Winning the War on Tuberculosis ( Scientific American) Tuberculosis continues to plague mankind despite being both curable and preventable. Although clear advances have been made, a stagnated 1.65 percent annual decline in rates, the growing prevalence of multidrug resistance and the lack of an effective vaccine demonstrate how far we are from the elimination goal of one case per million by 2050. The fact remains that TB is the leading infectious disease killer worldwide--estimated to infect 25 percent of the world's population and take the lives of four thousand people each day. Go to article

Hajj 2018: Ministers Allays Fear on Prevalence of Lassa Fever ( Daily Post) The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewale, says Nigeria does not constitute a global threat to any nation due to isolated cases of Lassa fever recorded in some states in the country. Adewale stated this at the meeting of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) with Hajj Stakeholders on Lassa fever, organised by his office in Abuja. Go to article

Bronx: Legionnaires' Disease Cases Being Investigated in Co-op City ( Outbreak News Today) New York City health officials announced Wednesday that they are investigating three Legionnaires' disease cases in three connected buildings at Co-op City in the Bronx. One person has died and to others in connecting buildings have been treated and released from the hospital. Go to article

Trump VA Pick Withdraws Nomination ( The Hill) Navy Adm. Ronny Jackson on Thursday withdrew as President Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs amid mounting accusations of misconduct that raised new questions about the president's personnel decisions. Go to article

HHS proposes Medicare Payment Rules to Encourage Hospitals to Be Clearer About Prices ( Washington Post) The Trump administration is proposing to rewrite rules on federal payments to hospitals treating older Americans on Medicare, making it easier for patients to see the prices of procedures and care. As part of annual updates to Medicare payment rules, federal health officials also want to add $1.5 billion for the coming year to the funds for so-called disproportionate share payments that help buffer hospitals from the expense of treating patients who cannot pay their bills. The increase is a sign that the government expects an influx in uninsured patients - something administration officials seldom discuss amid their policies to weaken the Affordable Care Act. Go to article

 

 

Global Health Security

Dose Entire Population with anti-Malaria Drugs to Eradicate Disease - Study (The Guardian) Malaria could be quickly eliminated in south-east Asia by an all-out effort to dose whole populations with drugs that treat the disease, regardless of whether people have symptoms or are healthy, say experts. The radical programme may be the best way to outpace rapidly spreading resistance to anti-malarial drugs, they believe. Go to article

The Lancet Commission on Malaria Eradication ( Lancet) 20 years ago, infectious diseases dominated the global health agenda. Policy makers, researchers, implementers, and donors united in the fight against infectious diseases, creating the Millennium Development Goals, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the US President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria, and more. Tremendous progress was made. Malaria benefited spectacularly and there has been a 47% reduction in global deaths from the disease since 2000. Go to article

Strategies for Reducing Opioid-overdose Deaths - Lessons from Canada ( New England Journal of Medicine) North America is in the midst of its most serious drug-overdose crisis in history. From 1999 through 2015, drug-overdose deaths approximately tripled in the United States, and the majority of such deaths now involve an opioid. In 2016 alone, there were 64,000 drug-overdose deaths in the US - more than the total number of US military deaths during the Vietnam War. Go to article

Koch-backed Group Launches New National Ad Push to Advance 'Right to Try' Legislation ( STAT) The Koch-backed group Americans for Prosperity is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into a renewed push for federal "right-to-try" legislation that aims to give terminally ill patients a new way to access experimental therapies. Go to article

Giving Antibiotics to Healthy Kids in Poor Countries: Good Idea Or Bad Idea? ( NPR Goats and Soda) Every day, 15,000 children five years old or younger die of preventable conditions diarrhea and pneumonia. In 2016, that number added up to 5.6 million children, most of them in the developing world, according to the WHO. What if a simple intervention could save tens of thousands of those children? Seems like a no-brainer - unless the method used to save them puts tens of thousands of others at risk in the future. Go to article

Shoebox-sized Lab Can Diagnose Infectious Diseases from a Drop of Blood ( STAT) Researchers from the University of Toronto have created a shoebox-sized laboratory that can do blood testing in remote, low-resource settings, quickly determining from a drop of blood whether a person has antibodies to specific infectious diseases. Go to article

'A Full Rescue': Drug Injected Before Birth Treats Rare Genetic Disorder ( STAT) As soon as she saw her baby, Sarah Yaroch knew. Her father had the disorder, as did her nephew, and now she could see the telltale signs in her own newborn son Andrew. He had no eyebrows, no hair, and skin that seemed too pale and thin. A genetic mutation had deprived him of a specific protein as he developed in the womb, and without it, his body could not properly form sweat glands and teeth and other organs. Go to article

Virulence Switch in 'Iraqibacter': Potential Achilles Heel? ( Science Daily) Microbiologists have identified a component of a genetic switch, which they call a potential 'Achilles' heel,' for a type of bacteria often associated with wounded warriors. The switch makes it possible for Acinetobacter baumannii to change between a virulent, hardy form and an avirulent form that is better at surviving at lower temperatures outside a host. Defining the switch could map out targets for new antibiotics. Go to article

University of Miami Study Concludes Antibody Cocktails Fail as Protection for Zika-vulnerable Fetuses ( Homeland Preparedness News) Though found to prevent Zika virus infection in primates, a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies was deemed ineffective in a new study led by the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine. Go to article

The US Does Not Need New Tactical Nukes ( Defense One) Very soon, Congress will have to make a major decision: should it approve the Trump administration's request for new, smaller, more usable nuclear weapons? No, it should not. There is no need for such weapons, and building them would make us less safe. These so-called "low-yield" nuclear weapons are a gateway to a nuclear catastrophe. Go to article

RAND Corporation Paper Says Artificial Intelligence Could Upend Nuclear Stability by 2040 ( Homeland Preparedness News) A new paper from the RAND Corporation warns that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to capsize the foundations of nuclear deterrence by 2040. RAND researchers based the paper, titled "How Might Artificial Intelligence Affect the Risk of Nuclear War?," on a series of workshops with experts in nuclear issues, AI research, AI policy, national security, and government branches. Go to article