventeen years since the first anthrax attack in the United States, the President unveiled a National Biodefense Strategy and signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum which directed federal agencies to collaborate on biodefense, including budgets, to make the nation safer.  (HHS, 10/1/18)

CONFERENCE

BARDA Industry Day. BARDA remains committed to engaging with our industry and government partners to fulfill our mission, saving lives and protecting Americans through the research and development of medical countermeasures against serious health security threats. The theme of BARDA Industry Day 2018 is "Driving Innovation."  (HHS, 10/18)

RESEARCH

Public Health Resilience Checklist for High-Consequence Infectious Diseases-Informed by the Domestic Ebola Response in the United States. This research was intended to gather important lessons from the communities that responded to confirmed cases of EVD and draw out recommendations for future HCID events. These recommendations have been developed into an evidence-informed checklist that outlines specific actions for public health authorities, in partnership with government, nongovernmental organizations, medical facilities, private industry, and other stakeholders, to strengthen resilience to HCID events.  (Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 10/18)

REPORT

Supply Chain Resilience and the 2017 Hurricane Season. Following the 2017 hurricane season, CNA analysts were on the ground with warehouse managers, truckers, water supply engineers, FEMA officials and shopkeepers with one goal: to get a real picture of how supply chains for food, fuel and water react in the aftermath of disaster.  (CNA Corporation, 10/18)

REPORT

Medical Product Shortages During Disasters: Opportunities to Predict, Prevent, and Respond: Proceedings of a Workshop. In response to the shortage of intravenous saline solution that was exacerbated during the 2017 hurricane season, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a workshop to better understand the gaps that led to cascading effects in patient care throughout the US health care system.  (National Academies, 9/28/18)