Pandora Report: 7.15.2016

Happy Friday! Don’t forget to read that Federal Select Agent Program report we revealed last week, as many are shocked to find the 199 lab mishaps that occurred. Check out these One Health researchers who are trying to predict and prevent the next disease that will run rampant like Ebola. You can also listen to Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, talk about how superbugs are beating us. Have we reached the end of the Golden Age of antibiotics? 

International Security & Foreign Policy Implications of Overseas Disease Outbreaks 
A recent report by the International Security Advisory Board (a Federal  Advisory Committee) has been released regarding the security implications of infectious disease outbreaks and the efforts of the WHO, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC), international academies, etc. Within the report there is a heavy focus on how the Department of State should prepare for such global health challenges and a series of structural solutions, capacity issues, and opportunities that can be taken. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently found that a global pandemic would cost $570 billion per year. “The links between disease and security have become clearer as more disease threats have emerged and global interconnectedness makes a threat anywhere, a threat everywhere. There are few threats to the United States and its global interests that match the potential scale and scope of the threat to life and security and economic interests than those from infectious disease outbreaks, whether naturally occurring or intentionally caused.” Some of the recommendations emphasized the strengthening of U.S. government coordination through the development of plans for responding to such public health emergencies in areas out of control of a central government and/or hostile to U.S. government involvement. Additional recommendations included strengthening by fully integrating public health emergencies and the associated challenges into the national security agenda by “providing resources, developing organizational leadership within the U.S. and internationally, and developing and exercising appropriate plans for preparing for, preventing, and responding to threats.” Whether they are natural, deliberate, or accidental, globalization makes the threat of these outbreaks that much more dangerous.”Public health is now a national security challenge and must be treated as such in terms of planning, resources, and organizational support. It is essential to refocus the U.S. approach to this threat, and to invest in the appropriate level of ‘insurance’ just as we do for traditional defense related needs.”

The National Biodefense Strategy Act of 2016
Introduced in May by Sen. Ron Johnson, the bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 “to require the President to establish a Biodefense Coordination Council to develop a national strategy to help the federal government prevent and respond to major biological incidents.” The bill defines biodefense as “any involvement in mitigating the risks of major biological incidents and public health emergencies to the United States, including with respect to- threat awareness, prevention and protection, surveillance and detection, response and recovery, and attribution of an intentional biological incident.” Within the bill, the President must establish a Biodefense Coordination Council and develop a National Biodefense Strategy in which there must be status updates to Congress every 180 days. The strategy must be updated at least every five years and the bill also requires that an annual report with detailed expenditures and their relevance to the strategy is submitted. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released its summary on the costs of S. 2967 – “CBO estimates that enacting S. 2967 would cost less than $500,000 annually and about $2 million over the 2017-2021 period; any such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.”

The Growing Cost of the Next Flu Pandemic
A recent study from researchers at the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) utilized advanced methodology to calculate the total cost of an influenza outbreak. SRA’s work concluded that if the public used flu vaccines during the pandemic, the U.S. GDP loss would be $34.4 billion. In the event that flu vaccines weren’t used, the cost would rise to $45.3 billion. This particular study is unique in that it addresses public, government, and business responses to an epidemic. Conducted as part of a project by the the Department of Homeland Security’s National Biosurveillance Integration Center (NBIC), the study estimates “the relative prominence of the various economic consequence types,’ as well as complicating factors, many of them not addressed in any prior study. These complicating factors include different types of avoidance behavior, such as the already noted avoidance of public events and facilities.”

A New Case of Super Resistant E. Coli 
A second patient in the U.S. has been found to carry the colistin-resistant E. coli that raised concern in late May when it was also found in Pennsylvanian woman. Colistin resistance means that the antibiotic of last resort, colistin, is no longer effective at killing the organism. The most recent was reported to have had surgery in a New York hospital last year, which begs the question – is this where it was acquired? Were post-operative antibiotics not discontinued properly? The second case is fueling public health fear over the spread of this resistant gene, especially in regards to bacteria that are currently only susceptible to colistin. In the wake of these findings, many are pushing for increased surveillance and focus on antibiotic resistance. “The CDC is planning to establish seven regional laboratories this fall that will have the capacity to do better and faster testing for a broad range of antimicrobial resistance.”

One Health & Antimicrobial Resistance 
On Wednesday, the One Health Commission held a webinar on antimicrobial resistance in the environment. Led by Dr. Laura Kahn, the presentation focussed on the challenges of feeding billions, the growth of antibiotic use in meat, and the reality that antibiotic resistance is an integral part of 21st century challenges. In general, people are eating more meat, with China shouldering a 147% growth in meat consumption, while the U.S. has remained unchanged. Antibiotic usage in meat is not the only concerning source as sewage sludge can easily be a source of antibiotic exposure for animals. Dr. Kahn also discussed that from 2000-2010, global human antibiotic consumption has grown 37% and the top antibiotic consumers are India, China, and the U.S. Interestingly, India and Pakistan have some of the most resistance microbes in the world. A Dutch study looking at archived soil from 1942-2008 found that there were increasing concentrations of resistant genes as time progressed. Expanding human population and demand for animal proteins, rising human and animal waste production, poor sanitation, indiscriminate antibiotic usage, and land/water contamination are all fueling the rise of antibiotic resistance and altering the “global resistome”. So what can be done? Dr. Kahn noted the potential role of bacteriophages as a means of fighting bacteria and the growing threat of microbial resistance. Overall, we need to understand the microbial world better, decrease antimicrobial usage, and tap into the bacteriophage resource.

Weekly Zika News
As more Zika cases are found within the U.S., many are wondering why Congress is holding up funding. Here’s a map of California and where you can expect to find mosquitoes that have the potential to transmit Zika. The CDC has a national map you can also reference with estimated range of the Aedes mosquitoes. Infectious disease and mosquito control expert, Duane Gubler, notes that spraying may not be successful against the Aedes mosquito.  The difficultly lies in that the Aedes mosquitoes tend to live in harder-to-reach areas (garbage, closets, indoors, etc.) and spraying is most effective against mosquitoes living in floodwater. Olympic risk for Zika is considered low following a CDC analysis, which concluded that the visitors expected at the games represent less than 0.25% of the total travel volume to Zika-affected countries. “Estimated travel to the U.S. from Rio for the Games is 0.11% of all 2015 U.S. travel from countries where Zika is now spreading, the CDC said.” You can read the official MMWR release here. Colombia’s low volume of microcephaly and birth defects following Zika infection during pregnancy offer some home that the outbreak may not be as bad as early estimates suggested. A new study published in the Lancet looks to women as possible modes of sexual transmission for Zika. “Our findings raise the threat of a woman potentially becoming a chronic Zika virus carrier, with the female genital tract persistently expressing the virus RNA. Additional studies are underway to answer those essential questions and to assess what would then be the consequences for women of child-bearing age”. CDC Director, Dr. Tom Frieden, writes about the lessons we can learn from the fading Ebola epidemic and how we can apply these to Zika.  Researchers have also recently written that the epidemic in Latin America is “likely to run its course within the next 18 months” – you can read their article in Science here. The CDC has reported 1,306 cases of Zika virus in the U.S as of July 13, 2016. 

Stories You May Have Missed:

• Malaria and the Duration of Civil War – The Journal of Conflict Resolution recently published an article regarding the prolonging of civil war in relation to malaria. Just as geographical factors can impact the duration of civil war, researchers note that malaria can inflict costs and can “indirectly prolong civil war by helping to maintain a socio-geographic environment that is conducive to insurgency”. The rotation of government forces also means they’re likely to have exposures to malaria.
• The Current State of Our Immunity – Infectious disease physician Dr. Amesh Adalja discusses 21st century immunity to disease. Drawing from points made in Taylor Antrim’s Immunity (set in a post-pandemic world following the 4% loss of global life due to a genetic recombinant of influenza and Lassa Fever), Dr. Adalja relates many of the lessons from his experiences during the West Africa Ebola outbreak and the impact of poverty on resilience. “Today, worldwide extreme poverty — in real terms — is at its lowest. Smallpox has been vanquished with polio and guinea worm about to follow suit. Even Ebola, because of major advances that have occurred in the basic understanding of the clinical illness as well as in vaccine technology since the last outbreak, has been substantially defanged.”
• The Growing Misuse of Toxic Weapons: Attend the seminar on Monday, July 18th (3:30-5pm) at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (1400 K St. NW, Suite 1225, Washington, DC). “We are witnessing today a global threat of toxic chemicals as a means of warfare or terror.  The recent use of chemical weapons and dual-use toxic chemicals in both Syria and Iraq, and possible terrorist attacks against chemical infrastructure, are visible confirmations of a growing threat of misuse of chemicals. This seminar, organized by Green Cross International and the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, will present the results of Chemss2016, an April conference in Poland, including its Summit Declaration which addressed challenges, goals, guidelines, and principles of global cooperation against chemical threats today.”