US Officials Welcome New Zika Funding, but Say Delays Hurt (Science) Top officials from the HHS in Washington, DC, spelled out in a teleconference today how a shortage of funding to combat the Zika virus forced them to poach money that otherwise would have gone to addressing cancer, tuberculosis, malaria, Ebola, substance abuse, mental health, and the needs of children and families. Go to article

Zika Causes Widespread Damage to Fetal Brain (UPI) A new study shows that Zika virus causes so much varied damage throughout the fetal brain that researchers are suggesting the term "congenital Zika syndrome" be used to describe the numerous birth defects. Go to article

Trends of the Microcephaly and Zika Virus Outbreak in Brazil, January-July 2016 (Travel Medicine and Infectious Diseases) In the last two months, there have been indications that the Zika virus epidemic is on the decline in Brazil. We reviewed the surveillance data published by the Brazilian Ministry of Health to assess trends of microcephaly and neurological abnormalities suggestive of congenital infection, as well as Zika virus disease in Brazil as a whole and its various regions. Go to article

Analysis-Zika Vaccine Race Spurred by Crisis and Profit Potential (Thomson Reuters Foundation) The race to find protection against the Zika virus is fueled by something often missing from tropical disease research: the potential for big profit. The prospect of a blockbuster vaccine against a mosquito-borne virus has accelerated the pace of development and attracted the interest of big drugmakers, including Sanofi SA , GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Go to article

A Mayaro Virus Primer (Outbreak News Today) Mayaro virus (MAYV) is a member of the Family Togaviridae. Go to article

Red Cross 'Failed for 12 Days' After Historic Louisiana Floods (Pro Publica) In August, the country's worst natural disaster since 2012's Superstorm Sandy hit Louisiana. Flooding killed 13 people and left more than 80,000 homes severely damaged. And once again, the American Red Cross' response left local officials seething. Go to article

HHS Embarks on $52 Million Genetic Sequencing Platform Development (Healthcare IT News) The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, ASPR, is allocating money to advance the development of a next-generation genetic sequencing platform. It is the first next-generation genetic sequencing platform supported by ASPR's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority - BARDA. Go to article

A Lieutenant in Eradicating Smallpox Remembers the General (New York Times) When I worked at what is now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in 1964, my boss, Dr. Donald A. Henderson, sent me to West Africa to help with an immunization program aimed at eradicating measles in eight countries. Go to article

Shigella flexneri with Ciprofloxacin Resistance and Reduced Azithromycin Susceptibility, Canada, 2015 (Emerging Infectious Diseases) In 2015, a locally acquired, multidrug-resistant Shigella flexneri infection was identified in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in an HIV-positive man who had sex with men. In September, the 53-year-old man consulted his physician at an outpatient clinic after experiencing abdominal pain, fatigue, and diarrhea without blood in stools or fever. Go to article

Cows Engineered with Human Genes Could Stop Our Next Disease Outbreak (MIT Technology Review) Cattle that can crank out human antibodies are being tested as a first line of defense against infectious diseases. Go to article

Searching for Ebola: Where Is It Hiding and When Will It Be Back? (CNN: Vital Signs) There was a certain kind of quiet hopefulness when, in late April this year, the last Ebola patient of the West African epidemic -- a two-year-old boy -- walked out of a treatment facility in Monrovia, Liberia. With the smoldering embers of the outbreak fading, there was cause for celebration. But there remains the impotent fear of the unseen: Ebola is still out there, lurking. Go to article

Editing DNA Methylation in the Mammalian Genome (Cell) Mammalian DNA methylation is a critical epigenetic mechanism orchestrating gene expression networks in many biological processes. However, investigation of the functions of specific methylation events remains challenging. Go to article

Urine Test for CJD 'a Possibility' (BBC) Urine could potentially be used for a quick and simple way to test for CJD or "human mad cow disease", say scientists in the journal JAMA Neurology. The Medical Research Council team say their prototype test still needs honing before it could be used routinely. Go to article

Editors' Take: The Problem with Aid Convoys (IRIN) With hopes for an end to the war dashed time and again, much hope has been pinned on these UN-led aid "inter-agency" convoys into mostly besieged and hard-to-reach areas, and the recent attack has brought them into further focus. But are these convoys - carefully choreographed, breathlessly reported, and sometimes lifesaving - the best way to bring aid to a desperate population? Are they becoming more risky? Are they an overhyped symptom of a politicised aid system that has failed the people of Syria? Go to article

Bombing in Aleppo Puts Another Major Hospital out of Service (Washington Post) The largest hospital in eastern Aleppo was bombed Saturday for the second time in a week, killing and wounding more than a dozen patients as they recovered from earlier attacks. Doctors at the facility, known as M10, said the assault involved cluster munitions, barrel bombs and incendiary weapons, prompting mass panic and appeals for help. Go to article