April 17, 2018

JUST ANNOUNCED: Players for Clade X Pandemic Tabletop Exercise Include Current and Former Elected Officials, Former Senior Government Leaders

Former high-ranking US government officials and a current US congresswoman will play a team of presidential advisors tasked with leading the policy response to a fictional outbreak scenario in the upcoming Clade X pandemic tabletop exercise hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. 

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NEWS
Pentagon Wants to Spot Illnesses by Monitoring Soldiers' Smartphones. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced Thursday that it has awarded a $5.1 million contract to the Fairfax, VA-based cybersecurity company Kryptowire to develop what DARPA calls the "Warfighter Analytics using Smartphones for Health" program, or WASH, for short. The app would be used to spot diseases based on data that it collects from a person's smartphone. (Washington Post, 4/15/18)

GUIDANCE
Select Mass Violence Resources. Mass violence incidents require efficiency and coordination among multiple response entities. Efforts may need to be directed toward doing the greatest good for the greatest amount of people, which is counter to day-to-day trauma triage. These ASPR TRACIE-developed resources can help our stakeholders prepare for, respond to, and help their communities recover from these traumatic events. (ASPR, 4/13/18)

RESEARCH
Zika Virus Shedding in Semen of Symptomatic Infected Men. CDC researchers conducted a prospective study involving men with symptomatic ZIKV infection to determine the frequency and duration of ZIKV shedding in semen and urine and to identify risk factors for prolonged shedding in these fluids. (New England Journal of Medicine, 4/12/18)

See also: Study Suggests Risk of Sexual Transmission of Zika May Dissipate Quickly (STAT News, 4/11/18)

COMMENTARY
American Leadership Against Deadly Epidemics Reaches a Decision Point. Americans should be proud that US leadership against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria has saved tens of millions of lives and helped dramatically to reduce their devastation. But what should be the long-term objective of these investments?  (The Hill, 4/12/18)

CONFERENCE
67th Annual EIS Conference. CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) will host the 67th Annual EIS Conference from April 16-19 in Atlanta. During the event, EIS officers -- also known as CDC "disease detectives" -- will describe the investigations they conducted over the past year. (CDC, 4/12/18)

BLOG
Containing Drug-Resistant Bacteria is a Global Challenge. Our programs help ensure health care providers correctly diagnose and treat TB and MDR-TB, provide a support system to ensure patients complete lengthy treatments, and make healthcare accessible so that patients come for treatment early.  (Dipnote, 4/12/18)

BLOG
Decontamination Decoded: Disrobing, Dry Wiping Removes 99% of Chemical Contaminants. ASPR's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) sponsored a set of scientific studies at the University of Hertfordshire on chemical decontamination. The results of these studies, codified as the Primary Response Incident Scene Management (PRISM) Guidance for Chemical Incidents, will help local emergency management planners and first responders prepare for and respond to disasters involving chemical agents. (ASPR, 4/11/18)

NEWS
Republicans Couldn't Knock Down Obamacare. So They're Finding Ways Around It. More customers who want to avoid buying health insurance can now find a way out of the law's individual-mandate penalty, which will disappear completely next year. Those who want skimpy plans not covering maternity care or bills exceeding a set annual amount may soon have that option in many states - provided they don't have pre-existing conditions. (New York Times, 4/11/18)

NEWS
BiodVax, NIAID Kick Off Phase 2 Universal Flu Vaccine Study in US. Investigators will test BiondVax's candidate, M-001, in 120 adults ages 18 to 49 at three NIAID trial sites. The participants will either receive two shots of the vaccine or two shots of placebo a few weeks apart. Several weeks later, they'll receive an unadjuvanted quadrivalent vaccine. (FiercePharma, 4/11/18)

PRESS RELEASE
HHS Sponsors its Largest Exercise for Moving Patients with Highly Infectious Diseases. Coordinated by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, more than 50 organizations will participate, including the Department of State, Department of Transportation, the Regional Ebola Treatment Centers, local and state health and emergency management agencies, hospitals, airport authorities, and non-government organizations. (Department of Health & Human Services, 4/10/18)

NEWS
PMI Welcomes Dr. Kenneth Staley as the New US Global Malaria Coordinator. We look forward to working under the leadership of Dr. Staley to redouble PMI efforts to expand the coverage of proven interventions to people in need, where they live, in rural communities whereby further contributing to shrinking the malaria map. (President's Malaria Initiative, 4/10/18)

PRESS RELEASE
NIH Scientists Develop Macaque Model to Study Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever. Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, conducted a pilot study using CCHF virus to infect African green monkeys, rhesus macaques, and cynomolgus macaques. (NIH, 4/9/18)

See also: A Cynomolgus Macaque Model for Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (Nature Microbiology, 4/9/18)

BLOG
Responding to Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Disease Threats in 2017. The progress to track and prevent C. auris is just one example of the important work experts from CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases tackled in 2017.  (CDC, 4/9/18)

COMMENTARY
Safeguarding Against Ebola: Vaccines and Therapeutics to be Stockpiled for Future Outbreaks. BARDA provides funding, programmatic, and regulatory technical support for the advanced development of promising medical countermeasures toward licensure. In response to the West Africa Ebola outbreak, BARDA supported the development of Ebola vaccines and therapeutics candidates, with emphasis on late-stage development activities and manufacturing current Good Manufacturing Practice products for use in clinical trials. (PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 4/5/18)

NEWS
USAID, State, and DoD to Release First-Ever Stabilization Assistance Review. The Trump administration is releasing the first of its kind interagency review of United States overseas involvement that creates a framework for how the State Department, US Agency for International Development, and Department of Defense can coordinate efforts to streamline diplomacy, aid, and military operations around the world and maximize resources and results.  (Devex, 4/16/18)

NEWS
HUD Sending Another $791 Million to State for Irma, Matthew Recovery. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development announced this week it will send another $791 million in disaster recovery funds Florida's way through its Community Development Block Grant program to help homes and buildings damaged by hurricanes Irma and Matthew.  (Emergency Management, 4/13/18)

NEWS
Why Won't the Government Let Me Study Gun Violence? In 1996, just a few years before the school shooting in Columbine, Colorado, Congress affixed the Dickey Amendment to an omnibus spending bill. The legislation prohibits the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from using federal funds to advocate or promote gun control. (CityLab, 4/12/18)

NEWS
US Officials: Blood Samples Show Nerve Agent, Chlorine in Syria Gas Attack. Officials also said that the U.S. has compiled intelligence from the U.S. and other countries, including images, that indicate the Syrian government was behind the weekend attack. (NBC News, 4/12/18)

NEWS
FEMA Criticized for Suppliers Not Delivering Hurricane Aid as Promised. The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded contracts for hurricane supplies without adequately researching whether winning bidders could deliver what they promised, according to a new investigation by Democrats on a Senate oversight committee. (Insurance Journal, 4/11/18)

BLOG
When Disasters Hit, Help Is as Close as Your USDA Service Center. Thanks to a "toolbox" of Congressionally-approved disaster assistance programs, after any catastrophic event, a producer can walk into any one of 2,100 Farm Service Agency offices the next day and apply for help. At USDA, we provide emergency loans, farm insurance, and a long list of assistance designed to ensure that producers who lose livestock, crops or trees and bushes.  (USDA, 4/10/18)

NEWS
What if a Nuke Goes Off in Washington, DC? Simulations of Artificial Societies Help Planners Cope with the Unthinkable. Models like National Planning Scenario 1 tend to be big -- each of the model's initial runs kept a 500-microprocessor computing cluster busy for a day and a half-forcing the agents to be relatively simple-minded. "There's a fundamental trade-off between the complexity of individual agents and the size of the simulation," says Jonathan Pfautz, who funds agent-based modeling of social behavior as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (Science, 4/12/18)

NEWS
FDA Finalizes Guidances to Accelerate the Development of Reliable, Beneficial Next Generation Sequencing-Based Tests. The Food and Drug Administration today finalized two guidances to drive the efficient development of a novel technology that scans a person's DNA to diagnose genetic diseases, which are usually hereditary, and guide medical treatments. (FDA, 4/12/18)

This Week's Hearings

Tackling Opioid and Substance Use Disorders in Medicare, Medicaid, and Human Services Programs. US Senate Committee on Finance. 4/19/18, 10 AM. Dirksen 215. More

FY 2019 Budget Health and Human Services Biodefense Activities. US House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. 4/18/10, 10 AM. Rayburn 2358-C. More

Game Changers: Artificial Intelligence Part III, Artificial Intelligence and Public Policy. US House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, Subcommittee on Information Technology. 4/18/18, 2 PM. Rayburn 2154. More