August 30, 2016
Emerging Pathogens and Health Security: Improving Public Health & Health Care to Address Increasing Globalization of Emerging Infectious Disease Threats

A special feature in Health Security will be devoted to analysis of systems and strategies to identify and respond to emerging infectious disease threats, both nationally and internationally. The Journal seeks papers that address the wide range of policy, practice, and research issues relevant to analysis and enhancement of such strategies and systems. Additionally, narrative or conceptual reviews of specific microbes or classes of microbes will be sought.


Public Health & Healthcare Preparedness
GUIDANCE
Zika Virus Disease.
 
CDC has released new guidance documents pertaining to the control, prevention, and management of Zika virus disease. (CDC, 8/26/16)
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
Enhance, Manage and Promote the Medical Reserve Corps Training Finder Real-Time Integrated Network.
 
Evaluation and Performance Measurement Applicants must identify at least 2 activities to achieve each of the following objectives. Objective 1: Provide access to quality training by extending the subscription of MRC-TRAIN for five additional years. Objective 2: Expand the use of MRC-TRAIN by identifying additional courses available to MRC learners, linking those courses to the MRC Core Competencies, and increasing course provider outreach in order to promote greater use and adoption of these standards. (Grants.gov, 8/26/16)
 
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
NLM Grants for Scholarly Works in Biomedicine and Health.
 
NLM Grants for Scholarly Works in Biomedicine and Health are awarded for the preparation of book-length manuscripts and other works of academic and/or public health policy value to US health professionals, public health officials, biomedical researchers and historians of the health sciences. (Grants.gov, 8/26/16)
 
NEWS
Federal Judge Allows Tighter Vaccination Requirements in California to Stand.
 
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit by parents and health and education-related nonprofits, challenging the law at the beginning of the first school year in which it was to go into effect. (Raw Story, 8/26/16)
 
NEWS
FDA Calls for Zika Testing of All Blood Donations.
 
The Food and Drug Administration is calling for Zika testing of all donated blood and blood products nationwide as a preventive measure to help stem the spread of the virus. (Wall Street Journal, 8/26/16)
 
REPORT
Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report.
 
Often called "the voice of CDC," the MMWR  series is the agency's primary vehicle for scientific publication of timely, reliable, authoritative, accurate, objective, and useful public health information and recommendations. (CDC, 8/26/16)
NOTICE
Microbiology Data for Systemic Antibacterial Drugs-Development, Analysis, and Presentation; Guidance for Industry; Availability.
 
The purpose of this guidance is to assist sponsors in the development, analysis, and presentation of microbiology data during antibacterial drug development. (Federal Register, 8/26/16)


LETTER
Asked and Answered: A Letter to a Mother Concerned About the Zika Virus.
 
President Obama responded to a woman living in the South wrote to share her concern about Zika and the danger it posed to her unborn child. Failure to pass that emergency funding means less-effective mosquito control efforts, longer wait times for diagnostic results, delayed process in finding a vaccine, and more Americans at risk. (Medium, 8/26/16)
 
NEWS
The Department of Defense Needs Help Designing a Biohazard Suit.
 
The Chembio Suit Challenge is being held by the Chemical and Biological Defense division within the US military, and there's a $250,000 prize hanging in the balance for ideas on how to create a better protective suit. (Engadget, 8/25/16)
 
NEWS
With Congress Deadlocked, Clinton Proposes New Fund that Could be Used for Zika Response.
 
"Doctors and public health experts have been warning for months that the Zika virus was likely to reach the continental United States, but Congress has failed to pass the president's emergency funding request," the Democratic presidential nominee said in a statement. "As a result, the Zika virus has gained a foothold in Miami, and 196 people have already been infected in the city - infections that may have been preventable." (Washington Post, 8/24/16)
 
BLOG
FDA Is Preparing Guidances that Will Help Food Companies Prevent Foodborne Illness.
 
This month, FDA has taken important steps in fulfilling that promise with the release of three draft guidances that when finalized will help domestic and foreign food facilities meet the requirements of the preventive controls rules that became final in September 2015. (FDA, 8/24/16)
 
PRESS RELEASE
CDC Continues to Support Florida in Response to Zika Outbreak.
 
CDC has provided $35 million in federal funds for Zika and emergency response, including public health and emergency preparedness funds for both FY 2015 and 2016 that can be used to purchase items for Zika prevention kits. CDC also has provided 10,000 bottles of DEET for the kits. (CDC, 8/24/16)
 
PRESS RELEASE
HHS Awards $7 Million to OraSure to Speed Development of Zika Diagnostic Test.
 
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) today announced a $7 million contract with Orasure Technologies, Inc. of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to further the development of a Zika virus test that potentially can provide results in about 30 minutes at a doctor's office. The agreement is the first point-of-care Zika test ASPR has sponsored. (Department of Health & Human Services, 8/23/16)

 
NEWS
HHS Moves to Accelerate Zika Vaccine Development.
 
ASPR's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) will provide more than $17.9 million over 30 months to Emergent BioSolutions Inc to develop the vaccine out of the Centers for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing. (JAMA, 8/23/16)
 
NEWS
Accessible Synthetic Biology Raises New Concerns for DIY Biological Warfare.
 
The US conducted its own offensive biowarfare research from 1942 until 1969, at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, at Fort Detrick, Maryland. It was there that the military learned how to weaponize lethal pathogens like anthrax and botulinum toxin, and how to produce them on an industrial scale. (Ars Technica, 8/23/16)
 
REPORT
CDC's Global Immunization Plan.
 
The foundation of CDC's global immunization
work is conducting and promoting research and innovating and evaluating programs. Results
from these efforts translate into evidence-based immunization strategies, policies, and practices to strengthen sustainable, global immunization programs, which are measured by deaths averted due to vaccine-preventable diseases. 
(CDC, 8/23/16)


PRESS RELEASE
Monkeys with Sudan ebolavirus Treated Successfully.
 
Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have successfully treated monkeys several days after the animals were infected with Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV). The study is important, according to the researchers, because no proven treatments against SUDV exist and little is known about the window of opportunity for treating the infection. (NIAID, 8/22/16)
 
PRESS RELEASE
HHS Awards $2.6 Million to DiaSorin Group to Develop Rapid, High-Capacity Zika Diagnostic Laboratory Test.
 
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response today announced a $2.6 million agreement with DiaSorin Group, an Italy-based company with US offices in Stillwater, Minnesota, to further develop a Zika virus test that may help physicians determine more quickly whether a patient was infected recently with Zika virus. (Department of Health & Human Services, 8/22/16)
 
HEALTH ADVISORY
CDC Expands Guidance for Travel and Testing of Pregnant Women, Women of Reproductive Age, and Their Partners for Zika Virus Infection Related to Mosquito-borne Zika Virus Transmission in Miami-Dade, Florida.
 
Based on the earliest time of symptom onset and a maximal two-week incubation period for Zika virus, this guidance applies to pregnant women, women of reproductive age, and their partners who live in or traveled to Miami Beach after July 14, 2016. (CDC, 8/19/16)
 

REPORT
Joint External Evaluation of United States of America.
 
The JEE tool includes the original 11 Action Packages of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) tool but also adds in 8 other key technical areas from the International Health Regulations. As of February 2016, all GHSA external evaluations are being done using the JEE tool. The US is now the sixth country to undergo a voluntary JEE assessment. (Global Health Security Agenda, 8/16)

 

DATA
Gaps in Contraception Access and Zika.
 
Certain areas of the United States are at an increased risk for unplanned pregnancies with Zika-infected fetuses. Cities with large diaspora populations and areas where the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes are present are at increased risk for local Zika transmission. Many of those areas also contain high concentrations of uninsured, sexually active women. (ASPR, 8/16)



Homeland Security & Disaster Preparedness
PRESS RELEASE
NIST Study Provides Voice for Evacuation Needs of Mobility Impaired.
 
A new study conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology details the challenges faced by people with mobility impairments during emergency evacuation from multistory buildings. (NIST, 8/26/16)
 
REPORT
Flood Insurance: Review of FEMA Study and Report on Community-Based Options.
 
Floods are the most common and destructive natural disaster in the United States. The National Flood Insurance Program, which FEMA administers, has struggled financially to both pay for flood losses and keep rates affordable. To address these and other challenges, Congress has passed legislation including the Homeowners Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014. (GAO, 8/24/16)
 
STATEMENT
Statement by NSC Spokesperson Ned Price on the UN-OPCW Report on Syria.
 
Today, the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced the results of a year-long expert, independent, and neutral investigation into multiple allegations of chemical weapons use in Syria. The report released today follows our call, together with international partners, last year to identify those involved in the use of chemical weapons in attacks in 2014 and 2015. (The White House, 8/24/16)
 
NEWS
Obama Visits Louisiana Flood Victims, but Some Are Busy Just Hanging On.
 
Nearly 11 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Mr. Obama came to meet with flood victims in a visit that required him to navigate a delicate mix of compassion and politics. (New York Times, 8/23/16)


NEWS
FBI Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate Marks 10 Years.
 
One of the main jobs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Directorate is to imagine worst-case scenarios and then devise ways to prevent and prepare for them. The Directorate was created 10 years ago last month, on July 26, 2006. John Perren, who has served as the WMD Directorate's assistant director since 2012 and was instrumental in its creation, said his team's job is to find gaps and vulnerabilities in the system and work to fix them. (FBI, 8/22/16)
 
PRESS RELEASE
Public Notice on the Current Flooding in Louisiana.
 
In support of the ongoing Federal, state, and local efforts to carry out response and recovery activities in the areas affected by the severe storms and flooding in the State of Louisiana, the Department of Homeland Security's ("Department") law enforcement components stand ready to help anyone in need of assistance. (Department of Homeland Security, 8/22/16)
 
STATEMENT
Statement by Secretary Jeh C. Johnson on Full Scale Exercise at New Jersey Marine Terminals.
 
This morning, I had the privilege of observing the New Jersey Marine Terminal full-scale explosion exercise at the Port of Newark. Given the current threat environment, these exercises are vital and allow for multi-discipline and multi-jurisdictional planning and coordination. (Department of Homeland Security, 8/20/16)
 

Radiological & Nuclear Disaster Preparedness
BLOG
NNSA Program Strengthens National Security from Afar.
 
The Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence, part of NNSA's Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, provides partners tools and training to deter, detect, and investigate smuggling of nuclear and radiological materials. Its main responsibility is to work cooperatively with international partners to build their capacity to prevent the illicit movement of materials that might eventually reach the United States. (NNSA, 8/25/16)
 

NEWS
US Gets Serious about Portable Nuke-Detector Prototypes.
 
The Homeland Security Department is trying to ramp up wearable devices that can detect nuclear radiation. DHS has made a handful of awards for well-developed prototypes, of wearable products from companies including Leidos and Physical Sciences, Inc. (DefenseOne, 8/23/16)

 

PRESS RELEASE
Ushering in a New Generation of Low-Cost, Networked, Nuclear-Radiation Detectors.
 
A DARPA program aimed at preventing attacks involving radiological "dirty bombs" and other nuclear threats has successfully developed and demonstrated a network of smartphone-sized mobile devices that can detect the tiniest traces of radioactive materials. Combined with larger detectors along major roadways, bridges, other fixed infrastructure, and in vehicles, the new networked devices promise significantly enhanced awareness of radiation sources and greater advance warning of possible threats. (DARPA, 8/23/16)
 

Science & Technology Policy
NEWS
Grants to Foster More Secure Online Access to Online Government and Health Care Services.
 
The US Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded six pilot grants totaling more than $15 million to foster more secure access to online services provided by states and health care providers. (NIST, 8/25/16)
 
This Week's Hearings

 

There are no hearings scheduled for this week.

 


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