Koblentz on Nazi Scientists and Malaria bombs

by Siddha Hover, posted in News

Dr. Gregory Koblentz was interviewed in a National Geographic article discussing recent research potentially indicating an offensive German biological weapons program during WWII.  Read the full article at the link below.

From National Geographic: “Gregory Koblentz of George Mason University’s biodefense graduate program remains unconvinced of the offensive nature of the Dachau work. ‘Research to assess the threat posed by different biological agents and vectors, such as May’s research on mosquitoes and malaria, is especially hard to categorize as offensive or defensive,” Koblentz says. “Even if May’s intent was offensive, it was very preliminary-many steps away from actually producing a viable insect-borne biological weapon.’“

(image: CDC)

This Week in DC: Events

by Siddha Hover, posted in Events, Week In DC

Some of the best of the week’s free and open to the public events on security, health, and policy.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Complexity-Aware Monitoring
Aspen Institute
8:15 – 9:45AM

How can we monitor effectively in a dynamically changing and unpredictable situation? Many monitoring approaches measure the predicted – desired results, planned implementation strategies and forecasted pathways of change – using indicators expected to provide useful information over the life of the project. Complexity-aware monitoring is intended to compliment performance monitoring by tracking the unpredictable. Three principles and five recommended approaches monitor the unforeseen and unforeseeable so that projects can remain relevant and responsive. Recommended approaches include sentinel indicators, stakeholder feedback, process monitoring of impacts, most significant change, and outcome harvesting. Complexity is commonly misconstrued as synonymous with conflict. However, most development contexts contain a mix of simple, complicated and complex aspects. Complex aspects are characterized by interrelationships, non-linear causality, and emergence. Complexity-aware monitoring approaches are useful in a wide variety of programming contexts. USAID’s “Complexity-Aware Monitoring Discussion Note” is intended to raise questions, stimulate dialogue, and — most of all — inspire experimentation. At this breakfast, Heather Britt and Melissa Patsalides will discuss complexity-aware monitoring and USAID’s efforts to support experimentation with these approaches in the Agency.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Negotiations on Iran’s Nuclear Program
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
10:00AM

Witnesses: The Honorable Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State; The Honorable David S. Cohen, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financing, U.S. Department of Treasury; Mr. David Albright, President, Institute for Science and International Security; Mr. Mark Dubowitz, Executive Director, Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Peace and Stability in Afghanistan Post-2014: What Role for Regional Actors?
Atlantic Council
2:00PM

In 2012, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) established a network of policy groups in Afghanistan, Central Asia, India, and Pakistan for a regional project entitled “Envisioning a Secure and Independent Afghanistan Post 2014. Perspectives and Strategies for Constructive Conflict Resolution from the Neighborhood.” The project participants—high-ranking and influential policymakers, scholars, and journalists—met on a regular basis to build trust and mutual understanding and to formulate policy guidelines for the region, resulting in a joint declaration to be presented at this discussion. Khalid Aziz, Convener, Pakistan Policy Group; Ashok Mehta, Convener, India Policy Group; Sanat Kushkumbayev, Convener (Kazakhstan), Central Asia Policy Group; and Haron Amin, Facilitator, Afghanistan Policy Group will also join the discussion.

Subcommittee Hearing: Terrorist Groups in Latin America: The Changing Landscape
U.S. House Foreign Affairs
2:00PM

Panel I: Gino Costa, Ph.D., President, Ciudad Nuestra.
Panel II: Ms. Celina B. Realuyo, William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, Professor of Practice of National Security Affairs, National Defense University; Mr. Douglas Farah, Senior Associate, Americas Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Mr. Michael Shifter, President, Inter-American Dialogue.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Hearing: Al-Qaeda’s Resurgence in Iraq: A Threat to U.S. Interests
U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs
10:00AM

Chairman Royce on the hearing: “Al-Qaeda controls more territory today than it ever has before, and much of that is in western Iraq where it has recently captured significant cities. These terrorists continue to exploit sectarian conflicts that the Iraqi government has failed to resolve, and Iraq is now on the verge of civil war. Our hearing will examine al-Qaeda’s resurgence in Iraq and its threat to regional and global security.”

Thursday, February 6, 2014

NIH Global Health Interest Group 2014 Symposium: The Role of Genomics Research in Global Health
Global Health Interest Group
10:00AM – 4:00PM

Symposium featuring Scientific topics in genomics and global health, including: Microbiome Infectious diseases Inherited/genetic conditions Non-communicable diseases Genetic engineering. Sessions on global health careers will also be included. Please click the link for more information on confirmed speakers.

Conversations in Bioethics
Georgetown Medicine
5:00PM

The Kennedy Institute of Ethics is proud to invite you to the inaugural Conversations in Bioethics, an annual campus-wide discussion of a crucial bioethics issue. This year’s topic is medical error. Did you know that preventable medical error is the third leading cause of death in the US today? One sixth of all deaths in the US can be traced to medical error, the equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing each day. Shouldn’t we be talking about this? We think so. Join distinguished national experts John James, PhD, former chief toxicologist at NASA and founder of Patient Safety America, Brian Goldman, MD, emergency physician-author and host of the CBC’s White Coat, Black Art, and Beth Daley Ullem, MBA, nationally-recognized advocate for patient safety and quality and SFS alum, for a lively discussion and Q&A moderated by Maggie Little, PhD, Director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Brian Kelley Memorial Lecture: Counterintelligence after Snowden
Institute of World Politics
6:30 PM

Featuring William M. Nolte, Former Director of Education and Training, Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The Pandora Report 1.31.14

by Siddha Hover, posted in Pandora Report

Highlights include abrin poisoning, norovirus on another couple cruises, a B. anthracis bacteriophage, and H7N9 fears in Hong Kong. Happy Friday!

Bank worker, 36, ‘spiked her Magistrate mother’s Diet Coke with deadly poison’
A woman in the UK is standing trial for attempting to poison her mother with abrin, by spiking her Diet Coke soda with the toxin. As we mentioned last week after a man tried to sell abrin hidden in candles, abrin is 75 times more toxic than it’s bean-derived cousin, ricin. No word yet on the source of the toxin in the case. The woman was arrested following a counterterrorism effort in the UK – she will not, however, be charged with acts of terrorism or violations of the BWC. She maintains her innocence.

London Evening Standard – “Abrin strikes at the liver, stomach and kidneys and is potentially fatal. It costs between £600 and £900. Kuntal Patel, 36, is accused of spiking a Diet Coke with abrin…Patel was arrested after a hunt for toxic chemicals at her home following information passed to the Met from the US. She has said the substance was intended for a suicide bid which she later abandoned.”

Cruise ship back in Houston after nearly 200 fall ill
We’d like to say upfront that we have a degree of admiration for anyone still willing to go on cruise ships. While we understand that hundreds of ships plow through various bodies of water without issue everyday, when things go wrong on a cruise ship, they have the unique capacity to go spectacularly wrong. In 2013 alone, there were nine outbreak of gastrointestinal illnesses on US-based cruise ships  – 7 caused by norovirus and one caused by E. coli (the cause of the ninth case rather ominously remains “unknown”). Compared to, for instance, last February’s incident involving a week of no power or working toilets, this week’s two incidents – one norovirus outbreak on a ship sickening 170, and another sickening 700, seem relatively tame.

Houston Chronicle – “The Caribbean Princess left the Port of Houston on Jan. 25 bound for the Western Caribbean with more than 4,200 people on board. The vessel was scheduled to return on Saturday. According to CDC spokesman Llelwyn Grant, 162 of the 3,102 passengers and 11 of the 1,148 crew members had reported illness by late Thursday afternoon. Ship employees implemented some of the agency’s recommendations for preventing further infections, he said…Caribbean Princess passengers will remain on the ship until they are cleared by U.S. Customs authorities, which will take several hours, according to Princess Cruises spokeswoman Julie Benson. Besides overnight accommodations in Houston, the cruise line said passengers would be offered a 20 percent credit toward a future cruise.”

Newly-discovered virus has voracious appetite for anthrax
The Tsamsa virus, a surprisingly large, newly-discovered bacteriophage (bacteria-eating virus), seems to have a preferential appetite for Bacillus anthracis. This appetite can hopefully be one day harnessed  The virus was discovered in a zebra carcass in Namibia by an international team of scientists, led by researchers from Universities Berkeley and KwaZulu-Natal  from universities around the world. And people say academia isn’t glamorous.

UC Davis PR– “The virus was isolated from samples collected from carcasses of zebras that died of anthrax in Etosha National Park, Namibia. The anthrax bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, forms spores that survive in soil for long periods. Zebras are infected when they pick up the spores while grazing; the bacteria multiply and when the animal dies, they form spores that return to the soil as the carcass decomposes.”

Hong Kong reports third H7N9 death
China has culled 22, 604 birds following a batch of poultry testing positive for H7N9. Adding to fears over the virus’ spread, yesterday another patient died following an H7N9 infection, the third in the last month. Hong Kong has also shut it’s live poultry market for three weeks to allow for thorough disinfection. The most recent death, which comes just one day before the Chinese new year, has definitely not helped assuage fears. Still no sign of sustained person-to-person transmission

Economic Times – “The 75-year-old man had previously travelled to the neighbouring Chinese city of Shenzhen and died Wednesday morning, a Department of Health spokesman confirmed to AFP without elaborating. Fears over avian flu have grown following the deaths of two men from the H7N9 strain of the virus in Hong Kong since December. A 65-year-old man with H7N9 died on January 14 and an 80-year old man died on Boxing Day last year. Both had recently returned from mainland China.”

(image courtesy of Matt Wade/Wikicommons)

Gobble Gobble, A New Test for Toxins?

by Siddha Hover, posted in News, Research Notes

By GMU Biodefense graduate student, Blain Johnson

Do you find yourself reminiscing about the holidays, back when the bitter cold was mitigated by winter cheer? Cast your mind back to November. Every Thanksgiving millions of families sit down and eat a pleasant turkey dinner, after all, what would the holiday be without the signature dish in the center of the table? But what if you were told that turkeys are good for something other than eating?

A recent University of California Berkeley study has found that it is possible to create a sort of ‘plastic card’ that can be sample air to detect the presence of dangerous toxins or chemicals. The finding was inspired by the turkey, a bird whose skin color changes based on the level of stress around it. Inspired by this unique ability, researchers constructed a molecule, similar in shape to collagen, which contains a specific bacteriophage capable of self assembling into colorful, readable patterns if it detect a given toxin or chemical.

The Berkeley bioengineers tailored their virus to bind to specific sites on particles of TNT explosive. The result was that their new sensor could detect trace amounts of airborne TNT particles. Their development is the newest biosensor that, ironically, contains a living virus. Their bacteriophage can be genetically engineered to change color in the presence of any number of toxins, chemicals, and other viruses. While the discovery is an enormous breakthrough, the lead scientist, Dr. Seung-Wuk Lee, says she hopes to develop more sensitivity for the test in the coming months capable of producing even smaller measurements, such as  sugar levels in diabetic patients.

This new innovation goes beyond medicine; the ability to detect harmful toxins and chemicals is a major breakthrough in our ability to prepare for emergency situations and warn citizens of a possible disease outbreak or terrorist attack before it reaches a critical juncture. Imagine testing a room by waving a plastic card in the air and being able to definitively say the area is safe. This is an important discovery for the Emergency Management field and will hopefully lead to safer and more prepared communities.

So the next time you decide to eat a turkey sandwich, tell your nearest neighbor that you are eating a bird which inspired a  biosensor capable of detecting TNT at 300 parts per billion and see what they say.

Image of the Week: Cousins of Cholera

by Siddha Hover, posted in Images

The image below is of Vibrio vulnificus, which as all of you undoubtedly know, is in the same family as Vibro cholerae.

From the CDC: ” [Vibrio vulnificus] normally lives in warm seawater and is part of a group of vibrios that are called ‘halophilic’ because they require salt. V. vulnificus can cause disease in those who eat contaminated seafood or have an open wound that is exposed to contaminated seawater. Among healthy people, ingestion of V. vulnificus can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. In immunocompromised persons, particularly those with chronic liver disease, V. vulnificus can infect the bloodstream, causing a severe and life-threatening illness characterized by fever and chills, decreased blood pressure (septic shock), and blistering skin lesions. V. vulnificus bloodstream infections are fatal about 50% of the time.”

CDC/ Colorized by James Gathany
CDC/ Colorized by James Gathany

PEDv in Canada

by Siddha Hover, posted in News

From the AP: “The piglet-killing Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) has spread to a second Canadian farm, government officials said on Monday. A laboratory test confirmed the virus in a barn near Chatham-Kent, Ontario, and another possible case is under investigation in the same area, said Greg Douglas, the Canadian province’s chief veterinary officer.

“We still are under the impression that there are strategies to help mitigate, slow the spread of this virus in Ontario,’ he said. ‘However, the confirmed case, the second case, and the third under suspicion, does change the situation, the reality.’

The two Chatham-Kent farms involve finishing barns handling older pigs that generally get sick and recover from the virus. Last week, the Ontario government said the virus, which has killed at least 1 million pigs in the United States, was found on a hog farm in southern Ontario’s Middlesex County, marking the first confirmed case of the virus on a Canadian farm.”

Read more here.

This Week in DC: Events

by Siddha Hover, posted in Events, Week In DC

Highlights of the week’s free international security, terrorism, and politics events.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Conflict in Syria: Geneva II and the Road Ahead
The Washington Institute
12:30PM

As the international community prepares to meet on the Syria crisis in Montreax and Geneva on January 22 and 24, many questions remain regarding what can be agreed on at the negotiating table — and to an even greater extent, what can be implemented on the ground. To discuss the outcome of the scheduled talks and the road ahead, The Washington Institute is pleased to host a Policy Forum featuring the varied perspectives of three Washington Institute experts on Syria: Andrew J. Tabler, Jeffrey White, and Aaron Y. Zelin. Tabler will focus on the regime and the opposition, White on the military situation, and Zelin on Salafi dynamics. Ambassador James F. Jeffrey will introduce the speakers and offer commentary. Andrew J. Tabler is senior fellow in the Program on Arab Politics at the Washington Institute and author of In the Lion’s Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington’s Battle with Syria. Jeffrey White is a defense fellow at the The Washington Institute and widely sought out as a commentator on military issues involving Syria, Israel, Hezbollah, the Gaza conflict, and Iran. Aaron Y. Zelin is the Richard Borow fellow at The Washington Institute, where his research focuses on how jihadist groups are adjusting to the new political environment in the era of Arab uprisings and Salafi politics in countries transitioning to democracy.

Religion, Foreign Policy, and National Security: Why religion and Religious Freedom Matter
Institute of World Politics
4:30 PM

Knox Thames serves as the Director of Policy and Research at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The Commission is an independent, U.S. government advisory body established to monitor religious freedom conditions worldwide and make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and the Congress. Mr. Thames is also an Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Army War College and is a member of the State Department’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group. Before USCIRF, he was the lead State Department officer on religious freedom issues in multilateral fora, such as the UN and OSCE, serving in the Office of International Religious Freedom. Mr. Thames was also Counsel for six years at the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the Helsinki Commission), focusing on religious freedom and religious tolerance, issues involving refugees and internally displaced persons, and democracy and human rights in Central Asia. From 2004-2012, the State Department appointed Mr. Thames to the OSCE Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and in 2010 he was invited to join the Council on Foreign Relations as a term member.

Tuesday, January 28th, 2014

Joint Subcommittee Hearing: Implementation of the Iran Nuclear Deal
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
2:00PM

Witnesses: The Honorable Mark D. Wallace, Chief Executive Officer, United Against Nuclear Iran, (Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations); Mr. Gregory S. Jones, Senior Researcher, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center; Mr. Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University, (Former Deputy Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency); Mr. David Albright, Founder and President, Institute for Science and International Security.

Wednesday, January 29th, 2014

Energy and Insecurity: Iran, Middle East, Russia, and Eurasia
Georgetown University
6:00PM

Chaired by CERES Director Dr. Angela Stent. Panel Discussion with: The Honorable David Goldwyn, Dr. Jan Kalicki, Dr. Raad Alkadiri, and Dr. Brenda Shaffer. The event will celebrate the recent publication of Energy and Security: Strategies for a World in Transition (co-editors Jan Kalicki and David Goldwyn) by Wilson Center Press and Johns Hopkins University Press.

Thursday, January 30th, 2014
Defense Budget in 2014: A Conversation with Russell Rumbaugh
American Security Project
12:30PM

Since sequestration and passage of the new budget the Defense Department has been adjusting to a reduced funding environment – and 2014 won’t be much different. The speaker will discuss the outlook for Pentagon spending in 2014. Russell Rumbaugh is a senior associate at Stimson and director of its Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program. He is a widely recognized expert on the institutions, processes, and budgets of US national security This discussion will be on the record. Join us for a conversation on the current state and future prospects for defense budget.

The Pandora Report 1.23.14

by Siddha Hover, posted in News, Pandora Report

Highlights include dengue in Texas, H7N9 spiking ahead of the Chinese New Year, renaming the 1918 influenza, and a man selling abrin on the black market. Happy Friday (stay warm)!

Rare Disease Linked to Dengue Virus Caused Texas Woman’s Death
A Texan woman thought to have been infected and died with West Nile Virus has been discovered to have actually succumbed to   dengue. The woman’s case was recently published by the CDC, which warned of the need for effective surveillance. Dengue thankfully remains relatively rare in the US – the woman represented just the third case in nearly a decade.

LiveScience – “The woman died after her dengue infection brought on another condition called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), in which white blood cells build up in the skin, spleen and liver, and destroy other blood cells. HLH is most frequently associated with Epstein Barr virus infection, but also has been linked to dengue, according to the researchers, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

H7N9: Bird flu cases surge ahead of Chinese New Year
As the Chinese New Year approaches, the number of H7N9 cases has steadily increased, with  73 cases in the last three weeks alone. This is making people very nervous  – Chinese New Year often means millions of people travelling in very close quarters, over long periods of times. However, health officials are careful to point out that influenza case numbers, across strains, increase in the colder months. As long as the virus remains poorly transmitted person-to-person, things are fine.

BBC – “Proffesor John McCauley, the director of a WHO collaborating centre on influenza in London, said: ‘I’ve been worried all the time about H7N9; it’s highly virulent and the case fatality is about one in three, so it poses a threat.’ The range of the virus had also spread, he added, with cases in Guangdong province, further south and east than previously. He said the winter might not be the whole explanation, particularly in southern provinces closer to the equator. ‘It may be seasonal, or an alternative is more poultry exposure in the build-up to Chinese New Year, and more poultry going through the markets. They might need to reconsider closure of the markets’.”

1918 Flu Pandemic That Killed 50 Million Originated in China, Historians Say
The 1918 Spanish influenza, like so many strains of the virus, has apparently suffered for decades under an egregious misnomer. According to a new hypothesis, proposed by historian Mark Humphries, the grandfather of modern H1N1 strains may have originated in China. Humphries published his research in the journal War in History, in it arguing that the importation of almost 100,000 Chinese laborers to support the British and French lines may have introduced the virus to Europe. For those of you wondering, the pandemic strain was dubbed the Spanish flu apparently because Spain was one of the only countries to report on its heavy case numbers during the otherwise heavily censored WWI.

National Geographic – “In the new report, Humphries finds archival evidence that a respiratory illness that struck northern China in November 1917 was identified a year later by Chinese health officials as identical to the Spanish flu. He also found medical records indicating that more than 3,000 of the 25,000 Chinese Labor Corps workers who were transported across Canada en route to Europe starting in 1917 ended up in medical quarantine, many with flu-like symptoms…Writing in the January issue of the journal War in History, Humphries acknowledges that his hypothesis awaits confirmation by viral samples from flu victims. Such evidence would tie the disease’s origin to one location.”

Feds: Fla. man sold deadly toxin to NJ agent
A 19 year old in Florida has been apprehended after selling to toxin abrin to an undercover FBI agent. The deal was agreed upon online, with the FBI agent posing as a buyer on an intermediary cyber black market. The suspect was arrested after directing the FBI agent to two candles filled with the toxin, left in a fast food bag at a rest stop in Florida. A McDonalds bag, for those of you wondering about the culinary preferences of illicit toxin sellers. On a less flippant note, abrin is tremendously potent – while it presents similarly to ricin, it is 75 times more toxic.

The Grand Island Independent – “Prosecutors said Korff negotiated over the Internet with the undercover agent in New Jersey.’He allegedly peddled the poison on a virtual black market of illegal and dangerous good, hidden in the shadow of a secretive computer network favored by cybercriminals,’ said New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. Korff received $1,500 over the Internet from the agent and left the toxin hidden in two candles at a rest stop near Fort Myers, Fla., authorities said. Korff was arrested after the candles were found to contain abrin.”

(image:Calvin Teo)

Image of the Week: H7N9 in the Lab

by Siddha Hover, posted in Images

Our images of the week is a gallery of H7N9 work at the CDC, tailored for those of you who are nerdy like us and therefore wonder how an emergent agent is dealt with in the lab. Cases of H7N9 in China are currently comparable to peak numbers following the agent’s emergence last Spring. Click on any image below to launch the gallery (all images credited to the CDC, including the one above).

3 new H7N9 cases in China

by Siddha Hover, posted in News

The weekend saw another three cases of H7N9 in China, bringing the total since the October re-start to 65. An 86 year-old-man was released following a month of quarantine, having consistently tested negative for the virus.

“Commenting on the three new confirmed cases imported from Guandong a day earlier, Chou said Sunday that there is no evidence to exclude human-to-human transmission. Two of the confirmed cases involved a father, who was selling tofu at a local market, and his five-year-old daughter, according to Chou. Pending investigation, it is uncertain whether the girl contracted the virus from her father or from live poultry at the market, Chou said.”

Read more here.