UPDATE: Long Beach Working to Combat Flea-Borne Typhus Outbreak ( Long Beach Post) Long Beach health officials announced Thursday they are implementing a number of strategies to contain the spread of a flea-borne typhus announced earlier this week. City health officials said flea-borne typhus, also known as murine typhus, was first introduced to Long Beach in 2006 and is now endemic to Long Beach, which means a certain number of cases are expected each year. Go to article

Experts Said a War Zone Ebola Outbreak Would Be a Nightmare. It's Been Even Worse. ( Huffington Post) After a surge of 27 additional Ebola cases in the last five days in the Democratic Republic of Congo, global health leaders are growing increasingly concerned that the deadly outbreak could spread beyond their reach. Experts are blaming the sharp jump in cases -- which had previously slowed to about 10 a week -- on an uptick in rebel and mob violence in the outbreak's new epicenter of Beni. Go to article

Doctors Work to Find Cause of Rare Paralysis in Children; Virus Suspected ( Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Three children have been treated at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for a sudden onset of paralysis, part of a rare syndrome that doctors around the world are trying to understand. Links to some types of non-polio enteroviruses are being investigated. Go to article

Hospitals Pummeled by Hurricane Michael Scramble to Evacuate Patients ( New York Times) Bay Medical Center, a 300-bed hospital in the center of town, was a tumultuous mess. Staff members were frantically working on Thursday to evacuate patients just as new ones showed up at the door. Hurricane Michael had strafed the place, blowing out windows and stripping some of the buildings in the sprawling complex down to their metal girders. Go to article

Images Trickle out of Michael's Vast Devastation ( AP News) The urgency of hurricane coverage with its colorful satellite maps and reporters standing in the wind is a television staple, but devastation in Hurricane Michael's wake was so severe that it made images of some of the hardest-hit areas in Florida trickle out Thursday as slowly as if from a distant, third-world nation. Go to article

Hurricane Michael Forces Florida Hospitals to Shut Down ( Wall Street Journal) Hurricane Michael has forced five hospitals in Florida to close, and two more facilities in coastal Panama City were evacuating patents Thursday, reporting that the storm had damaged their roofs, buckled walls and shattered windows. Go to article

Blue Ribbon Study Panel on Biodefense: Expert Recommends Biothreat Preparedness Solutions ( Homeland Preparedness News) As a founding director of the nation's first bioterrorism preparedness program at the CDC in 1999, Dr. Scott Lillibridge didn't realize then what would emerge as the almost surreal scope of biothreats now challenging the US. Go to article

FEMA Faces Hurricane Michael with Many Senior Roles Unfilled ( Bloomberg) As Hurricane Michael barrels toward Florida, the agency charged with protecting Americans from the storm has large numbers of senior positions vacant or without permanent staff. At least 22 senior leadership roles at the Federal Emergency Management Agency are vacant or occupied by staff temporarily filling those positions. Go to article

Thousands of Young US Children Get No Vaccines, Survey Finds ( AP News) A small but growing proportion of the youngest children in the US have not been vaccinated against any disease, worrying health officials. An estimated 100,000 young children have not had a vaccination against any of the 14 diseases for which shots are recommended, according to a CDC report released Thursday. Go to article

Antibiotics May Soon Become Useless. Now What? ( Wired) In early October, the FDA approved a new antibiotic: Nuzyra, generic name omadacycline. Omadacycline is a tweaked version of a tetracycline, a class of drugs that have been around since the very beginning of the antibiotic era; it works against skin infections and cases of pneumonia. Go to article

The Virome Hunters ( Nature Biotechnology) Ambitious efforts to catalog viruses across the globe may facilitate our understanding of viral communities and ecology, boost infectious disease diagnostics and surveillance, and spur new therapeutics. In July, scientists from UC Davis and Columbia University announced they had isolated a new species of the Ebola virus from bats roosting inside houses in Sierra Leone. Go to article

Survey of Ebola Viruses in Frugivorous and Insectivorous Bats in Guinea, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2015-2017 ( Emerging Infectious Diseases) To clarify the role of bats in the ecology of Ebola viruses, we assessed the prevalence of Ebola virus antibodies in a large-scale sample of bats collected during 2015-2017 from countries in Africa that have had previous Ebola outbreaks (Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo) or are at high risk for outbreaks (Cameroon). Go to article

WhatsApp Alert Improves Real-Time Antimicrobial Stewardship Program ( Healio) A hospital antimicrobial stewardship program in Mexico City incorporated a smartphone messaging app as a fundamental part of real-time surveillance, improving the appropriate use of antibiotics, decreasing bacterial resistance and saving money, according to study findings presented at IDWeek. Go to article

Briefing: Genomics Company Releases Largest Chinese Genome Sequencing Data Research So Far ( TechNode) Shenzhen-listed Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) released a study on Chinese heredity features. The study lasted 2 years, and analyzed over 140,000 samples chosen from BGI's Noninvasive Prenatal Test (NIPT) takers. Regional immunity difference, physical feature heredity, probability of twin-pregnancy, and patterns of virus infection are investigated. Go to article

Mouse Pups with Same-Sex Parents Born in China Using Stem Cells and Gene Editing ( EurekAlert!) Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences were able to produce healthy mice with two mothers that went on to have normal offspring of their own. Mice from two dads were also born but only survived for a couple of days. Go to article

Stanford Researchers Use CRISPR to Manipulate Genome Organization in 3D ( Genome Web: Subscription Required) A team of Stanford University researchers studying spatial genome organization and its effect on cellular function has developed a CRISPR-based system to reorganize the genome. Go to article

'We Are Increasingly Exposed': New Studies Show How Easy It Is to Identify People Using Genetic Databases ( STAT) In recent months, consumer genealogy websites have unleashed a revolution in forensics, allowing law enforcement to use family trees to track down the notorious Golden State Killer in California and solve other cold cases across the country. Go to article

Search and Rescue Efforts in Indonesia to Wind Down, with Thousands Still Missing ( NPR) Indonesia is winding down its search and rescue operations, with thousands of people believed to be still missing after a devastating earthquake and tsunami struck last month on the island of Sulawesi. The official death toll for the disasters stands at 2,073. Go to article

Biological Weapons Convention: Letter from the Chairman ( UNOG) I write to you as Chair of the 2018 Meeting of States Parties to the Biological Weapons Convention, which is, still, scheduled to take place 4-7 December 2018. Go to article

Here's Why Hurricanes Are Rapidly Exploding in Strength ( Washington Post) The unforgettable thing about record-setting Hurricane Michael will always be how rapidly it became a near-Category 5 storm, perfectly timed for a sneak attack on the Florida Panhandle. On Tuesday morning, Floridians knew a storm was coming but not how strong it would be. Go to article