CDC Issues Travel Alert for Papua New Guinea Due to Polio Outbreak ( Outbreak News Today) The recent polio outbreak reported in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea has prompted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a notice for travelers to that country. The outbreak in Papua New Guinea is attributed to circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus, a marker of poor oral polio vaccine coverage. CDC recommends a single lifetime inactivated poliovirus vaccine booster dose for previously vaccinated travelers to countries with cVDPV outbreaks. Go to article

Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria ( New England Journal of Medicine) Quantifying the effect of natural disasters on society is critical for recovery of public health services and infrastructure. The death toll can be difficult to assess in the aftermath of a major disaster. In September 2017, Hurricane Maria caused massive infrastructural damage to Puerto Rico, but its effect on mortality remains contentious. The official death count is 64. Go to article

The Troubling Failure of America's Disaster Response ( The New Republic) The Federal Emergency Management Agency was already supporting 692 federally declared disasters when hurricane season started last year. Then came the most destructive disaster season in US history, causing $265 billion in damage and forcing more than a million Americans from their homes. FEMA was overwhelmed. So the agency has a novel suggestion for Americans as the 2018 disaster season heats up: Don't rely on us. Go to article

Nowhere to Run: Rohingya Hunker Down as Monsoon Arrives ( New York Times) The hill on which the young woman's shelter is being built is so unstable that the earth crumbles under your feet. The threat of landslides is so dire that her neighbors have evacuated. Though living here could spell doom as the monsoon rains fall, she will live here anyway. Go to article

China's Belt and Road to Redefine Global Health Role ( WHO Western Pacific Region) As I travel this week to meet China's state leaders in Beijing, I'll fly over a number of nations where China is dramatically changing economic landscapes. With its "Belt and Road" development initiative, China is promoting global economic integration by building infrastructure and broadening trade with countries such as Kazakhstan, Russia and around five dozen other nations on multiple continents. Go to article

US Health Official Reveals Fentanyl Almost Killed His Son ( Washington Post) The head of the nation's top public health agency says the opioid epidemic will be one of his priorities, and he revealed a personal reason for it: His son almost died from taking cocaine contaminated with the powerful painkiller fentanyl. "For me, it's personal. I almost lost one of my children from it," Dr. Robert Redfield Jr. told the annual conference of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. Go to article

Comparison of Antibiotic Prescribing in Retail Clinics, Urgent Care Centers, Emergency Departments, and Traditional Ambulatory Care Settings in the United States ( JAMA Internal Medicine) Antibiotic use contributes to antibiotic resistance and is associated with adverse events, including Clostridium difficile infections. Antibiotic overuse, especially for viral respiratory infections, is common. Only 60% of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions dispensed in the US are written in traditional ambulatory care settings (hereinafter "medical offices") and emergency departments. Growing markets, including urgent care centers and retail clinics, may contribute to the remaining 40%. Our objective was to compare antibiotic prescribing among urgent care centers, retail clinics, EDs, and medical offices. Go to article

Unilateral Phrenic Nerve Palsy in Infants with Congenital Zika Syndrome ( Emerging Infectious Diseases) Since the first identification of neonatal microcephaly cases associated with congenital Zika virus infection in Brazil in 2015, a distinctive constellation of clinical features of congenital Zika syndrome has been described. Fetal brain disruption sequence is hypothesized to underlie the devastating effects of the virus on the central nervous system. However, little is known about the effects of congenital Zika virus infection on the peripheral nervous system. Go to article

To Improve Treatments, Researchers Want to Hunt for Clues in Medical Records ( NPR Shots) When you go to your doctor's office, sometimes it seems the caregivers spend more time gathering data about you than treating you as a patient. Electronic medical records are everywhere - annoying to doctors and intrusive to patients. But now researchers are looking to see if they can plow through the vast amount of data that's gathered in those records, along with insurance billing information, to tease out the bits that could be useful in refining treatments and identifying new uses for drugs. Go to article

Nucleocapsid Protein-based Vaccine Provides Protection in Mice Against Lethal Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Challenge ( PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases) Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is an acute, often fatal viral disease characterized by rapid onset of febrile symptoms followed by hemorrhagic manifestations. The etiologic agent, CCHF orthonairovirus, can infect several mammals in nature but only seems to cause clinical disease in humans. Over the past two decades there has been an increase in total number of CCHF case reports, including imported CCHF patients, and an expansion of CCHF endemic areas. Despite its increased public health burden there are currently no licensed vaccines or treatments to prevent CCHF. Go to article

Moderna Opens $110M Manufacturing Site for Its mRNA Program ( Fierce Pharma) Moderna Therapeutics, which is pushing a pipeline of mRNA candidates into phase 2 trials, now has a manufacturing plant ready to advance its highly anticipated program. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotech opened its $110 million, 200,000-square-foot manufacturing plant today in nearby Norwood, Massachusetts. With 150 workers already on board, the company said in a release today that it will be hiring another 50 this year, which will allow it to develop materials for preclinical toxicology studies as well as phase 1 and 2 clinical development programs, and to manufacture, test and run fill-finish operations for its portfolio of mRNA development candidates. Go to article

Gene Therapy in Mouse Fetuses Treats Deadly Disease ( Nature) Gene therapy administered in the womb could be used to treat a deadly genetic disease, a study in fetal mice suggests. The results could add to the increasingly popular notion of prenatal gene therapy as a way to minimize the damage wrought by some genetic diseases. Go to article