chemical weapons – Page 12 – The Pandora Report

Pandora Report 8.9.15

August 9, 2015August 9, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

My apologies for lack of update last weekend…but that means a SUPER UPDATE this weekend! This week marked the 70^th anniversary of atomic bombs being dropped in Japan. Rather than find an insufficient story that attempted to address the gravity of that event, we’re focusing on a successful Ebola vaccine trial, UN consensus on Syrian chemical weapons, and airplane bathrooms (because I can’t help myself when I see a story like that!) We’ve also got stories you may have missed.

Have a great week!

Vaccine Success Holds Hope for End to Deadly Scourge of Ebola

Some great news from West Africa: an Ebola vaccine trial in Guinea has returned results that are 100% effective. 4,000 people who had been in close contact with a confirmed Ebola case showed complete protection after ten days. A ring vaccination strategy—where those who have close contact with an infected person—was used, and after success was demonstrated, the vaccine is now being extended to 13-17 year olds, and possibly 6-12 year old children.

Reuters—“The success of the Guinea trial is a big relief for researchers, many of whom feared a sharp decline in cases this year would scupper their hopes of proving a vaccine could work. Another major trial in Liberia, which had aimed to recruit some 28,000 subjects, had to stop enrolling after only reaching its mid-stage target of 1,500 participants. Plans for testing in Sierra Leone were also scaled back. That left the study in Guinea, where Ebola is still infecting new victims, as the only real hope for demonstrating the efficacy of a vaccine.”

U.N. Approves Resolution on Syria Chemical Weapons

The UN Security Council unanimously—yes, even Russia—adopted a resolution aimed at identifying those responsible for the use of chemical weapons in Syria over the past two years. The resolution established an investigative body that would assign blame for the attacks “so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice.”

Salt Lake Tribune—“‘Pointing a finger matters,” U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told the council. “This sends a clear and powerful message to all those involved in chemical weapons attacks in Syria that the [new investigative body] will identify you if you gas people.” But she added that prosecuting perpetrators will take time because there is still no tribunal to investigate alleged crimes during the war in Syria, which has killed at least 250,000 people since it began in March 2011, according to the U.N.”

Airplane Toilets Can Help Researchers Find Disease Outbreaks

A recent study in Scientific Reports finds that researchers can tell what continent you’re from and give early indication of disease outbreaks, all from the poop left in airplanes. (I think this is the first time I’ve been able to say “poop” here on the blog.) The researchers gathered samples from 18 airplanes that departed from nine cities and landed in Copenhagen and were able to identify continental trends. Microbes from Southeast Asia had higher incidence of antibiotic resistance; food transmitted microbes were also more frequent in the Southeast Asian samples; and C. diff was much more common in the North American samples.

Popular Science—“These findings led the researchers to believe that they could start to create a typical microbiome for each continent. And any big shifts that happen in their makeup—say, the concentration of C. diff rises dramatically in samples from Southeast Asia—could indicate a growing public health issue. If it’s caught early enough, public health officials could take preventative action.”

Stories You May Have Missed

The MERS outbreak in South Korea is over, Seoul declared.
Do you remember when a group of scientists discovered that there was plague, in addition to tons of other bacteria, on the New York City subway? Evidently, maybe, probably, that wasn’t true.
Speaking of disease in NYC, there is an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease. Over 100 sickened with 10 deaths. What was it caused by? Poorly maintained infrastructure, basically.
I spend a lot of my time thinking about how to combat anti-vaccine actions. According to researchers at the University of Illinois, the key is not just telling parents to vaccinate, but to also show them what happens when they don’t.
Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Noam Chomsky, and Steve Wozniak are all worried about killer robots. Well, specifically they are worried about the development of autonomous weapons.
Surplus mustard gas canisters and unexploded bombs that were dumped in the Pacific Ocean have become a reef that is home to numerous marine species. At least some good came out of the weapons.
The critics have spoken, the Pandemics, Bioterrorism, and International Security Summer Course at GMU was an unbridled success! #humblebrag.

Image Credit: CDC Global

Pandora Report 7.19.15

July 19, 2015July 20, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

An out of town visitor and a newly rescued pet have kept me very busy this week. Luckily, the news was very straightforward—the nuclear deal with Iran and ISIS with their chemical weapons. We’ve even got a few stories you may have missed.

Have a great week!

A Historic Deal to Prevent Iran from Acquiring a Nuclear Weapon

After two years in the making, the P5+1 settled negotiations to reach a comprehensive, long-term nuclear deal with Iran this week. Despite satisfaction with the outcome, many say that the deal will not end Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions and will not change Iranian policy towards the US. Dick Cheney responded that the deal makes use of nuclear weapons use more likely and former Senator Jim Webb said the deal weighs in Iran’s favor. Nevertheless, the Obama administration seems pleased with the deal and will work on its passage.

DipNote—“President Obama said “I am confident that this deal will meet the national security interests of the United States and our allies. So I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal. We do not have to accept an inevitable spiral into conflict. And we certainly shouldn’t seek it.’”

ISIS Has Fired Chemical Mortar Shells, Evidence Indicates

It seems like déjà vu all over again as reports this week said that the Islamic State appears to have manufactured rudimentary chemical weapons and attacked Kurdish positions in Iraq and Syria, evidently multiple times in multiple weeks. Investigators reported that the incidents seemed to involve toxic industrial or agricultural chemicals repurposed as weapons. This could signal “a potential escalation of the group’s capabilities” though, is not without precedent.

The New York Times—“In the clearest recent incident, a 120-millimeter chemical mortar shell struck sandbag fortifications at a Kurdish military position near Mosul Dam on June 21 or 22, the investigators said, and caused several Kurdish fighters near where it landed to become ill.”

Stories You May Have Missed

The Japanese government said this week that they finished destroying World War II era chemical weapons that were abandoned by the Japanese military in the Hubei province of China. Japan will now turn its attention to other weapons left in China in Jilin province.
An ad campaign in Western Europe is using the hashtag #makeachildcry in order to raise money and awareness for pediatric medical supplies in developing countries. Over 4 million children die annually from vaccine preventable diseases.
Speaking of which, I saw multiple stories this week reporting that childhood vaccination rates in Seattle are so low that they’ve fallen behind countries like Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Algeria.
Lastly, remember the outbreak of a disease with polio-like symptoms among children in the summer of 2014? It had been attributed to Enterovirus D68, but a report this week claims the culprit may actually have been Enterovirus C105.

Image Credit: U.S. Department of State

Pandora Report 7.11.15

July 13, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

Sorry for the late update here at Pandora Report. We’ve got how the plague turned so deadly, an Ebola update, and of course other stories you may have missed.

Have a great week!

These Two Mutations Turned Not-so-Deadly Bacteria Into the Plague

Researchers at Northwestern University have been investigating how Yersinia pestis—the bacteria that causes bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic plague—became the infective cause of the Black Death. They discovered two mutations that help to explain the bacteria’s lethality.

Smithsonian.com—“The first mutation gave the bacteria the ability to make a protein called Pla. Without Pla, Y. pestis couldn’t infect the lungs. The second mutation allowed the bacteria to enter deeper into the bodies, say through a bite, to infect blood and the lymphatic system. In other words, first the plague grew deadly, then it found a way to leap more easily from infected fleas or rodents to humans.

Ebola Strain Found on Teen in Liberia Genetically Similar to Viruses in Same Area Months Ago

I’m sure you’ve heard that there were three new cases of Ebola in Liberia—a country that was declared free of the disease on May 9. According to the World Health Organization, samples taken from a teenager who died from Ebola two weeks prior indicate that the disease is genetically similar to strains that infected people in the same area over six months ago—while the outbreak was still ongoing.

US News and World Report—“That finding by genetic sequencing suggests it is unlikely the virus was caught from travel to infected areas of Guinea or Sierra Leone, the group said. “It also makes it unlikely that this has been caused by a new emergence from a natural reservoir, such as a bat or other animal,” it said.”

Stories You May Have Missed

Did you have fun on America’s birthday? I sure did! Coming off that holiday, Andrew Wehrman looks at vaccination during the American Revolution in his new book The Contagion of Liberty.
Do you remember what life was like before vaccines? No? Well, this photo essay can remind you!
Two stories coming out of North Korea: first, did Pyongyang really post pictures of their bioweapons lab? Second, has the government been testing chemical and biological weapons on its citizens?
Then two more stories about UK history. Evidently, chemical weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s at Porton Down was done on citizens. Additionally, according to declassified documents, the Thatcher government didn’t oppose the development of the Iraqi chemical weapons program.
BARDA has ordered $133 million worth of Imvamune smallpox vaccine from Bavarian Nordic. Tests are being conducted to see if freeze-drying the vaccine effects efficacy. Freeze-dried vaccines could replace existing stocks in the Strategic National Stockpile.
A common treatment for heartburn could help fight TB, according to scientists at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.
The google alert for polio pulled up this delightful story from The Hill: Why a toilet is a great birthday present. Lest we forget the advantages of indoor plumbing for disease prevention.

Image Credit: en.wikipedia

Pandora Report 6.28.15

June 28, 2015June 29, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

It was a big week, right? The Supreme Court was making declarations and in California the General Assembly was making some decisions of their own. We’ve got the mandate for childhood vaccines in California, World War II chemical weapons testing, and other stories you may have missed.

There will be no news round up next week, in honor of one of my favorite holidays, Independence Day! I’ll be wearing red, white, and blue, watching July 4^th themed movies, and celebrating with all the American spirit I can muster. I wish all of you the same!

See you back here in July!

California Passes Bill to Require Vaccines and Ban Religious Exemptions

On Thursday, the California State Assembly passed SB 277, which mandates that children attending day care or public school must be vaccinated. The bill eliminated personal-belief and religious exemptions. Largely, this bill was in response to the outbreak of measles that began at Disneyland last year. Children who cannot receive vaccinations for medical reasons can still receive the vaccine exemption. Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign the bill into law.

Slate—“The New York Times quoted Christina Hildebrand, the founder of A Voice for Choice, a nonprofit organization that has lobbied against the bill, about her unsuccessful campaign to stop this legislation, “There are large numbers of parents who are very concerned about the fact that we’re going to have mandated medical treatment against a fundamental right to education. Parental freedom is being taken away by this, because the fear of contagion is trumping it.’”

Secret World War II Chemical Experiments Tested Troops by Race

According to documents declassified in the 1990s, the U.S. Army conducted secret chemical weapons tests on minority soldiers in order to determine the effect weapons had on non-white skin. African-American and Puerto Rican soldiers were tested upon to see if their darker pigment made them less susceptible to the weapons. Japanese-Americans were used to determine how the weapons would affect enemy Japanese soldiers. The soldiers were subjected to mustard gas and lewisite and volunteered for the assignment.

NPR—“All of the World War II experiments with mustard gas were done in secret and weren’t recorded on the subjects’ official military records. Most do not have proof of what they went through. They received no follow-up health care or monitoring of any kind. And they were sworn to secrecy about the tests under threat of dishonorable discharge and military prison time, leaving some unable to receive adequate medical treatment for their injuries, because they couldn’t tell doctors what happened to them.”

Stories You May Have Missed

Following up from last week, Moscow is testing hypersonic missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear warheads and are less susceptible to U.S. anti-ballistic countermeasures.
In response, Republican Representative Mac Thornberry (Texas) is calling for the U.S. to reconsider building new nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, NATO is re-evaluating its own nuclear weapons strategy in response to “growing tension with Russia over Ukraine.”
And its not only the old gang getting involved with nuclear weapons, evidently NASA is looking at using nuclear weapons to destroy asteroids headed towards earth.
Philanthropist extraordinaire Bill Gates believes that malaria and polio could be eradicated within the next 15 years, with polio gone as soon as 2019.
Speaking of polio, allegations that the U.S. used doctors to help find Osama bin Laden is still negatively impacting polio vaccination campaigns in Pakistan.
And speaking of malaria, there were reports this week that in West Africa, many more people died of the disease than usual during the Ebola outbreak. The diseases have similar symptoms and many avoided going to health clinics.
As if Ebola and Malaria weren’t enough, avian influenza has now arrived in West Africa. Sigh, you know the expression, when it rains, it pours.
There is a bit of good news though, as reports of an effective rapid Ebola diagnostic test appeared in The Lancet. The test uses a finger-prick blood test and takes only minutes to show a result.

Image Credit: David Monniaux

Pandora Report 6.14.15

June 14, 2015June 14, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

I’ve got brunch reservations this morning so the big story about the coming egg shortage is hitting close to home. We’ve also got a story about ISIS’ WMD and a bunch of stories you may have missed.

As a final reminder, the Early Registration Deadline for the Pandemics, Bioterrorism, and International Security is tomorrow, Monday, June 15. For more information and registration, please click here.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Egg Shortage Scrambles U.S. Food Industries

The unprecedented outbreak of avian influenza in the U.S. has meant massive losses in the domestic poultry industry which has left experts warning that U.S. consumers are very likely to see an increase in egg prices. Cases of avian flu have been reported in 15 states, with Iowa and Minnesota being some of the hardest hit. “In Minnesota, the number of lost turkeys represent about 11 percent of our total turkey production…of the chickens we’ve lost that are laying eggs, 32 percent… have been affected by this” In Iowa, about 40 percent of the state’s egg-laying chickens and 11 percent of its turkeys have been affected. All these losses will mean a shortage of whole eggs and other egg-based products.

U.S. News and World Report—“Consumers haven’t felt the pinch too much just yet, but they are unlikely to emerge with their pocketbooks unscathed, [Rick] Brown [Senior VP at Urner Barry, a food commodity research and analysis firm]. He says two-thirds of all eggs produced in the U.S. remain in a shell, many of which are placed in cartons and sold in grocery stores. This stock of eggs has been hit significantly less by the avian flu outbreak than those used in the egg products industry, which Brown says encompasses “everything from mayonnaise to salad dressings to cake mixes to pasta to bread.”

Australian Official Warns of Islamic State Weapons of Mass Destruction

You may have already seen this, since this story was everywhere this week. Julie Bishop, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, said the Islamic State (ISIS) already has and is already using chemical weapons. Bishop made these comments in an address to the Australia Group—a coalition of 40 countries seeking to limit the spread of biological and chemical weapons. In a follow-up interview, Bishop also said that NATO was concerned about the theft of radioactive material and what that could mean for nuclear weapons proliferation.

The Washington Post—“‘The use of chlorine by Da’ish, and its recruitment of highly technically trained professionals, including from the West, have revealed far more serious efforts in chemical weapons development,” Bishop said, using an alternate name for the Islamic State in a speech reported by the Australian. She did not specify the source of her information. “… Da’ish is likely to have amongst its tens of thousands of recruits the technical expertise necessary to further refine precursor materials and build chemical weapons.’”

Stories You May Have Missed

In Ebola news, Guinea has extended the health emergency declared in March until the end of June and Sierra Leone has introduced curfews in two districts after a spike in new cases.
Dugway Proving Grounds is in back in the headlines. Evidently, in 2007, the Army laboratory was cited for failing to properly kill specimens of anthrax. However, according to USA Today, no fine was ever issued and the incident was not disclosed to Congress.
Park officials at the Grand Canyon are worried that local squirrels, mice, and prairie dogs may be carrying a form of bubonic plague. Let’s face it, they probably are, so this summer come for the views but stay away from the wildlife.
Scientists in Sweden are developing their own mead—a wine-like drink made from fermented honey and water—as a possible method to fight growing antibiotic resistance. The team has found that bacteria in the honey are able to kill off human pathogens, including resistant ones.
A study in Cornwall, England is looking at how surfers exposed to human sewage and pollution in seawater may be affected by antibiotic resistant bacteria. They’re calling the study Beach Bums because it relies on swabs taken from the surfer’s, you guessed it, bums. The researchers hope swabs from the surfers compared with swabs from non-surfers will help to clarify how environmental antibiotic resistance can affect people.
The WHO is now reporting 138 confirmed cases of MERS CoV in South Korea. They have issued a call for continuation of “strong disease control measures” in order to bring the outbreak to an end.
In response to continuing Russian aggression on the European continent, the UK says it may consider housing U.S. nuclear weapons on their soil. Meanwhile, Russia is accusing the U.S. of operating a secret bioweapons lab under the guise of the Richard G. Lugar Center for Public and Animal Health Research. I can’t make this stuff up, folks!
Former Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, and former Senator Joe Leiberman, released an opinion piece in Roll Call this week urging the strengthening of American biodefense, now.

Image Credit: Hannahdownes

Pandora Report 6.7.15

June 7, 2015June 7, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

We’ve got stories this week about MERS spread in South Korea and Ebola drugs that may already be in your medicine cabinet. We’ve also got some stories you may have missed.

As a reminder, the Early Registration Deadline for the Pandemics, Bioterrorism, and International Security professional education course has been extended to June 15. For more information and registration, please click here.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

South Korea Grapples to Contain MERS as 1,369 in Quarantine

The big story this week is MERS in South Korea. Last week we reported that there were five cases. As of Friday, the number has jumped to 36 confirmed cases and three deaths. Hundreds of schools have closed in an effort to prevent further spreading of the disease, which arrived in a 68-year old index patient who had traveled in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. Many in public health have been surprised by the extent of the outbreak in South Korea because the virus has not been shown to pass easily from human to human and the health care system is “considered to be sophisticated and modern.”

CNN—“‘This is quite unusual. I think this is the only country, apart from those in the Middle East, that has such a number of cases,” said [Dr. Leo] Poon [a virology expert at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong, who worked on the SARS outbreak more than a decade ago]. “It’s not entirely surprising. In the Middle East, people in Saudi Arabia had hospital outbreaks where a few people got infected. It’s a similar situation at the moment.’”

Drugs to Fight Ebola May Already Be in Your Medicine Cabinet, Study Suggests

A team from USAMRIID, the University of Virginia, and Horizon Discovery Inc. have been working to determine if any existing drugs could be used to fight Ebola. Using 2,635 compounds, including FDA-approved drugs, amino acids, food additives, vitamins and minerals they discovered a possible answer could already be in your medicine cabinet—Zoloft and Vascor.

The LA Times—“But Zoloft (also known by the generic name sertraline) and Vascor (generic name bepridil) had more encouraging results. Of the 10 mice that got Zoloft, seven survived for 28 days. Even better, all 10 of the mice treated with Vascor were still alive 28 days after [Ebola] infection. For the sake of comparison, all of the untreated mice that served as controls were dead within nine days.”

Stories You May Have Missed

I use Google alerts with various keywords to pull stories for this weekly wrap up, and let me tell you…those keywords bring up some bizarre articles sometimes. For example, this one that states, “peeing in the pool is an act of chemical warfare.”
At least this one stating, “nanotech sensors can detect illness, fake art, chemical weapons” is more on point. Its very interesting, too!
103 travelers were being monitored in Virginia, this week, for signs of Ebola. As of June 3, all were asymptomatic and did not pose a risk to others.
One thing you might not know about Canada is that they sell milk not in plastic gallon jugs but in plastic bags and a church in Baxter, ON is using those bags to weave sleeping mats for those impacted by the ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Tweets about Ebola in Nigeria dramatically increased in the days prior to the official announcement of the disease outbreak. A study published in the American Journal of Infection Control “suggests that a social media platform such as Twitter ‘can support and contribute to early warning systems in outbreak surveillance.’”
Planning your summer vacation? You can visit Australia’s newest tourist attraction—the Maralinga nuclear test zone!

Image Credit: Shikhlinski

Pandora Report 5.30.15

May 30, 2015May 30, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

It was a slow-ish news week, this week with very few small stories but two huge ones about Chemical Weapons threats against airplanes and an inadvertent shipment of live Anthrax spores. We’ve also got a few stories you may have missed.

Have a great weekend!!

U.S. Military Says It Mistakenly Shipped Live Anthrax Samples

It was a big story this week when live anthrax spores were inadvertently shipped from Dugway Proving Ground—an army facility in Utah—to 19 military and civilian labs across as many as nine states and an overseas site. The shipments were supposed to contain dead spores. Army and CDC officials have emphasized that these shipments pose no risk to the public and there are no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infections among lab workers.

NBC New York—“The Defense Department, acting “out of an abundance of caution,” has halted “the shipment of this material from its labs pending completion of the investigation,” [Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve] Warren said.”

FBI Looking Into Chemical Weapons Threats Against Planes

While many of us had a day off from work on Memorial Day, the FBI was investigating threats made against at least 10 flights claiming that chemical weapons were aboard the planes. These included a Delta Airings flight from London Heathrow, a United Airlines flight from Edinburgh, Scotland, and an Air France flight into New York that was escorted to the ground safely by two F-15 fighter jets.

NBC News—“The threats are not deemed credible, but the information has been passed along to the airlines anyway, out of an abundance of caution.

The male caller made threats against at least 10 flights in a quick series of calls to local police around the country. All but three planes have landed with nothing of concern found.”

Stories You May Have Missed

South Korea has two more reported MERS-CoV cases, brining the total number of cases to five. It appears the patients either travelled to the Middle East themselves or had contact with those who had.
MSF reports there is an ongoing cholera outbreak in Burundian refugee camps in Tanzania. According to the WHO, 31 people have died and more than 3,000 have been affected.
Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, has said Russia’s promises to put nuclear-capable missiles in Kaliningrad and Crimea are deeply troubling, unjustified, and destabilizing.

Image Credit: United States Government

Pandora Report 5.24.15

May 24, 2015May 24, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

Two quick updates before we get into the weekly wrap-up.

First, the Early Registration Deadline for the Pandemics, Bioterrorism, and International Security professional education course at the GMU Arlington Campus has been extended to June 15. For more information and registration, please click here.

Second, we here at Pandora Report wanted to let you know about a new website designed to provide resources for biosecurity professionals and practitioners and key stakeholders. The International Biosecurity Prevention Forum (IBPF) brings together the world’s leading experts from the health and security communities to share expertise on key biosecurity and bioterrorism prevention issues. Registering to join IBPF is free and easy. Go to http://www.ibpforum.organd click the “Request Membership” button to request an IBPF member account. Members get access to a discussion section and projects, resources, and best practices submitted by other members. Contact the IBPF support team at IBPForum@ic.fbi.gov if you have any questions or problems.

Now, onto the news. This weekend we have stories about British nuclear submarines, anti-vaccine legislation in California, the development of bird flu vaccines, and other stories you may have missed.

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend!!

Britain Investigates Sailor’s Disaster Warning Over Nuclear Subs

Able Seaman William McNeilly—a weapons engineer who served aboard HMS Vanguard, one of the four British submarines carrying Trident missiles—wrote a “lengthy dossier” released on the internet which says that the “Trident nuclear defense system was vulnerable both to enemies and to potentially devastating accidents because of safety failures.” McNeilly has since gone AWOL and both police and naval officials are trying to locate him.

The Japan Times—“The Royal Navy said it totally disagreed with McNeilly’s “subjective and unsubstantiated personal views,” describing him as a “very junior sailor.” But it added it was investigating both his claims and the “unauthorized release” of his dossier. “The naval service operates its submarine fleet under the most stringent safety regime and submarines do not go to sea unless they are completely safe to do so,” a spokeswoman said.”

A Blow to Anti-Vaxxers: California Approves Forced Vaccination Bill

By now, we all know that the measles outbreak that started last winter at Disneyland was a result of unvaccinated individuals. In California, the State Senate has passed a bill which limits parent’s use of the “personal belief exemption” in order to get out of getting their children vaccinated. Under the bill, parents who don’t get their children vaccinated would not be able to send their kids to state-licensed schools, nurseries, or day care centers.

State Column—“Only children who have a medical reason for why they can’t be vaccinated would still be allowed to attend schools without receiving their vaccinations under Senate Bill 277, which was sponsored by a California Sen. Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacremento), a pediatrician, and Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), a former school board member and the son of a survivor of polio, according to a Forbes report.”

Vaccines Developed for H5N1, H7N9 Avian Flu

Findings appearing in the Journal of Virology indicate that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases have developed a vaccine for both H5N1 and H7N9—two strains of avian influenza which can be transmitted from poultry to humans. The vaccine was developed by cloning the Newcastle disease virus and transplanting a small section of the H5N1 virus into it; the same method was used for the H7N9 vaccine.

Toronto Sun—“‘We believe this Newcastle disease virus concept works very well for poultry because you kill two birds with one stone, metaphorically speaking,” Richt said. “You use only one vector to vaccinate and protect against a selected virus strain of avian influenza.’”

Stories You May Have Missed

North Korea claims that it can miniaturize nuclear weapons, which means the warheads could be attached to missiles and aimed at the U.S. and South Korea. Experts and U.S. military officials doubt the claims.
Readers in England (or those planning on moving to England), boy, do I have a new apartment for you! A TB sanatorium in Sussex, which was opened in 1906, is being converted into luxury flats. Housing search, done.
The Obama administration is having a bad week re: Syria. An agreement with Russia on Ukraine and Syria isn’t going well and it appears that ‘red line’ drawn for Bashar Assad may not actually be that red.
There were reports this week that the avian flu outbreak in the U.S. could cause egg shortages. However, it turns out a federal law will, at least, protect the financial loss for farmers.
Drones normally have a negative connotation. However, they’re being used to transport medical supplies to remote areas of Papua New Guinea in order to fight tuberculosis.
Chemical weapons are pretty horrifying, but it was in chemical weapons that doctors developed chemotherapy. Get the whole story on io9.

Image Credit: UK Ministry of Defence

Pandora Report 05.17.15

May 17, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

Yowza! That’s another semester in the books for the GMU Biodefense students. Please excuse the sparse activity on the blog, but with the semester over, things should be getting back to normal.

This weekend we have a updates on Ebola and the bird flu outbreak in the U.S., plus other stories you may have missed.

Have a great week, (enjoy the Mad Men finale!) and see you back here next weekend!

Ebola is (still) living in an American doctor’s eye

As an update, Liberia has (finally) been declared Ebola free, the number of cases in Guinea continue to rise due to transmissions at funerals, and those in Sierra Leone are dying less from Ebola than from other diseases due to the collapse of the healthcare system. It’s been over a year and we are still learning things about Ebola and its persistence on hospital surfaces, sexual fluids, and now, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the eye. WHO volunteer Ian Crozier was diagnosed in Sierra Leone and transported to Emory University where he was treated. Months later he returned to the hospital with symptoms like blurred vision and acute pain in his left eye. The cause? Ebola.

The Washington Post—“Ebola may have found refuge in patients’ eyes because, researchers said, the eye is walled off from the immune system. As the New York Times put it: “The barriers are not fully understood, but they include tightly packed cells in minute blood vessels that keep out certain cells and molecules, along with unique biological properties that inhibit the immune system.” This phenomenon is called “immune privilege” — and it means the eye can harbor viruses.”

America’s $45 Billion Poultry Industry Has a (Really) Bad Case of Bird Flu

The title says it all, frankly. Since early December 2014 three strains of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been circulating in North America. A state of emergency has been declared in Iowa (one of the hardest hit states) and over 21 million birds have been killed to contain and prevent the spread of the virus. Beyond the culling of birds, the outbreak is having an affect on business—China, South Korea, and Mexico have banned imports of U.S. poultry (to protect their own industries.)

The Motley Fool—“Falling exports could hurt farmers, but it could also help to offset domestic price increases from less supply. Although, with tens of millions of bird deaths and no end in sight to the pandemic, domestic food prices could be the largest casualty in the end.”

Stories You May Have Missed

Biodefense topics in popular culture (especially TV and movies) are one of my favorite things! That’s why I was delighted to see the medical explanation of Game of Thrones’ greyscale.
Bird influenza and canine influenza cause problems for our furry and feathered friends, but how can they affect humans? The Washington Post investigates.
Are you one of the many Americans who takes a daily probiotic? You’ve got Ilya Metchnikoff to thank—the man who drank a glass of cholera all in the name of science!
Bavarian Nordic pharmaceutical company has announced two successful late-stage tests for a smallpox vaccine called Imvamune.
I don’t want to shock you, but the OPCW has announced the discovery of chemicals used to make sarin and VX nerve agents at an undisclosed Syrian site. “This is a pretty strong indication [Syria] have been lying about what they did with sarin.”
According to the U.S. Justice Department a former Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission employee has been charged with attempting to extract information on nuclear weapons.
The WHO received notification that a new case of MERS CoV has been diagnosed in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The 61-year-old patient was treated and discharged.
The USDA Economic Research Service estimates that the yearly economic burden of foodborne pathogens is $15.5 billion! A run down of the report is available on barfblog (clever name, right?)

Image Credit: 8thstar

Pandora Report 3.21.15

March 21, 2015April 6, 2015 by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

This week we’ve got stories about pets and antibiotic resistance, a new Ebola patient in Liberia, rapid neutralization of chemical weapons, and other stories you may have missed.

Have a great week and see you back here next weekend!

Antibiotic Use in Pets Could Give Rise to Superbugs, Experts Warn

We all know that the overuse and over-prescription of antibiotics is leading to the end of antibiotic effectiveness and the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria. According to Health Canada, this extends beyond humans to our furry friends, too. Many pet owners are purchasing the drugs at pet stores, but just like with humans, pets require monitored use of antibiotics and appropriate prescriptions for antibiotic treatment.

CBC News—“‘It might be cheaper, but it might cost you more in the long run if you don’t treat it right — if the dog gets another problem or needs a different antibiotic, or gets sicker, or dies because of inappropriate treatment. Or it might be that it builds up a resistance bacterium, then it gets an infection later that’s harder to treat or passes it to you and you get the disease,” said [Dr. Scott] Weese [infectious disease specialist at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph].

Liberia Officials: New Patient Tests Positive for Ebola

This week, 16 Americans were flown from West Africa (via a really cool plane) back to the U.S. after exposure to Ebola from an infected Partners in Health co-worker. And lest those fighting the outbreak become too complacent, a new case of the virus has been diagnosed in Liberia. This news is especially devastating because the last patient with Ebola in Liberia was discharged on March 5 and the country was in the midst of the 42-day countdown that ensures the country is disease free. This new patient arrived in the emergency room of a Monrovia hospital on Thursday night, March 20.

Time—“She was identified as a suspected Ebola case and transferred to the hospital’s transit unit, where she could be isolated while awaiting test results. She is now at a treatment center. In a worrying sign, it is not clear where the woman became infected. She doesn’t seem to be linked to any of the people on an Ebola contacts list, [Dr. Francis]Kateh [acting head of Liberia’s Ebola Incident Management Team] said.”

A New Synthetic Compound Can Neutralize Chemical Weapons in Minutes

A team of scientists from Northwestern University have developed a new compound that can deactivate chemical weapons in minutes. A naturally occurring enzyme usually produced by bacteria—called phosphotriesterases—can deactivate some pesticides, and nerve gases, in milliseconds. Researchers attempted to reproduce the same effects using a synthetic catalyst.

Gizmodo—“In tests published in Nature Materials, the team used their catalyst to deactivate a pesticide similar to nerve agents but safer to use in the lab. Experiments showed that the new compounds—known as NU-1000—deactivated half of the pesticide in 15 minutes. Further testing by U.S army facilities has shown that it neutralizes half of the nerve agent GD—more toxic than the well-known sarin—in just three minutes. The researchers claim that that’s 80 times faster than any previous compound has managed.”

Stories You May Have Missed

Planning your next summer vacation to Kentucky? Bad news, a former TB hospital—and popular tourist attraction for paranormal investigators—wont be converted into a hotel for years!
On March 20, Japan marked the 20^th anniversary of the Aum Shinrikyo sarin attack on the Tokyo subway. 13 people died in the attack and more than 6.000 were affected—the majority of which say they still suffer from vision problems and fatigue.
Not content to let the U.S. and Germany have all the fun, China now has its very own anti-vaccine movement. In China, however, the mistrust comes when offered domestically produced vaccines.
2,000 snow geese migrating from Mexico to Alaska were found dead in Idaho this week. The suspected cause? Avian cholera.
This week marked the official beginning of the destruction of chemical weapons held at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado. This is the largest remaining stockpile of U.S. chemical weapons—2,611 tons of World War II-era mustard agent.
Emails this week indicate that the WHO intentionally delayed announcing Ebola as a public health emergency. Why? Reasons include angering African countries, hurting African economies, and interference with pilgrimage to Mecca.

Image Credit: Lhixon

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