Author: Siddha Hover

October Seminar Speaker Paul Walker Wins Swedish Rights Prize

by Siddha Hover, posted in Biodefense Policy Seminar, News

Dr. Paul Walker, International Director of the Environmental Security and Sustainability (ESS) Program for Green Cross International (GCI), and our October Biodefense Policy Seminar Speaker, was awarded the Swedish Right Livelihood Award on Thursday for his lifelong work eliminating chemical weapons.

The award was founded by Swedish philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, following refusal by the Nobel Foundation to honor efforts in international and environmental development.

Speaking about selecting Dr. Walker, Director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation Ole von Uexxkul said, “Chemical weapons are easy to manufacture but very difficult to get rid of. Walker has 20 years of experience in how to eliminate them both politically and technically…It is his knowledge that is needed right now in Syria.”

Walker expressed delight at receiving the award, emphasizing the extreme urgency to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons and potential positive impact on the region. “Israel and Egypt, being neighbors of Syria, really feel pressure now to join the Chemical Weapons Convention. They don’t need the option of chemical weapons and should join the rest of the world,” he said.

Walker will be formally presented with the award at a ceremony in the Swedish parliament later this year.

GMU Biodefense will host Dr. Walker on October 16th at 7:20 PM. Join us for an extremely timely discussion on Syria and elimination of chemical weapons. For more information, please see here.

To find out more about the Right Livelihood Award, visit their website here.

(Image: Stockholm Environmental Institute)

The Pandora Report 9.27.13

by Siddha Hover, posted in Pandora Report

Highlights include MERS, more MERS, Marburg & Ebola, chemical weapons antidotes, universal vaccine. Happy Friday!

Saudi Efforts to Stop MERS Virus Faulted

Saudi Arabia is being accused both of withholding information and conducting incomplete epidemiological investigations on MERS. While health officials have been careful to collect as much information as possible from infected individuals, they have been accused of neglecting to interview healthy contacts of infected patients. Such interviews are critical to determining possible routes of transmission. Saudi officials have vehemently denied these accusations, arguing it’s impossible to withhold what they don’t know.

Wall Street Journal – “‘It’s very difficult to give all the details to the people when we don’t know all the details,’ Ziad Memish, the deputy health minister, said last week at his office in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. ‘”Where’s it coming from? We don’t know. How is it transmitted? We don’t know.'”

Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Update

Speaking of MERS, the CDC has updated its epi information on the virus. According to this week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, there are now 130 cases, of which 45% of were fatal. While cases have occured in eight countries, all infected patients had recently visited or resided in just four countries – Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Also of note, just over a fifth of cases (21%) were asymptomatic. No new information on mvectors, reservoirs, or route of infection.

CDC –  “To date, the largest, most complete clinical case series published included 47 patients; most had fever (98%), cough (83%), and shortness of breath (72%). Many also had gastrointestinal symptoms (26% had diarrhea, and 21% had vomiting). All but two patients (96%) had one or more chronic medical conditions, including diabetes (68%), hypertension (34%), heart disease (28%), and kidney disease (49%). Thirty-four (72%) had more than one chronic condition (7). Nearly half the patients in this series were part of a health-care–associated outbreak in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia (i.e., a population that would be expected to have high rates of underlying conditions) (8). Also, the prevalence of diabetes in persons aged ≥50 years in Saudi Arabia has been reported to be nearly 63% (9). It remains unclear whether persons with specific conditions are disproportionately infected with MERS-CoV or have more severe disease.”

New Marburg & Ebola Theraputics?

Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation has developed a Marburg treatment which protects non-human primates from the virus completely (100%), even if administered 24 hours after post infection. This is very exciting. The company has also received funding to undertake a similar Ebola treatment, with Phase I clinical trials set to begin early next year.

Street Insider – “In a presentation entitled ‘Medical Countermeasures for Filovirus Infection: Development of siRNA Therapeutics Under the Animal Rule’ data were presented that showed successful anti-viral therapy with the application of Tekmira’s LNP technology to hemorrhagic fever viruses, including multiple strains of the Ebola and Marburg viruses. Newly presented data resulting from a collaboration between Tekmira and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) showed 100% survival in non-human primates infected with the Angola strain of the Marburg virus in two separate studies. In the first study, 100% survival was achieved when dosing at 0.5 mg/kg TKM-Marburg began one hour after infection with otherwise lethal quantities of the virus. Dosing then continued once daily for seven days. In the second study, 100% survival was achieved even though treatment did not begin until 24 hours after infection.

Scientists at UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest work on antidotes to nerve gas

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency has awareded UNC-Chapel Hill a $4.47 million grant to develop antidotes to nerve gas. While the timing of the award may seem a little reactionary, apparently discussions on the project began over a year ago. Researchers are hoping to create an adhesive bandage, pre-loaded with the antidote which would be administered through tiny needles in the bandage itself. The advantage of a bandage over an injected serum is self-administration – no medical professional would be needed to administer it.

Charlotte Observer – “‘We can load them up with antidotes to nerve agent, including enzymes that combat nerve agent,’DeSimone [a professor of chemistry at UNC-CH and chemical engineering] said. ‘The idea was to put them directly into a dissolvable microneedle that’s painless – just a patch – and rapidly get them into the bloodstream’ Such a device could be used by the military or civilians during an attack, when poison gas can kill within minutes. The patch could be easily disseminated and transported, DeSimone said, and would have a long shelf life.

Researchers Move Step Closer to Universal Seasonal Flu Vaccine

It’s nearly flu season again, and for many of us that means shots. For scientists, it means hoping their predictions as to which strain of flu will strike are right, and that the vaccine in the shots is actually useful. Making things easier for everyone, scientists at the Imperial College of London have determined a “blueprint” for a single vaccine against all types of influenza. Scientists there have found that by boosting CD8 killer T cells, rather than trying to trigger antibody production, the vaccines are significantly more effective.

Voice of America – “’Such a vaccine would induce T cells that would be able to recognize new viruses that have not even been identified yet. In other words, future pandemic strains. In that sense, it’s a universal vaccine. And it will be different to existing vaccination where currently every year a new vaccine has to be developed, which is why we are always one step behind…'”

(image courtesy of CIDRAP)

New developments in legal battle over H5N1 research

by Siddha Hover, posted in News

Ron Fouchier, the virologist at the center of the last year’s controversial gain-of-function H5N1 research, is back in the media following the ruling on his research in Dutch courts this week. The ruling surrounded the legality of the Dutch government’s decision to request Fouchier to first obtain an export licenses before sending his H5N1 research out to the magazine Science. The government did so after classifying Fouchier’s work as dual-use research of concern, the dissemination of which could be perceived as potential proliferation. This week’s ruling not only supported the government’s requirement of an export license, but extended the requirement to all future work on H5N1 transmission. Needless to say, Fouchier is not pleased. He’s accused the Dutch government of disadvantaging Dutch scientists and mitigating their academic freedom.

Read more at Science.

(Image: Selbe B./Flickr)

Image of the Week: H1N1

by Siddha Hover, posted in Images

Pictured below is H1N1, the pandemic virus better known (however unfairly) as “swine flu”. As many of you undoubtedly recall, H1N1 swept the globe in 2009, causing approximately 17,000 deaths.

niaid

“Colorized transmission electron micrograph showing H1N1 influenza virus particles. Surface proteins on the virus particles are shown in black.” Image and caption: NIAID

New Bio-containment Lab in Kazakhstan

by Siddha Hover, posted in News

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), working with the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program have helped fund a new, high-security lab in Kazakhstan for the study of dangerous pathogens. The Central Reference Laboratory (CRL), set to open in 2015, will help provide competitive jobs to local scientists, discouraging them from instead selling their skills to the highest bidder. As many of you know, during its height the the Soviet BW program employed approximately 60,000 individuals, of which 10,000 were thought to highly-skilled researchers and scientists. Kazakhstan in particular was a key location for biological weapons facilities.  When the USSR halted all offensive BW in 1992, most of these 10,000 scientists suddenly found themselves unemployed – programs like these have therefore been critical to preventing proliferation of knowledge.

Reminiscent of the former Soviet “plague stations”, the CRL will focus in particular on Yersinia pestis, which is endemic in the area.

Read more on the lab here.

(image credit: William Weih/DTRA)

This Week in DC: Events 9.23.13

by Siddha Hover, posted in Events, Week In DC

Monday, September 23

Aiding Civilians in a Sectarian Conflict: Can Assistance to Syria Heal Without Harm?
Brookings Institution
2:00 – 3:00PM

On September 23, the Foreign Policy program at Brookings will host a panel discussion exploring the politicization of non-lethal aid to Syria. Brookings Fellow William McCants, director of the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, will examine the role that Gulf charities are playing in fostering sectarian tensions in Syria and then moderate a panel on the sectarian dimension of non-lethal assistance for Syria coming outside the Gulf. The panel will include Abed Ayoub, president of Islamic Relief USA, Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, and Maria Stephan, strategic planner of the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations at the U.S. Department of State.

The Science of Science Communication II
National Academy of Sciences
Washington, DC
September 23 – 25 All day

Climate change. . . evolution . . . the obesity crisis .. .nanotechnology: These are but a few of the scientific topics dominating the world stage today. Yet discourse surrounding these and other science-based issues is often overwhelmed by controversy and conflicting perceptions, hampering understanding and action. The continuing challenges facing scientists, professional communicators, and the interested public as they seek to exchange information about science has resulted in a growing area of research—the science of science communication. Investigators are delving into such issues as the role of social networks in how information is disseminated and received; the formation of beliefs and attitudes leading to decisions and behaviors; and strategies for communicating science in a highly-charged, politicized environment. The National Academy of Sciences is hosting its second Sackler colloquium on this topic to advance a national dialogue about science communication.

Tuesday, September 24

2nd Annual National Health Impact Assessment Meeting
Pew Charitable Trusts
8:30AM – 5:00PM

Building on the success of the Inaugural Health Impact Assessment (HIA)meeting, this conference will convene policymakers, public health professionals, HIA practitioners, community-based organizations, researchers, decision makers from non-health agencies who might use or rely on the results of an HIA, such as planning, transportation, housing, agriculture, energy, environment and education, and others with an interest in learning more about HIAs. It will also offer a special, one-day summit tailored specifically to policymakers.

China’s Maritime Strategy in the East China Sea: Peaceful Coexistence, Deterrence, and Active Defense
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
9:00AM – 10:30AM

In September 2012, the Chinese-Japanese sovereignty dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands in the East China Sea reignited when the Japanese government purchased three disputed islands from a private Japanese citizen who claimed to be their owner. Chinese government ships have since increased patrolling of what Japan claims to be its territorial waters around the Diaoyu/Senkakus, expanding China’s maritime law enforcement and military presence in the region. Former Wilson Center Fellow, Dr. Liselotte Odgaard and Mr. Dennis J. Blasko will examine China’s objectives and strategy in the East China Sea from the perspective of the PRC’s long-standing official foreign and defense policies and assess to what extent their actions contribute to escalation and the prospects of the use of deadly force.

Strategic Agility
Stimson Center
10:00AM – 11:00AM

Join senior national security experts and former government officials convened by the Stimson Center for the release of their report outlining a new defense strategy that would strengthen America’s security and enable the Defense Department to cut tens of billions of dollars in annual spending. The 17-member Defense Advisory Committee includes two former vice chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a former Air Force chief of staff, a former chief of naval operations and two retired four-star Army Generals.

Wednesdy, September 25

Explaining International Support for Torment: Is Torture the Shadow Cast by Terrorism?
GMU School of Public Policy
12:00PM – 1:00PM

SPP Brown Bag Seminar featuring Dr.Jerry Mayer, Associate Professor. Located in the Arlington Campus, Founders Hall, Room 317. Seating is limited, so please arrive early. For questions, please contact David Armor, darmor@gmu.edu.

What Asia Pivot?Defense Budget Cuts Undermine U.S. Interests in the Pacific
Heritage Foundation
1:30PM – 2:30PM

The Obama Administration’s defense strategy and its “Asia Pivot” are undercut by the fact that the U.S. military lacks the resources necessary to implement such strategies. Even as the number of threats to global peace and stability continues to multiply, there has not been a commensurate increase of U.S. capabilities. To what degree will massive defense cuts and reductions in the overall U.S. military structure constrain America’s global power projection and force sustainability capabilities in the Pacific?

Thursday, Septmber 26

Influenza Outlook 2013-2014: Preparing the Nation for Flu Season
National Press Club
10:00AM

Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH, Assistant Secretary for Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, Anne Schuchat, MD, (RADM, USPHS), Assistant Surgeon General, US Public Health Service; Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other medical/public health experts ready the public for the coming flu season at a news conference presented by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Last flu season was a stark reminder of how unpredictable and severe influenza can be. There were high influenza hospitalization rates, especially in the elderly (CDC saw the highest proportion of persons 65 and older hospitalized for flu since tracking began during the 2005-06 season). Sadly, the number of pediatric deaths (161) was the highest since surveillance began (excluding the pandemic year). US public health officials are encouraging the public to prepare for the upcoming flu season by getting vaccinated.

National Reconciliation and the Search for Peace and Stability in the Post-Arab Spring Middle East
GMU School for Conflict Analysis and Reconciliation
3:00 – 4:30PM

Yemen, Libya, and Tunisia have each, in their own way, struggled to achieve sustainable peace and stability. In many ways, toppling these countries’ dictators was the easy part. Now they must address historical divisions or otherwise descend into civil strife. This research project looks at the critical importance of national reconciliation in each of the three countries if they are to avoid violence and achieve sustainable stability. To understand the challenges facing national reconciliation and prospects of peaceful transition in the post-Arab Spring Middle East, the speaker conducted over 160 interviews in Yemen, Libya, and Tunisia talking to senior government officials, heads of political parties, revolutionaries and military councils, civil society organizations, tribal shaikhs, and IDPs. The speaker will share his research findings and compare progress made in all three cases.

Friday, September  27

Challenges of Chemical Weapons Disarmament in Syria
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
12:00 – 1:00PM

The U.S.-Russian agreement on Syria’s chemical weapons calls on the Assad regime to provide an inventory of its weapons stockpile and agree to a timetable for their removal and ultimate destruction. Charles Duelfer, a leading expert on WMD disarmament with extensive experience in Iraq with the UN and the U.S. government, will discuss the practical challenges of implementing this accord.

(image: Dell)

Koblentz on Syria

by Siddha Hover, posted in Media Notes

Dr. Gregory Koblentz, Deputy Director of the Biodefense Graduate Program, was featured in three pieces on Syria last week. Dr. Koblentz was quoted in an USA Today article, “Syria chemical weapons plan poses unprecedented challenge“. Speaking to the specific challenges the Syrian case presents, Koblentz explained that “[t]here has never been an effort to disarm an entire country of its chemical weapons during a civil war.” Dr. Koblentz was also featured in an interview with CTV Canada and CCTV (China).

The Pandora Report 9.20.13

by Siddha Hover, posted in Pandora Report

Highlights include anthrax anti-toxin, the Pentagon and Ebola, antibiotics and global pandemics,  MERS baffling researchers, and a H7N9 vaccine. Happy Friday!

HHS replenishes nation’s supply of anthrax antitoxin

Rest assured, in case of an anthrax attack Uncle Sam has you covered. HHS, through BioShield, has renewed contracts with GlaxoSmithKline, replenishing our nation’s expiring supply of inhalation anthrax anti-toxin in the Strategic National Stockpile. Under the renewed contracts, we’ll be covered until 2018. The renewed contract also include a surge capacity, lest an anthrax attack occur and boosted production of anti-toxin is necessary. Believe it or not, surge capacity was not built into previous contracts.

KOAM – “To create surge capacity, the contracts allow HHS to place future delivery orders if an anthrax attack occurs, in addition to replenishing the current stockpile as needed over the next five years. The cost of future orders would be determined on a case-by-case basis, up to a maximum of $350 million per order. To receive a future order, the company must have antitoxin that is eligible for emergency use authorization or is FDA-approved at the time of the order. The replenishment and surge capacity are part of a governmentwide effort to prepare the nation to respond to security threats from chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons. Federal agencies, including HHS agencies and the departments of Homeland Security, Defense, and Veterans Affairs coordinate closely to ensure programs and requirements are aligned.”

Pentagon puts Ebola virus on bio-threat research list

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is actively soliciting research in therapeutics development against a slew of deadly bacterial and viral threat agents, ranging from our favorite Ebola to Burkholderia pseudomallei, the causative agent of melioidosis. Drug companies and the US government have had a tumultuous relationship when it comes to developing vaccine/therapeutics for select agents. The solicitation is encouraging, if only as a recognition of the critical importance of researching these pathogens (if we do say so ourselves).

USA Today – “DTRA officials, the document says, are concerned about the potential use of ‘aerosolized filoviruses or alphaviruses’ that could be delivered through the air. Some of the illnesses, such as Meloidosis, affect people in areas where the Pentagon is devoting more attention. For example, a contingent of Marines is now based in Darwin, a city in northern Australia. While there are some vaccines that can treat some of these conditions, the document says, ‘they have inherent limitations and a suitably effective vaccine has to be approved.’ That’s why it’s critical for more research to be conducted to find ways to prevent and treat them, DTRA says.”

Antibiotics Could Cause the Next Global Pandemic

The invention of antibiotics was understandably a big deal – before penicillin, scraping your knee could kill you. Now, we take for granted that infections are cured by a visit to the doctor and a prescription for antibiotics. Which is why this recent CDC report is so concerning.

PolicyMic – “In a press briefing about his recent research, Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC’s director, warned ‘If we are not careful, we will soon be in a post-antibiotic era … And for some patients and for some microbes, we are already there.’ The confidence in his statement reflected the very first hard numbers for the incidence, deaths, and cost of all the major resistant organisms gathered by the CDC. The urgent worry gripping national health organizations like the CDC is that our current ‘gaps in knowledge’ and continued inadvertent strengthening of antibiotic-resistant bacteria could lead to the evolution of new vicious, contagious diseases with no current ways to combat them.”

MERS virus transmission continues to baffle

Maybe it wasn’t the camels after all. Scientists working together in the UK and Saudi Arabia are having difficulty determining the MERS virus’ route of tranmission. Yes, some camels possess the antibodies, yet most of those who contracted MERS had no contact with animals. Researchers are in agreement about one thing – the virus outbreak’s “focal point” is Riyadh. With hajj occurring next month, discovering more about the virus is becoming increasingly important.

Aljazeera – “The genetic history of the virus suggests repeat infections may have occurred since then, but what the animal source was, or is, remains unclear, it said. Tests are being carried on mammals in Saudi Arabia ranging from camels and bats to goats. The cluster in al-Hasa, in contrast, shows that viral strains there were closely related, which is consistent with spread from human to human. The samples in Riyadh have a broad genetic diversity, the paper said. This could mean that the virus is being transmitted through an animal source that is continuously being brought in from elsewhere, it said.

NIH-funded pandemic preparation: Baylor investigates bird flu vaccine

Researchers are testing vaccines against H7N9, in case the virus develops effective human-to-human transmission. H7N9 struck China in March of this year, infecting 135 and killing 44. With a fatality rate of nearly 1/3 in a totally naive population, the virus definitely has pandemic potential. H7N9 may reemerge again in the cooler fall and winter seasons.

MedScape – “Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the study being conducted at Baylor will recruit up to 1,000 adults nationally who are 19 to 64 years old and in good health. Study participants will receive different dosages of an investigational vaccine given with or without one of two adjuvants, which are substances added to a vaccine to increase the body’s immune response. Researchers at each site will gather safety information, risks and benefits of vaccinations and the effectiveness of the vaccines to trigger an immune response.”

(image: LA Department of Public Health)

Virus or Bacteria?

by Siddha Hover, posted in News

If you thought quickly determining whether a patient is suffering from a viral or a bacterial infection should be straightforward and easy, you would be wrong. The difficulty in answering this seemingly simple question is what has contributed so heavily to our current war against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Luckily for all of us, researchers at Duke University are on it. According to a new study, taking a molecular snapshot of gene activity – when infected with a virus, your body activates a specific set of genes, which are entirely different from the set activated to fight a bacterial infection. The entire process currently takes 12 hours, a number which the researchers are hoping to slash to near-instant. The value in immediately determining something as simple as what kingdom the infectious agent belongs to would be a boon in fighting everything from over prescription of antibiotics to emergent pandemics.

Read more on viral signatures here.

(image: Thomas Splettstoesser)

Image of the Week: Plague

by Siddha Hover, posted in Images

This week’s image shows us everyone’s favorite scourge – plague! Depicted below is Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, sticking to  the spines of a flea. Throughout history, Y. pestis has contributed to some of the most serious pandemics, at one point killing nearly half of Europe’s population. While plague still pops up occasionally (it’s endemic in the prairie dog population of the American Southwest), prompt treatment with antibiotics prevents serious illness. However, in aerosol form, unless antibiotics are administered in the first 24 hours, infection is almost always fatal. This is a big part of why Y.pestis is considered a potential bioterrorist agent.

Image: NIAID
Image: NIAID