Cholera--Zimbabwe ( WHO) On 6 September 2018, a cholera outbreak in Harare was declared by the Ministry of Health and Child Care of Zimbabwe and notified to WHO on the same day. Twenty-five patients were admitted to a hospital in Harare presenting with diarrhoea and vomiting on 5 September. There has been rapid increase in the number of suspected cases reported per day since 1 September; there was a peak with 473 suspected cases notified on 9 September. Go to article

Domestic Preparedness & Response

On Hurricane Maria Anniversary, Puerto Rico is Still in Ruins ( New York Times) When it rains, Maritza Cruz Sánchez springs into a well-rehearsed, 30-minute ritual: She climbs a ladder to where her roof used to be and sucks on a hose to siphon puddles from the plastic tarp suspended over her house. The tarp is held aloft by a few thin wooden posts, which have begun to warp and now seem almost certain to collapse. The temporary contraption that shelters Ms. Cruz and what little she still owns has been in place since March. FEMA gave her $6,000 to replace waterlogged belongings, but nothing to help make her house habitable again. Go to article

A Year After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico Still Struggles to Regain What Hasn't Been Lost for Good--While Fearing the Next Big One ( Los Angeles Times) Throughout Puerto Rico, the destruction caused by the devastating wind and rain generated by the Category 4 hurricane a year ago Thursday still shapes daily life. Thousands of families rely on the blue tarps to protect themselves and their homes while awaiting repairs, many residents face financial struggles exacerbated by the storm, neighborhoods are dotted with shuttered schools and abandoned homes, and some residents can't help worrying about whether they'll survive when the next storm hits. Go to article

Government Affairs & National Security

Trump's HHS Diverting Funds from NIH, CDC to Pay for Increased Number of Migrant Children ( The Hill) HHS is reallocating more than $260 million in funds this year to house the increased number of detained migrant children. According to a letter from HHS Secretary Alex Azar obtained by The Hill and first reported by Yahoo News, nearly $80 million of that funding will be diverted from other refugee support programs, leaving more than $180 million coming from other programs within the department. Go to article

Global Health Security

Uganda Prepares to Vaccinate Against Ebola in Case the Virus Strikes the Country ( All Africa) As Ebola Virus Disease preparedness activities intensify in Uganda, the Ministry of Health with support from the WHO is making arrangements to vaccinate frontline health workers and high-risk populations should need arise. Go to article

Smallpox Vaccine Used to Treat England's Monkeypox Cases ( Precision Vaccinations) Public Health England said in a Bavarian Nordic press release that the IMVANEX smallpox vaccine will be used to vaccinate healthcare workers treating English patients and those involved in the current monkeypox cases. Monkeypox is a febrile rash illness caused by the monkeypox virus. Go to article

WHO Launches First Investment Case to Save Up to 30 Million Lives ( WHO) WHO today published its first investment case, setting out the transformative impacts on global health and sustainable development that a fully-financed WHO could deliver over the next 5 years. The investment case describes how WHO, working together with its Member States and partners, will help to save up to 30 million lives, add up to 100 million years of healthy living to the world's population and add up to 4 per cent of economic growth in low and middle-income countries by 2023. Go to article

Medicine & Public Health

Remembering the 'Mother of All Pandemics' 100 Years Later ( City Lab) The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 came in 3 waves. When the first wave crept up in New York City during the spring, residents and officials alike saw it as just another round of the seasonal flu. By mid-summer, the number of related deaths waned, and that first wave barely received a mention in the health department's weekly bulletins. Go to article

Germ City: How SARS Changed the Face of Air Travel ( WNYC) Two weeks ago, Emirates Airline flight 203 from Dubai was quarantined by the CDC at JFK airport. Two days later, two more flights were quarantined at Philadelphia Airport. In all three cases, dozens of passengers complained of flu-like symptoms. But in the end, only a handful were sent to the hospital and those cases were ultimately dismissed as nothing more than the common cold and seasonal flu. Go to article

Inactive Ingredients, Active Risks ( Scientific American) You've got a headache, so you take some acetaminophen. But, you're not only swallowing the active ingredient--it's just a small component of each tablet. For most medicines, up to 90% of each dose is made up of excipients: substances added to improve formulation, performance, taste, appearance, color, or even consumer appeal. Go to article

Science & Technology

Arginine Deficiency is Involved in Thrombocytopenia and Immunosuppression in Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome ( Science Translational Medicine) SFTS virus is a bunyavirus named for the disease it causes, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. It has only recently been discovered, and little is known about its pathogenesis or how to intervene. Li et al. conducted an observational study in a hospital setting to identify differences between fatal cases and those that went on to recover and discovered that decreased arginine was associated with thrombocytopenia and death. Go to article

Treatment of Human Glioblastoma with a Live Attenuated Zika Virus Vaccine Candidate ( mBio) Glioblastoma (GBM) is the deadliest type of brain tumor, and glioma stem cells (GSCs) contribute to tumor recurrence and therapeutic resistance. Thus, an oncolytic virus targeting GSCs may be useful for improving GBM treatment. Because Zika virus has an oncolytic tropism for infecting GSCs, we investigated the safety and efficacy of a live attenuated ZIKV vaccine candidate (ZIKV-LAV) for the treatment of human GBM in a GSC-derived orthotopic model. Go to article

21st Century Threats

German Doctors: Pussy Riot Poisoning 'Highly Plausible' ( Washington Post) German doctors treating a member of Russian protest group Pussy Riot said Tuesday that claims he was poisoned are "highly plausible," but stressed they can't say how this might have occurred or who was responsible. Pyotr Verzilov has been receiving intensive care since arriving in Berlin from Moscow on Saturday, but his condition isn't life threatening, Dr. Kai-Uwe Eckardt of Berlin's Charite hospital told reporters. Go to article