Zika Is the 'Most Difficult' Emergency Health Response Ever, CDC Official Says (
The Atlantic) After the House of Representatives finally passed a Zika funding bill on Thursday--for $1.1 billion (less than the $1.9 billion President Obama originally requested), much of it taken away from Affordable Care Act funding, and remaining Ebola emergency money. Given that, the White House has threatened to veto the bill. Which would mean still no federal funding for what Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called "the most difficult" emergency response the agency has ever had to do, at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Thursday.
Go to article This Cheap, Ingenious Strip Can Detect Zika Virus in Your Spit (
Tech Insider: Science) Brolo, now a chemist at the University of Victoria, wanted to apply his expertise in nanotechnology to make something that could help beleaguered governments fight dengue. Workers are already in the field interacting with people who are getting infected, he thought - so why not give them cheap, easy tools to make their roles more effective?
Go to article Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases
Domestic Preparedness & Response
Zika, Flint, and the Uncertainties of Emergency Preparedness (
Health Affairs Blog) Ongoing Congressional debates concerning the spreading Zika virus provide the latest reminder about our national uncertainties in preparing for and responding to large-scale health emergencies. Storms, fires, industrial accidents, and infrastructure failures like the recent Flint water crisis add to the constellation of emergencies and "near misses" that threaten health and safety somewhere in the US nearly every day.
Go to article Government Affairs & National Security
Here's Why 'Brexit' Could Be a British Public Health Disaster (
Huffington Post) Officially, the referendum was about the pros and cons of remaining in the EU, an economic partnership between the 28 member countries that allows people, goods and information to move easily through the region. Exiting this partnership will have an impact on issues as wide-ranging as the economy, scientific research, the labor force, British vacation time and the future of the British territory of Gibraltar. The exit will also have major effects on public health, according to many in the field.
Go to article Global Health Security
WHO Investigates Mysterious Outbreak in South Sudan (
The Lancet) A team from WHO's Regional Office for Africa is investigating a mysterious viral haemorrhagic fever outbreak in northern South Sudan that has killed ten people. At the same time, national health officials are scrambling to put preventive measures in place based on the scant knowledge they have so far.
Go to article Science & Technology
21st Century Threats
The Growing Risk of a War in Space (
The Atlantic) In
Ghost Fleet, a 2015 novel by security theorists Peter Singer and August Cole, the next world war begins in space. Aboard an apparently civilian space station called the Tiangong, or "Heavenly Palace," Chinese astronauts--taikonauts--maneuver a chemical oxygen iodine laser into place. They aim their clandestine electromagnetic weapon at its first target, a US Air Force communications satellite that helps to coordinate forces in the Pacific theater far below.
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