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Today's Headlines: June 22, 2016 
 
Zika Virus

Zika Virus Surveillance and Preparedness--New York City, 2015-2016 (MMWR) Because commercial testing for Zika virus only recently became available, DOHMH coordinated diagnostic testing with health care providers and public health laboratories, particularly DOHMH's Public Health Laboratory and the New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center. Go to article

Identification of Zika Virus and Dengue Virus Dependency Factors Using Functional Genomics (Cell Reports) Savidis et al. identify DENV and ZIKV dependencies using orthologous RNAi and CRISPR/Cas9 approaches. Multiple host factors involved in endocytosis and transmembrane protein processing, including the endoplasmic reticulum membrane complex, are important for flaviviral replication. Together, their studies generate a systems-wide view of human-flavivirus interactions. Go to article

What Does Zika Virus Mean for the Children of the Americas? (JAMA Pediatrics) As Zika virus infection spreads across the Latin American and Caribbean region and then into the southern US, we can expect to see thousands of additional children born with microcephaly and possibly many more newborns or even older infants with signs of more subtle but significant neurologic defects and developmental delays. Go to article

NIH Launches Large Study of Pregnant Women in Areas Affected by Zika Virus (NIH) NIH and Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, a national scientific research organization linked to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, have begun a multi-country study to evaluate the magnitude of health risks that Zika virus infection poses to pregnant women and their developing fetuses and infants. Go to article

Researchers Recruiting Zika-Positive Patients for Blood Sample Collection (Sun Sentinel) BARDA is funding a 6-month project to collect blood samples from patients who have tested positive for the mosquito-borne virus within the past 8 weeks. Go to article

Democrats File Discharge Petition on Zika Funding Bill (The Hill) Top House Democrats are trying to force a vote on a nearly $2 billion spending package to fight the Zika virus this week, signaling a dim outlook for bipartisan talks already underway. Go to article

CDC and States Ponder Plans to Keep Ahead of Zika (New York Times) Daniel Markowski, a bug scientist in a cowboy hat, has a phone that will not stop ringing. Now that summer has arrived, and with it the mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus, the services of the Arkansas-based mosquito control contractor he works for, Vector Disease Control International, are in great demand. Go to article

What Zika Means for You: Assess Your Risk (Washington Post) How likely is that you will get the Zika virus? Is it serious if you do get it? The risk of being infected with Zika depends greatly on where you live, your personal behavior and your knowledge of the virus. Go to article


Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases

WHO Details Riyadh Hospital MERS Outbreak as New UAE, Saudi Cases Noted (CIDRAP) The WHO today released more details about a MERS-CoV outbreak at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, triggered by a woman whose illness wasn't detected until after she was admitted to a vascular surgery ward. Go to article

See also: Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV)--Saudi Arabia (WHO) Between 16 and 18 June 2016, the National IHR Focal Point for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia notified WHO of 22 additional cases of MERS-CoV. Go to article

Tanzania: Two Districts on High Alert After Mysterious Illness Kills Seven (All Africa) Seven people have died and 14 were in quarantine at Dodoma Regional Hospital following an outbreak of an unidentified disease in Chemba and Kondoa districts, the government announced yesterday. Go to article


Domestic Preparedness & Response

Senate Report Slams Red Cross for Lack of Accountability in Haiti Quake Response (Humanosphere) Criticism of the American Red Cross' management of 2010 Haitian earthquake response continues to fall on the organization. A blistering 309-page report by US Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, concluded that there "are substantial and fundamental concerns about American Red Cross as an organization." Go to article

See also: Investigation of the Red Cross (Senator Grassley) I am writing in regards to my investigation into the American Red Cross to share the results. Go to article


Global Health Security

Congo Almost Runs out of Yellow Fever Vaccine Amid Epidemic (Reuters) Democratic Republic of Congo has almost run out of yellow fever vaccine in Kinshasa, in the same week that the government declared an epidemic of the disease in the packed capital and 2 other provinces. Go to article


Medicine & Public Health

Ebola Virus Disease in Children: Towards a Better Clinical Picture and Improved Management (The Lancet) The west African Ebola virus disease outbreak is the largest ever seen in history, with more than 28,000 cases and 11,300 deaths since early 2014. Prior to this outbreak, knowledge about diagnosis and clinical management of EVD was very limited. But gaps in knowledge on EVD were even more marked in the pediatric population. Go to article

Seroprevalence of Anti-Chikungunya Virus Antibodies in Children and Adults in Managua, Nicaragua, After the First Chikungunya Epidemic, 2014-2015 (PLOS: Neglected Tropical Diseases) Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes. In late 2013, CHIKV was introduced into the Caribbean island of St. Martin. Go to article


Science & Technology

First CRISPR Clinical Trial Gets Green Light from US Panel (Nature) CRISPR, the genome-editing technology that has taken biomedical science by storm, is finally nearing human trials. On 21 June, an advisory committee at NIH approved a proposal to use CRISPR-Cas9 to help augment cancer therapies that rely on enlisting a patient's T cells, a type of immune cell. Go to article

Itchy Inflammation of Mosquito Bites Helps Viruses Replicate (Science Daily) University of Leeds study has found that inflammation where a mosquito has bitten not only helps a virus such as Zika or dengue establish an infection in the body more quickly, but that it also helps it to spread around the body, increasing the likelihood of severe illness. Go to article

Gain-of-Function Research: Summary of the Second Symposium, March 10-11, 2016 (The National Academies Press) On March 10-11, 2016, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a public symposium on potential US government policies for the oversight of GOF research. Go to article

Global Microbiome Initiative Explores Subways for Drug-Resistance Markers (GEN News) Weill Cornell Medicine researchers will use tools and technologies from Qiagen and CosmosID in a global study that the partners said today will collect DNA and RNA samples from high-traffic areas in subway systems, buses, and parks in 54 cities worldwide, the companies said today. Go to article


Other 21st Century Threats

The Big Hack (New York Magazine) On December 4, 2017, at a little before 9 in the morning, an executive at Goldman Sachs was swiping through the day's market report in the backseat of a hired SUV heading south on the West Side Highway when his car suddenly swerved to the left, throwing him against the window and pinning a sedan and its driver against the concrete median. Go to article

How Do You Stop a Future Terrorist When the Only Evidence is a Thought? (New York Times) The 1st time Larossi Abballa appeared on the radar of French terrorism investigators, the only act of violence they could pin on him was killing bunnies. Go to article
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