coronavirus, so named due to their distinctive crown shape
The novel coronavirus which emerged in the Middle East has made its way to the United Kingdom. The UK patient had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, which is where they are thought to have become infected. This newest patient brings the total number of cases to ten, five of whom have died.
AP – “The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the latest infection was ‘a sporadic case’ and did not alter the WHO’s risk assessment. It added, however, that the new case ‘does indicate that the virus is persistent’. The British patient, who recently had traveled to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, is receiving intensive care treatment in hospital in the city of Manchester, northern England.
The new virus, which the WHO refers to as novel coronavirus or NCoV, shares some of the symptoms of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – a coronavirus which emerged in China in 2002 and killed about a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.”
This is a Canadian superbug-killing robot. No news yet on whether it also plays hockey.
Highlights include DNA sequencing and privacy, H5N1: yes it does actually have a case fatality of 60%, premature babies with H1N1, your gut releasing hidden mycotoxins, Canadian farmers and biosafety standards, and an awesome robot which kills superbugs. Happy Friday!
DNA sequencing is one potenential future of bioterrorism – as it becomes easier and easier, the technical hurdles required to simply make a bioagent oneself (perhaps in a DIY community biolab) continue to diminish.
Homeland Security News wire – “The growing ease of DNA sequencing has led to enormous advancements in the scientific field. Through extensive networked databases, researchers can access genetic information to gain valuable knowledge about causative and preventative factors for disease, and identify new targets for future treatments. The wider availability of such information, however, also has a significant downside — the risk of revealing personal information. New study finds that new policies are needed to safeguard participants’ identity in genetic studies.”
Breaking news: H5N1 is as deadly as the WHO says it is. C’mon people, it is the WHO, believe it or not disease surveillance is kind of their thing. The study below tested the argument of the naysayers who insisted H5N1’s case fatality was lower than 60%, due to the mis – or non diagnosis of asymptomatic patients. The findings? Very few cases were missed.
Clinical Infectious Diseases – “It has been suggested that the true case fatality rate of human H5N1 influenza infection is appreciably less than the figure of approximately 60% that is based on official WHO confirmed case reports because asymptomatic cases may have been missed. A number of sero-epidemiological studies have been conducted in an attempt to identify such missed cases…This review suggests that the frequency of positive H5 serology results is likely to be low; therefore, it is essential that future studies adhere to WHO criteria and include unexposed controls in their laboratory assays to limit the likelihood of false positive results.”
It remains unclear how the premature babies, all three of which are asymptomatic, caught the virus.
Times of Israel – “Three premature babies at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa were found on Thursday to be carrying the swine flu virus. The H1N1 virus has remained dormant in all three infants, who have been isolated from the other newborns while the hospital conducts an investigation to determine the source of the virus. So far this winter, two Israelis have died as a result of swine flu. A 3-year-old boy succumbed in mid-January, marking Israel’s first swine flu death since 2009. Two weeks later, a 28-year-old woman died as well. Health Ministry officials said last month that there were currently no special safeguards prepared against swine flu in Israel, but that the flu vaccine administered this year includes immunization against the life-threatening virus.”
According to a new study, plants can neutralize mycotoxins by adding a sugar or sulfate group. While the mycotoxins are rendered harmless to the plants, when they enter our lower intestine, the added group is broken down, and the toxins again become pathogenic.
Chemical and Engineering News – “Scientists have long known that fungi, such as Fusarium graminearium, deposit toxins on food crops. These so-called mycotoxins can contaminate the food supply, causing a wide range of nasty effects and even death in people and livestock. As a result, many countries set a limit for the amount of mycotoxins in food and animal feed…But in the past decade, scientists have discovered that mycotoxins can hide. The toxins are harmful to the crops themselves, so, as a defense strategy, the plants neutralize the mycotoxins by tacking on a sugar or sulfate group to the chemicals. Because of this chemical modification, these masked mycotoxins slip past current detection methods used by food safety inspectors…’what happens to the compounds during human digestion?'”
Meanwhile, in Canada, farmers are implementing voluntary biosafety standards to prevent the spread of agricultural pathogens. This may seem superfluous but after taking Dr. Breeze’s Agroterrorism class, any attempt by the farming industry at biosafety self-regulation is highly appreciated.
Manitoba Co-Operator – “Canada’s food safety agency has formally introduced its biosecurity standard designed specifically for the Canadian dairy farm. Launched Tuesday, the voluntary biosecurity standard maps out dairy farmers’ ‘control areas’ and target outcomes in the areas of animal health management, animal movement, premises management and conditions for workers, visitors, vehicles and equipment.The standard, designed to help farmers cut and control the risk of disease entering their farms, spreading within the farm or to neighbouring farms, ‘will be a tool for all proactive farmers who want to bring animal health to a superior level,’ Wally Smith, president of Dairy Farmers of Canada, said in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s release Tuesday.”
Canada is clearly out to show us up. Can we please talk about how cool the above headline is? Why don’t we get superbug-killing robots?
BioscienceTechnology.com – “She’s just 5’5” and quiet, but don’t let her demure looks fool you—she’s a ruthless killer who moves at the speed of light. Meet Tru-D, the newest member of Vancouver General Hospital’s (VGH) Housekeeping and Infection Control teams. Tru-D SmartUVC, or “Trudi” as staff affectionately call her, is a superbug slaying robot being piloted at VGH for the next few months. The machine disinfects surfaces with a measured dose of ultraviolet (UV) light to kill germs and viruses, such as norovirus, influenza, C. difficile, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE).”
Yes, E.coli, as in the frequent bathroom visit kind.
“20 year old medical student participates in an extraordinary research project at Haukeland University Hospital, where healthy students voluntarily get infected with E. coli bacteria. Then students’ stool samples are evaluated for developing a vaccine against the disease. Talking to TV2, project researcher Halvor Sommerfelt says that many children in developing countries still die from diarrheal disease, approximately 1.5 to 2 million children annually. This project aims to help developing a vaccine against one of the main causes of diarrhea among children in developing countries.”
“So far, 24 volunteers participated in the project, which is a collaboration between several countries, including the U.S. and Norway.”
Chem and bio are in some ways kissing cousins, so when we hear that Israel hit a Syrian research center involved with chemical weapons, we perk up. The damage to the chem center is thought to be collateral.
From the Washington Post – “An Israeli airstrike in Syria last week targeted a shipment of weapons and caused minor collateral damage to a nearby research center that deals with chemical weapons, two U.S. officials said Sunday. Syrian television showed images of broken glass and other damage at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, which is suspected of involvement in developing missiles to carry chemical weapons. But the video contained no evidence of a crater or the type of damage that would have been expected from a direct bombing.”
Highlights in this slightly longer report include BioWatch in the (Los Angeles) news, bird flu in Cambodia, nixing Staph’s Nicking enzyme, West Nile at your next wine tasting, blue light is the new red light when stopping bacteria, TB lurking in bone marrow, developing a better antidote to cyanide, and a chandelier made of petri dishes which actually grows bacteria (hang it in the dining room for a truly meta dining experience). Happy Friday!
It was only a matter of time before the LA Times was going to weigh in on the new BioWatch contract – $3.1 billion is a lot of money. So in what came as a surprise to absolutely no one, the LA Times had a piece yesterday discussing stonewalling on the part of BioWatch officials. Transparency and accountability are both critically important…I’m just going to end that sentence there.
LA Times – “Leaders of a House committee probing BioWatch, the nation’s troubled system for detecting biological attacks, complained Thursday that administration officials had blocked them from seeing documents held by two senior federal scientists known to have been privately skeptical of the nationwide program…In a letter, the House Energy and Commerce Committee urged Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to produce the requested emails and other documents held by the scientists, who are based at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta…The scientists’ firsthand assessments of BioWatch are known to diverge from those voiced by representatives of the Department of Homeland Security, who have repeatedly denied the existence of any false alarms or other serious deficiencies.”
H5N1 Bird Flu Re-Emerges in Cambodia, 3 New Cases & 2 Deaths
H5N1, which is endemic to the region, has resurfaced in Cambodia. Two of the three cases were in children, and all three cases were thought to have developed following contact with raw poultry.
The Guardian Express – “The Cambodian Ministry of Health in conjunction with the World Health Organization announced in a joint press release that 3 new human cases of the Avian influenza H5N1 were reported near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Of the 3 cases, 2 have resulted in the death of the patients.Cambodia 1st reported an outbreak of the H5n1 influenza virus in December 2004, and also reported a major outbreak of the virus in March 2006 that lasted until November 2006.”
Scientists Unveil a Superbug’s Secret to Antibiotic Resistance Scientists at UNC were able to prevent a specific enzyme (NES) from binding with an equally specific groove on the bacterial plasmid, thereby preventing the enzyme from nicking a specific strand of DNA which confers antibiotic resistance. Science. Easy to understand, impossible to summarize.
Science Daily– ” Worldwide, many strains of the bacterium Staphyloccocus aureus are already resistant to all antibiotics except vancomycin. But as bacteria are becoming resistant to this once powerful antidote, S. aureus has moved one step closer to becoming an unstoppable killer. Now, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have not only identified the mechanism by which vancomycin resistance spreads from one bacterium to the next, but also have suggested ways to potentially stop the transfer.”
If you’ve been enjoying a nice glass of wine on one of Virginia’s beautiful orchards, then a) get back inside you maniac it’s 19 degrees outside and b) make sure you apply mosquito repellent. Apparently agricultural areas, in which diseases in horses and birds tend to be more prevalent, unsurprisingly also have more mosquitoes. More mosquitoes = greater likelihood of diease.
Science Daily – “Washington State University researchers have linked orchards and vineyards with a greater prevalence of West Nile virus in mosquitoes and the insects’ ability to spread the virus to birds, horses and people.The finding, reported in the latest issue of the journal PLOS ONE, is the most finely scaled look at the interplay between land use and the virus’s activity in key hosts. By giving a more detailed description of how the disease moves across the landscape, the study opens the door to management efforts that might bring the disease under control, says David Crowder, a WSU entomologist and the paper’s lead author.”
Blue light to the rescue! We’re going to go ahead and lead the clarion call here and say that all lights should officially be blue. Blue school lights, blue work lights, blue bathroom lights. Think how clean we’d all be. Possibly a little pale, but so clean.
Gizmag – “Over the past few years, blue light has allowed us to understand heart problems, control brain functions, and activate muscle tissue. Now, another biomedical function can be added to its list – because it’s known to have antimicrobial qualities, it’s been used to stop infections of the skin and soft tissues…In a proof-of-concept study, led by Dr. Michael R. Hamblin of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, an array of blue LEDs was used to treat infected burns on lab mice. More specifically, the blue light was used to selectively eradicate potentially-lethal Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria in the animals’ skin and soft tissues.”
As if TB, which affects over 2 billion people globally, wasn’t hard enough to eradicate as it is, scientists have discovered that the bacteria causing the disease has been found in bone marrow.
Bloomberg – “Investigators writing today in Science Translational Medicine said they have uncovered the first evidence of tuberculosis nestled in mesenchymal stem cells in the bone marrow of people treated for the disease. The bacteria’s hideout in the self-renewing cells, where they capitalize on protection from the body’s own immune system, may explain how the germs survive. The next step is to find out how a re-infection is triggered, and then how to stop it, researchers said.”
Not technically bio, but chem is a close enough cousin that we thought we’d include this piece. Scientists are developing a more effective antidote for cyanide, that bastion of Cold War spies and disgruntled office employees.
Homeland Security News Wire – “In an advance toward closing a major gap in defenses against terrorist attacks and other mass casualty events, scientists are reporting discovery of a promising substance that could be the basis for development of a better antidote for cyanide poisoning. An ACS release reports that their report, which describes a potential antidote that could be self-administered, much like the medication delivered by allergy injection pens, appears in the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.”
“And that one is our son’s cheek bacteria, and that one is some dirt we cultured just for the heck of it, and that big one is from a swab of my cell phone – would you like to try and culture yours?”
For the microbiologist with expensive taste – why not showcase your work in your dining room with this stylish conversation piece? Regale your guests with tales of culturing your favorite bacteria, while actually pointing at cultures of bacteria. Why should the food on the table steal the limelight (literally)? All kidding aside, the fixture itself is actually quite pretty.
Madlabs – “Bacterioptica breaks from design norms, a light fixture outfitted with petri dishes. Designed to be adaptive, not only in its form and mechanics, but more importantly, in the way it evolves. Bacterioptica is not your typical chandelier, just as no family is a typical unit of interactions. Its on/off switch does not control it. Bacterioptica is alive. It grows. It is itself a household organism. It is living and breathing the same air and bacteria we are.”
Congratulations to our brilliant Biodefense MS Students, Alan Muhammet and Justin Ludgate! Both these brains have secured internships with START (National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism).
Alan Muhammet is an intern analyst and Justin Ludgate is a Spring Semeseter intern in the Special Projects Division of START, where he works on the Chemical/Biological Adversaries project.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the organization for those of you not as familiar as you should be:
“The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism—better known as START – is a university-based research center committed to the scientific study of the causes and human consequences of terrorism in the United States and around the world.
Headquartered at the University of Maryland, START supports research efforts of leading social scientists at more than 50 academic and research institutions, each of whom is conducting original investigations into fundamental questions about terrorism, including:
Under what conditions does an individual or a group turn to terrorism to pursue its goals? What is the nature of the radicalization process?
What attack patterns have different terrorists demonstrated during the past forty years? How has terrorist behavior evolved? And, what does this indicate about likely future terrorist activity?
What impact does terrorism and the threat of terrorism have on communities, and how can societies enhance their resilience to minimize the potential impacts of future attacks?
START experts apply a range of research methods to the exploration of these questions in order to deliver findings based on the best available open-source evidence and data. At the heart of START’s work are the principles that the research it is conducting must be both scientifically rigorous and directly relevant to homeland security professionals.
START is committed to the widespread dissemination of its research findings not only to homeland security professionals, but also to students of all levels and to the general public. START has developed educational materials and programs specifically designed for instructors and students at the secondary, university, and graduate school levels. Educational resources available through START include relevant lesson plans, a syllabi repository, and a range of unique data sources that can be integrated into an array of courses to deepen students’ understanding of the dynamics of terrorism. START also has internships and funding opportunities available to undergraduate and graduate students engaged in terrorism research.”
Highlights include the BioWatch contract, H5N1 research for everyone, antibiotic-resistance and the Brits, IBM destroying biofilm, and bacteria shoes. Happy Friday!
BioWatch is in the news again, but not for the reasons you might think. DHS has sent out feelers regarding the contract, which is expected to come in around $3.1 billion over five years. We’ll let you know when the industry date is set.
“Perhaps the largest single contract competition at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for fiscal year 2013 began Friday with the release of a draft announcement seeking support for the latest version of the BioWatch biological agent detection program. The draft request for quote (RFQ) stated that DHS will soon hold an industry day in Washington, DC, for contractors interested in bidding on the BioWatch Gen-3 Program. Preregistration will not be necessary but DHS has not yet identified a date for the industry day, the DHS Office of Procurement Operations said.”
We’ve spent quite a bit of time discussing the H5N1 controversy here at GMU Biodefense. The end of the moratorium, however, does not mean an immediate resumption of research – many labs are now in the difficult process of re-securing funding.
“International scientists have declared an end to a moratorium on research into mutant forms of the deadly H5N1 bird flu. Since influenza viruses are constantly changing, research is crucial, WHO’s Gregory Härtl told DW.
DW: ‘There has been this open letter in the journal Science and Nature that international scientists are going to lift their voluntary moratorium on certain research. First of all, what’s the reaction from the World Health Organization (WHO)? Is this a good or a bad thing?’
Gregory Härtl: ‘Well, certainly it’s to be expected. We convened a meeting with Dr Fouchier and Dr Kawaoka and others directly involved in this research a year ago, right at the time when this moratorium was announced. And the fact that they have desisted from doing any research on H5N1 for a year now – so twice as long as originally envisaged – has given the influenza and virology world a lot of time to sit back and look at what needs to be done in order to do this research in a surer environment and to do things that can help raise confidence all around.'”
The UK is taking antibiotic-resistant bacteria very seriously, to the extent that they’re considering adding it to their list of civil emergencies. Much of the problem is considered to be the “broken” market model for developing new antibiotics.
“More people died of infections than cancer in 2010. This stark fact highlights the danger from rise in antibiotic resistance in bacteria, a danger the chief medical officer warned MPs about again this week. For billions of years, certain bacteria have produced chemicals that protect them from attack by other microorganisms. Some of these chemicals make up the antibiotics used in medicine today. Unfortunately, bacteria are survival experts and have developed ways of resisting the toxic effect of these drugs. In fact, most of the resistance that is around today developed many years ago, either in the local environment, or in people and animals. Global travel is a major contributor to the increasing spread of such bacteria, exacerbating previously manageable problems of resistance.”
IBM – International Biofilm Masher? The tech giant has developed a hydrogel which is capable to destroying biofilms while leaving human cells unharmed.
“Biofilms — groups of microorganisms that adhere to a surface — can be a real problem. When bacteria form a biofilm, it’s difficult to treat since the cells are so densely packed. But now IBM has created a new substance that can break through biofilms such as plaque and drug-resistant bacteria, killing them while not harming humans. IBM Research and the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology created a antimicrobial hydrogel — a highly absorbent substance made from synthetic polymers — that annihilates bacterial biofilms on contact. IBM claims the hydrogel is 100% efficient in destroying biofilms. The gel forms spontaneously when heated to body temperature. It’s also biodegradable and non-toxic.”
Designer Suzanne Lee is developing jewelry and clothing made entirely of bacteria. Yes bacteria. No we’re not sure about the market for bacterial scarves, but the idea is interesting.
“I’m not creating organisms myself—I’m thinking about what functionality can we introduce genetically, with a consumer application in mind. I have various scientists I work with. I go to them and say, “How can we get this quality?” You can program the biodegradability of it: “I want this to last three months,” or three years. If you can program that in, it answers sustainability issues around massive consumption.”
Our colleague at HHS ASPR, Diane DiEuliis, asked me to share the following job announcement. It is a director-level policy position in the office of Policy and Planning at ASPR. The person would be responsible for working through the National Health Security Strategy, among other ASPR frameworks. In addition, the person would also do quite a bit of interagency management, as well as state and local collaboration, on all preparedness and response policy issues.
Please contact her directly if you have any questions. Her contact information is 202-260-6119 or diane.dieuliis@hhs.gov.
Following up on last year’s tremendously popular course, this year’s Pandemics, Bioterrrorism, and International Security three-day short course will be held on the George Mason Campus, from July 22-24, 2013.
Click Here to visit the official GMU web site for more information and to register.
Course Description
This three-day, non-credit short-course is designed to introduce participants to the challenges facing the world at the intersection of biodefense and public health. Private and public organizations face a number of challenges in the biosecurity domain. A bioterrorist attack is both a public health emergency and a criminal act whose perpetrators need to be apprehended. Likewise, pandemics can affect not just public health, but also public safety and national security. The causes and consequences of these risks extend far beyond any one nation’s borders. Pandemics and bioterrorist attacks will also confront government agencies and the private sector with the need to make high-impact decisions with limited information during a rapidly evolving situation. Further complicating this domain is the dual-use nature of biology: the knowledge and skills developed for legitimate scientific and commercial purposes can be misused by those with hostile intent. Research with dangerous pathogens and the development of dual-use biotechnologies poses a dilemma for policy-makers and researchers who seek to maximize the benefits of such research while minimizing the risks. Thus, public health, law enforcement and national security agencies, pharmaceutical and biotech industries, and the academic life sciences community need to establish new priorities, such as developing new types of expertise, adopting new types of risk assessment and risk management strategies, and learning to collaborate with each other.
Implementing these new priorities will require substantial organizational learning and change. But large organizations have deeply embedded professional norms and organizational culture that make them resistant to change, even during times of crisis. Each organization responds with its own routines, and its own distinctive view of “the threat,” which dilutes new initiatives, encourages stovepiping, and impedes effective collaboration. These organizational tendencies grow even more pronounced during times of declining budgets. Thus, while the need for collaboration is great, the potential for differing organizational styles to produce conflict is high.
The 1976 swine flu scare, 2001 anthrax letter attacks, 2003 smallpox immunization campaign, SARS and avian influenza outbreaks, and 2009 influenza pandemic provide rich case studies of how elite organizations have struggled to address novel biological threats, make high-impact decisions with limited information, and work effectively with new partners. The lessons from these cases are broadly applicable to both public and private organizations seeking to address current and emerging biosecurity risks.
Course features
Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be awarded by George Mason University
Syllabus and reading materials
Dinner after first day of course
Lunch and breaks on all days
Certificate of attendance
Membership in the exclusive course group, Pandemics, Bioterrrorism, and International Security, on LinkedIn
The Pandora Report 