Category: Pandora Report

Highlights include funding for detecting bioterror, how pandemics come to be, MERS: overblown?, antibiotics funding, and not Ebola. Happy Friday!

Funding shortfall could shut down bioterrorism lab

The ability of the Seattle area to detect its recent ricin letters was due entirely to a regional bioterrorism lab, the same lab which is now at risk of closure. Local officials were quick to point out that without the local lab, the suspicious substance would have had to be shipped to a different lab nearly 10 hours away. “If you have an instance where you have possible exposure minutes and hours count,”  said the local Sheriff, Ozzie Knezovich. Bioterrorism labs are critical points of first response.

KXLY – “With just one full time employee the lab costs $170,000 to operate each year. It serves not only Spokane but bioterrorism services for all of Eastern Washington and North Idaho. In the last seven years its tested more than 70 samples including the suspicious backpack found at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Unity March in 2011. State Representative Marcus Riccelli from Spokane said its not just the high profile cases we hear about, but the tests that come back negative that justify keeping the lab. However the most recent work done at the lab in the Ricin investigation is the perfect example of why these local officials keeping the lab open is worth fighting for.”

How Nature Builds A Pandemic Flu Virus

Why isn’t H7N9 ravaging across the planet? Or MERS, for that matter? Not for want of capability. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, conducted a study examining the genomes of past pandemic flu strains. The results? It turns out that since 1957, all our most virulent pandemic strains have evolved from the 1918 Spanish ( H1N1) strain.  Which isn’t to say the H7N9 can’t still mutate.

NPR – “Here’s a sobering thought: Wild birds — including city pigeons and ubiquitous Canada geese — carry 170 different types of bird flu. You know, all those viruses with the Hs and Ns in their names, like H1N1 and H5N1. Only a dozen of these viruses have infected humans so far, but many of those have been deadly, and three of them have caused global flu pandemics.Does every bird flu that leaps into people have the potential to turn into the next “big one” that spreads rapidly around the world?”

MERS Virus May Never Become Big Threat in U.S., Experts Say

The WHO recently reported another death from the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), bringing the total number of case fatalities to 31. With just 55 total cases, there is no question of the virus’ virulence. In fact, the Obama Administration has declared the virus a public health emergency – not due to fears of a significant outbreak, but so as to speed up testing and diagnostic capabilities.  However, there has been significant recent debate surrounding the virus’ pandemic potential. While significant mutations leading to easier transmission remain possible, MERS in its current form does not seem to pose a significant pandemic threat.

USNWR – “‘Anytime there is a new virus that has the potential to kill people, we ought to take it seriously,’ said Dr. Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. But while Siegel believes the virus’s spread should be tracked and studied, he doubts it will ever become a real threat. ‘Fear is the biggest virus going,’ he said. ‘The amount of concern is already outweighing the risk. People have seen Contagion too many times.'”

Obama Administration Seeks To Ease Approvals For Antibiotics

While not as attention-grabbing as MERS or H7N9 (bacteria always get the shaft), the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections is a growing concern. One of the ongoing difficulties in developing new drugs is lack of sufficient financial incentives – antibiotics tend to be less profitable than drugs for more common concerns (high blood pressure, etc).

NPR – “[The Obama Administration is] investing tens of millions in private drug companies to foster new germ-killing drugs. It’s setting up a new research network to develop new antibiotics. And, most controversially, federal health officials are pushing to loosen up the approval process for new antibiotics targeted at patients with life-threatening infections and dwindling treatment options. ‘Where we’re talking about life-threatening illnesses, you can do much less study and get those drugs out there — if in fact they’ll be limited to those kinds of uses,’ Dr. Janet Woodcock, the chief drug official at the Food and Drug Administration, tells Shots.”

Health officials rule out Ebola outbreak in DR Congo

News because it’s not Ebola. Last week, the UN announced six suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC, with three fatalities. However, following testing at the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Kinshasa, Ebola was ruled out, despite symptoms including severe hemorrhaging.  Possibly yellow fever?

Channel News Asia – “A senior health ministry official in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday ruled out an Ebola outbreak in the northeast of the country, after possible cases were reported by United Nations staff. OCHA  [UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] had announced suspect cases recorded between May 1 and May 12 at Mongo in the Bas-Uele district of the northeastern Orientale province, about 240 kilometres (150 miles) from Isiro, where the last Ebola outbreak killed 34 people out of 62 confirmed cases between May and November 2012.”

 

Highlights include a possible bioterrorist threat to US water supplies, novel coronavirus in France, EUA authorization for H7N9 diagnostic kits, using bacteria to stop malaria, and money for the NBAF. Happy Friday!

Tunisian Is Accused of Proposing Contamination of Water or Air in U.S.

Mr. Ahmed Abassi has been charged with falsifying visa applicant information in order to facilitate terrorism. In recorded conversations with an undercover FBI agent, Abassi describes intentions to use a bacterial pathogen to contaminate air or water supplies. It is unknown whether Abassi possesses the necessary training to do so. Abassi has denied all charges brought against him.

The New York Times – “A Tunisian man has been accused of seeking to develop a terrorist network in the United States and of proposing to poison the water or air to kill up to 100,000 people, federal prosecutors said in court papers unsealed on Thursday. The man, Ahmed Abassi, 26, who came to the United States from Canada in March and was arrested last month at Kennedy International Airport, told the authorities that he may also have ‘radicalized’ one of two men arrested recently in Canada in an alleged Qaeda-linked plot to derail a passenger train.”

France Probes 3 Suspected Cases of SARS-Like Virus

In what seems indicative of  limited person-to-person spread, two people in close contact with France’s first case of the novel coronavirus are believed to be infected with the virus themselves. The first French case become symptomatic following an excursion in Dubai. The hcov-EMC virus, a cousin of SARS, emerged in the Middle East last September,  and caused 18 fatalities out of 30 confirmed cases. Cases of the virus have been seen across the Middle East, as well as the United Kingdom and Germany.

ABC News –  “Since the virus emerged last year, European authorities have put in place monitoring measures. In France, 20 people have already been examined for suspected cases of the virus, but the other 19 turned up negative, Health Minister Marisol Touraine said. Beatrice Degrugillers, a spokeswoman for the regional health agency in France’s Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, said a nurse at the hospital where the man was hospitalized in late April has herself been under watch at the hospital in Douai since Thursday night….A doctor and a former hospital roommate who had each been in contact with the first patient also remain hospitalized. Test results are expected later Friday.”

US invokes emergency act to keep H7N9 flu at bay

Following a declaration that the H7N9 strain of influenza poses a “significant potential for a public health emergency”, the US government has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for certain portable diagnostic detection kits for the virus. EUA authorization enables the kits to be used immediately in the field without securing prior FDA approval. Clearly we’re all keep a very close eye on the strain’s spread.

New Scientist – “”They are right to be concerned. H7N9 could be a tough adversary: New Scientist has learned that it provokes a weaker immune response than most flu, making vaccines hard to produce. Although H7N9 is not, so far, transmissible between humans, it does cause severe disease in people, is easier to catch than other bird flu strains, and may need only a few mutations to go pandemic. The UK has already given doctors instructions on when to test people for H7N9, and how to manage any with the virus.”

Using Bacteria To Swat Malaria Inside Mosquitoes

Well, it’s definitely innovative. Scientists have shown that infecting mosquitoes with Wolbachia renders them temporarily resistant to malaria. But before we all start throwing our malaria pills by the wayside, there are a couple little problems with this fix. The first is rounding all the mosquites up to infect them with the bacteria in the first place. The second is the inability of Wolbachia to confer lasting resistance. Scientists have managed to mitigate both concerns be engineering a mosquito capable of maintaining and spreading Wolbachia throughout it’s lifetime. Very cool, and possibly very useful.

NPR – “‘Groups have been trying to do this for more than 10 years,’ microbiologist George Dimopoulos, from the Johns Hopkins Malaria Institute, tells Shots. ‘So it’s a landmark achievement.’ The findings, reported Thursday in the journal Science, raise the possibility of one day controlling malaria with the bacteria.’You could just release large number of infected females and establish Wolbachia in a mosquito population…Gradually it would convert a malaria-spreading population to a non-spreading one.’ Specifically, Dimopoulos and his colleagues got Wolbachia to take up permanent residency inside Anopheles stephensi mosquito, the major malaria transmitter in South Asia and the Middle East.”

After hesitating, Kan. House panel OKs NBAF bonds

The Kansas state legislature has approved bonds supporting the construction of the National Bio- and Agr0-Defense Facility at Kansas State University. The new lab would replace the current agricultural  lab located on Plum Island, off New York. The primary goal of the NBAF would be to research highly infectious animal pathogen like foot-and-mouth, in the hopes of further ensuring our nation’s agricultural security.

SF Gate – “Kansas has already authorized $105 million in bonds to help finance the project. State officials expect the lab to create more than 300 new jobs averaging more than $75,000 in salary and benefits.President Barack Obama’s latest proposed federal budget includes $714 million for the new lab. Both the Senate’s bill and the House committee’s plan would prevent the state from issuing the new bonds until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has signed its contract with the construction company that will build the lab. Also, the federal government would be on the hook for construction cost overruns.”

Highlights include the dangerous mixing of H5N1 and H1N1 in a vet lab,  developments in the ricin case, the novel coronvirus kills five more, the NYPD’s upcoming bioterror drill, and combating MDR bacteria by giving doctors forms. Happy Friday!                                                                                                                         

‘Appalling irresponsibility’: Senior scientists attack Chinese researchers for creating new strains of influenza virus in veterinary laboratory

There has been widespread outcry in the scientific community following publication of a Chinese research study in which the scientists recombined H5N1 with the highly infectious H1N1, in a veterinary laboratory. Look, there is gain-of-function research which contributes to vaccine development or a better understanding of the strain’s possible pathogenicity, and then there’s gain-of-function research which is just tempting fate. Even amongst those scientists who admired the difficulty of the experiment, there was criticism –  “It’s a fabulous piece of virology by the Chinese group and it’s very impressive,” said Professor Wain-Hobson, a renowned virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, “but they haven’t been thinking clearly about what they are doing. It’s very worrying.”  It would be tremendously ironic  to be  wiped out by a strain of flu created with the purported intention of helping stop us being wiped out by the very same strain of flu.

The Independent – “Senior scientists have criticised the “appalling irresponsibility” of researchers in China who have deliberately created new strains of influenza virus in a veterinary laboratory.They warned there is a danger that the new viral strains created by mixing bird-flu virus with human influenza could escape from the laboratory to cause a global pandemic killing millions of people.”

“Lord May of Oxford, a former government chief scientist and past president of the Royal Society, denounced the study published today in the journal Science as doing nothing to further the understanding and prevention of flu pandemics.’They claim they are doing this to help develop vaccines and such like. In fact the real reason is that they are driven by blind ambition with no common sense whatsoever,’ Lord May told The Independent.”

Miss. ricin-letters case headed to grand jury

Following the exoneration of Kevin Paul Curtis, the new suspect in the ricin letters is James Everett Dutschke. Dutschke will face a grand jury in the coming weeks. Investigators linked Dutschke to the case after discovering a dust mask containing traces of  ricin and Dutschke’s DNA. For a full analysis of the ricin case, as well as the Boston bombings, and other “WMD” terrorism, check out the GMU Biodefense Brown Bag Event  next Thursday.

USA Today – “Agents also revealed that the FBI was granted a search warrant for a location outside Dutschke’s home where he may have stored some of his possessions. Officials said they think a printer tied to the letters is at that location. Magistrate Judge S. Allan Alexander ruled that authorities had enough probable cause to send the case to a grand jury. It’s not clear when one would hear evidence in this case.”

Five die of SARS-like virus in Saudi Arabia

The novel coronavirus hCoV-EMC killed another 5 people in Saudi Arabia, bringing the total number of fatalities to sixteen out of 23 total cases. Although similar to SARS, hCoV-EMC targets the kidney, causing rapid failure. However, unlike SARS, the virus does not appear to transmit well person-to-person.

Al Jazeera – “In a statement cited by the Saudi SPA agency late on Wednesday, the ministry said that all the deaths occurred in the Ahsaa province in the oil-rich eastern region of the kingdom, according to the AFP news agency. Known as novel coronavirus or hCoV-EMC, the virus was first detected in mid-2012 and is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, leaping to humans from animal hosts…the ministry gave no figures for how many people have been examined to see if they have the lethal disease”

NYPD will release harmless gas into subway in bio/chem terror response drill

The NYPD, in coordination with the Brookhaven National Laboratory, will conduct experiments involving “tracer gases” this summer to monitor their dissipation speed. It is hoped the experiments will lead to better bio- and chemical detection systems. Don’t ask us why the Russian news has the most detailed coverage of this story (joke, little joke).

RT– “The police will use roughly 200 detectors to monitor the gas. Dubbed the Subway-Surface Air Flow Exchange, the test will be the largest of its kind and organized in cooperation with the energy department’s Brookhaven National Laboratory. They’ll use perfluorocarbon tracer gases (PFTs), which are frequently used to measure potential sites for underground construction…’The NYPD works for the best but plans for the worst when it comes to potentially catastrophic attacks such as ones employing radiological contaminants or weaponized anthrax,’ police commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement”

Programs to reduce antibiotic use often work

Apparently introducing extra paperwork is enough to deter doctors from prescribing antibiotics, resulting in a measurable  decrease in drug-resistant bacteria in hospitals in just six months. However, by continues education and persuasion, the same decrease in drug-resistant bacteria can be seen within a year. Questions of suggesting extra paperwork as a viable reform measure aside, it makes some sense that the best the way to combat antibiotic resistance would be to start with the doctors.

Reuters – “For the new review, Davey and his colleagues searched medical research databases for high-quality studies that evaluated whether hospital programs to curb the number of antibiotics doctors prescribed worked, didn’t harm patients and reduced the number of drug-resistant bacteria detected or the number of antibiotic-related infections. In the 89 studies from 19 different countries the researchers found, three types of programs were evaluated…Overall, programs that restricted a doctor’s ability to prescribe antibiotics were 32 percent more effective in the first month than those that tried to persuade and educate…After six months, restrictive programs also did a better job at reducing drug-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-related infections, compared to the persuasive programs.”

Highlights include the ricin letters case developments, a slew of H7N9 updates (chickens are the reservoirs, it’s popping up in Tawain, and it’s more lethal than previous strains), and we’re mutating H5N1 (again). Happy Friday!

Developments in the Ricin Letters Case

All charges have been dropped against Paul Kevin Curtis due to lack of evidence. A second person of interest, Everett Dutschke, has been identified and continues to cooperate with authorities. No charges have been brought against Dutschke, who maintains his  innocence.  Investigators have not disclosed any new information in the case.

USA Today – “A Mississippi man whose home and business were searched as part of an investigation into poisoned letters sent to the president and others has dropped out of sight in order to escape the news media spotlight, but is cooperating with authorities, a friend and his attorney said. Everett Dutschke, 45, had his home and former business in Tupelo, Miss., searched in connection with the letters, which allegedly contained ricin. They were sent last week to President Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and earlier to an 80-year-old Mississippi judge, Sadie Holland.”

(H7N9) Bird Flu Seen Beyond Mainland, in Taiwan

The first case of H7N9 outside mainland China was recorded this week, with a 53-year old Taiwanese man testing positive for the virus Wednesday. Three healthcare attendants treating the man have also developed “undiagnosed respiratory symptoms” fueling concerns about human-to-human transmission. However, with all evidence currently ruling out human-to-human transmission, it seems more plausible the workers are (understandably) more likely “worried well”. To date, the virus has caused 108 cases with 22 fatalities.

Wall Street Journal – “Taiwan reported the first case of a new form of avian flu found outside China’s mainland on Wednesday and said that three health-care workers who treated the patient had developed undiagnosed respiratory symptoms, raising concerns over the virus’s potential for spreading by human-to-human contact. At a news conference earlier in the day in Beijing, global health officials stressed that there had been no confirmed cases of transmission of the virus, called H7N9, between humans. However, they said, researchers were still struggling to understand how the virus was spread and hadn’t ruled out the possibility of human-to-human transmission.”

WHO: New flu passes more easily from bird to human

In his testimony before the WHO, one of the world’s top H7N9 experts has praised China’s response to the emergent flu strain while simultaneously cautioning against it’s lethality.

Post Bulletin – “A new strain of bird flu that emerged in China over the past month is one of the ‘most lethal’ flu viruses so far, worrying health officials because it can jump more easily from birds to humans than the one that started killing people a decade ago, World Health Organization officials said Wednesday. Scientists are watching the virus closely to see if it could spark a global pandemic but say there is little evidence so far that it can spread easily from human to human.”

Scientists confirm new H7N9 bird flu has come from chickens

Chickens have been identified as the reservoir of the new H7N9 strain of flu. China’s closing of its open-air poultry markets soon after the strain’s emergence has been accredited with the decrease in case numbers.  However, scientists remain uncertain as to the strain’s exact mechanism of spread, as a number of cases have had no contact with poultry.

Reuters – “Chinese scientists have confirmed for the first time that a new strain of bird flu that has killed 23 people in China has been transmitted to humans from chickens. In a study published online in the Lancet medical journal, the scientists echoed previous statements from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Chinese officials that there is as yet no evidence of human-to-human transmission of this virus. The H7N9 strain has infected 109 people in China since it was first detected in March. The WHO warned on Wednesday that this strain is ‘one of the most lethal’ flu viruses and is transmitted more easily than the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed hundreds around the world since 2003.”

Mutant version of H5N1 flu virus found to be more preferential to human infection

In a study that will no doubt reignite the gain-of-function research debate, scientists have determined that a laboratory-mutated strain of H5N1 has a much stronger human-cell binding affinity than the wild-type virus. Should we be doing this research in the first place? Do the benefits of being more prepared for a pandemic outweigh the costs of potentially causing the pandemic?

Medical Express – “An international team of bio-researchers has found that a mutant strain of the H5N1 influenza virus (created in a lab) has a 200-fold preference for binding with receptors in human cells, over those found in birds. In describing their research and conclusions in their paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers suggest that the mutant variant is much more like the strains of viruses that caused pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 2009, than it was in its native state.”

It has unfortunately been an exceptionally busy week for those of us studying terrorism, bioterrorism, and pandemics. With new developments in the Boston bombing case,  the ricin letters, and H7N9 in China seemingly happening by the hour, we can guarantee only that news included in this week’s report is current as of this (Friday) morning. In the meantime, our thoughts and good wishes remain with Boston.

Ricin Letters Suspect Paul Kevin Curtis Quickly Identified by Earlier Letters

Paul Kevin Curtis is accused of mailing three letters – one to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, one to President Obama, and one to a local justice of the peace – containing the toxin ricin. While the FBI has positively identified the toxin, further testing is needed to determine the concentration and purity of the substance. Curtis, who was identified in part by his signature on the letters – Curtis’ sign off of “KC” on the ricin letters matched previous letters sent to Senator Wicker’s office. Curtis’ family maintains he is mentally ill, and had refused to take appropriate medication.  Now the question becomes – is this terrorism? Keep an eye out for the Mason viewpoint.

ABC News – “Investigators trying to determine who sent ricin-tainted letters to President Obama and other officials quickly traced the messages and signature of the letter to Paul Kevin Curtis, an Elvis impersonator who had written to officials in the past and consistently signed his letters “I am KC and I approve this message,” according to an FBI affidavit.About 15 members of a hazmat team, some totting M4 rifles, entered Curtis’ house today and set up an evidence-gathering area outside. Curtis was formally charged today with sending mail that contained a threat to kill or harm the president and with sending mail containing a threat to injure the president.”

Chinese Government Suspects Human-to-Human Transmission of H7N9 Bird Flu

China is unfortunately following a storied pattern of waiting until critical information is leaked before acknowledging it openly  – according to unofficial sources, as many as 40% of H7N9 cases had no contact with poultry. Exacerbating the pandemic potential of H7N9 are theunique difficulties associated with developing a vaccine to the strain – it’s proven very hard to culture in the lab. However, don’t panic just yet. Even if the virus proves capable of limited human-to-human transmission, further mutations rendering it “casual contact” transmissible would be necessary for a pandemic.

US News – “As the Chinese government openly begins to speculate about the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the H7N9 bird flu strain, an international team of experts, including some from the World Health Organization, have been deployed to investigate the disease in the country. If true, the development would quickly raise concerns of the disease outbreak leading to a pandemic. Flu experts have long warned once a particularly deadly strain of the flu, as H7N9 appears to be – it has killed 17 of the 87 people it has infected – becomes transmissible between humans, it can quickly spread.”

4-year-old bird flu ‘carrier’ worries China

A four-year old in China has emerged as an asymptomatic carrier of H7N9, further complicating epidemiological efforts in the area to discover the source of the outbreak – if you don’t know who’s sick, determining how they became sick becomes very tricky. It is known that the boy’s family handled poultry and fish. Although health investigators are currently looking at “family clusters” of infection,  human-to-human transmission is not suspected.

CNN – “Doctors say the discovery of a 4-year-old carrier of the H7N9 bird flu virus who shows no symptoms of the potentially lethal virus is a worrying development that could make the spread of the infection more difficult to monitor. The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau said the boy was detected from a group of close contacts of the first infection in Beijing and the laboratory results showed the boy was an asymptomatic carrier of the disease.”

Terrorism Updates:

Watertown, Mass., Shut Down in Manhunt for Second Boston Marathon Suspect

The two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing have been identified as brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, with the former killed during the night. The manhunt continues throughout Watertown for the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who has already killed an MIT police officer and hijacked a car. Residents of the Boston suburb are being ordered to remain indoors as police officers comb the area. The two suspects are believed to be of Chechen descent, but have lived in the United States for several years.

ABC News – “”The at-large suspect is considered armed and extremely dangerous. Police are going door to door in search for the second suspect.’We believe this is a terrorist, we believe this is a man that’s come here to kill people,’ Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis said.”

Up to 40 Dead in Texas Blast

While preliminary investigations at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas indicate an industrial accident, a full investigation into the source of the explosion will take six months. We’ve included it as a potential act of terrorism due to it’s proximity to Waco (less than 20 miles) and  it’s occurring within two days of both the 20th anniversary of the end of the Waco, Texas siege (today) and the Boston Marathon bombing (Monday). Current numbers indicate 160 injured and at least 35 dead or missing.

Wall Street Journal – “[Mayor] Muska, who is one of more than 30 volunteer firefighters in the city, was on his way to help colleagues put out the initial fire at West Fertilizer Co. that began around 6 p.m. Central time on Wednesday night. Volunteer firefighters in the town of about 2,800 people roughly 80 miles south of Dallas tried to extinguish the fire at the industrial facility.About two hours later, a thunderous explosion ripped through the plant, registering as strong as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake, according to federal seismologists. It sent a column of smoke hundreds of feet into the air.”

Highlights include H7N9, China’s SARS lessons, H5N1, the seminal UN global arms treaty, bird flu bureaucracy, and the problems with the term “WMD”. Happy Friday!

H7N9 Update: 14 cases, five fatalities, no evidence of person-to-person transmission

Scientists race to gauge pandemic risk of new bird flu

We’re keeping a very close eye on news about the H7N9 avian flu strain emerging from China. To date there have been fourteen cases with five fatalities.   Unlike the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, this is the first time we’re seeing H7N9 in humans. It’s pandemic potential is still considered low due to its current inability to transmit person-to-person. However, although there have been no confirmed cases of person-to-person transmission, it’s been reported that a person caring for one of the people who died of H7N9 has since developed similar, flu-like symptoms.

Reuters – “Genetic sequence data on a deadly strain of bird flu previously unknown in people show the virus has already acquired some mutations that might make it more likely to cause a human pandemic, scientists say. But there is no evidence so far that the H7N9 flu – now known to have infected nine people in China, killing three – is spreading from person to person, and there is still a chance it might peter out and never fully mutate into a human form of flu.”

Ten years after SARS, what has China learned?

The short answer? It depends on whom you ask. China has improved its communication with the international and scientific community. However, there have been complaints about the lack of clear communication by the Chinese government with its own people, particularly at the time of the virus’ original emergence.

Xinhua – “The news of two men dying from a new variant of bird flu has reminded Chinese of the SARS pandemic that hit the country one decade ago. Many are wondering if the government will handle the situation any better than it did in 2003, should another pandemic break out…Now, on the 10th anniversary of the pandemic, fear is spreading following reports of two Shanghai men who died from H7N9 avian influenza, a strain that has not previously been detected in humans. That fear was aggravated this week after four more patients in neighboring Jiangsu Province were confirmed to have contracted the virus. All four are in critical condition.”

Cambodia reports 10th bird flu case this year

In all the chatter about H7N9, H5N1 seems almost tame. While it may seem high, ten cases in four months is in keeping with expected numbers.

Xinhua – “A six-year-old boy from Southwestern Kampot province was confirmed to have contracted with Avian Influenza H5N1, bringing the number of the cases to 10 and the death toll remained at eight in 2013, a health expert said Wednesday. ‘The boy was admitted to the Kantha Bopha Hospital in Phnom Penh on March 31 for severe pneumonia, and he was tested positive for H5N1 at the Instituts Pasteur on Tuesday,’ Dr. Denis Laurent, deputy director of the hospital, told Xinhua.’The boy is still alive, but in severe conditions (sic).”

UN general assembly passes first global arms treaty

Including everything from battle tanks to light weapons, this is the first UN treaty “aimed at controlling the trade in conventional weapons”, and prohibits the sale of conventional weapons to state in violation of arms embargoes, in support of terrorism, war crimes, genocide, or in use against civilians (it doesn’t regulate domestic sales of arms).

The Guardian – “The United Nations…vot[ed] it through by a large majority despite earlier being blocked by three countries. Member states represented in the UN general assembly voted by 154 to three, with 23 abstentions, to control a trade worth an estimated £46bn a year. The landmark deal went to a vote after Syria, Iran and North Korea – all at odds with the US – blocked its adoption by consensus….It is expected to come into force after the first 50 ratifications next year”

Clinical Notes: Bird Flu Vaccine Delayed at FDA

It’s been an avian-themed report. This piece included in commiseration with of all of us just now getting around to taxes – filing paperwork appropriately with the government is apparently as important for billion-dollar corporations as it is for the rest of us.

MedPage – “GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) human vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza did not win approval from the FDA, but only on technical grounds that should not keep it off the market for long, the company said. Called Q-Pan H5N1, the product is meant to be stockpiled in case the H5N1 virus becomes capable of causing a pandemic. It received a unanimous endorsement from an FDA advisory committee last November. Nevertheless, GSK said last week that it had received a so-called complete response letter from the agency, indicating that approval was not immediately forthcoming. The company said it was ‘triggered due to an administrative matter that has recently been rectified.'”

Soapbox we love: Let’s All Stop Saying ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ Forever

The title says it all. It was arguably too broad when it was just chemical, biological, radiological (mass destruction? a rad bomb? really?) and nuclear, and it seems to only be getting broader.

Wired – “In fact, as a fascinating paper by W. Seth Carus at the National Defense University shows, the Defense Department’s definition of the term has long been problematic. For years, its official definition included ‘high explosives,’ to make it consistent with the federal statute that Harroun ran up against. But ‘most military weaponry relies on high explosive charges,” Carus writes, ‘meaning that even the mortars and grenades used by infantrymen might qualify as WMD.’ The doctrinal answer was ultimately to limit the definition to “chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons capable of a high order of destruction or causing mass casualties.”