Tag: DoD

Pandora Report 5.20.2016

by spopescu, posted in Pandora Report

The biodefense world was pretty busy this week – between Zika funding, cloning, and debates over dual-use technologies, we’ve got a lot to recap! Check out this great infographic on mosquitoes and the diseases they spread. The “State of Innovation” report revealed a decrease in biotech patents in 2015, with many pointing to the correlation between three U.S. Supreme Court decisions that limited patentability of some biotechnologies. If you were wondering how the sale of Plum Island is going, the House has actually temporarily halted any transactions.

Congrats GMU Biodefense Graduates!IMG_3491
We’re so happy to announce the convocation of some of our phenomenal graduate students. Earning a MS in Biodefense- Julia Homstad (also awarded the Frances Harbour Award for Community Leadership), Brittany Linkous (earning the Outstanding Biodefense MS Student Award), Francisco Cruz, Mary Dougherty, Moneka Jani, Sadaf Khan, Brittany Ferris, Michael Smith, and Robert Smith. Graduating with their PhD’s – Jonathan Gines (also the recipient of the Outstanding Biodefense PhD Student award and his dissertation was: Designing Biorisk Oversight: Applying Design Science Research to Biosafety and Biosecurity, Patricia Kehn (Flu News You Can Use? An Analysis of Flu News Quality 2008-2010), and Mittie Wallace (Emergency Preparedness in Virginia, Maryland and DC: Using Exchange Theory to Identify Government-Nonprofit Incentives and Barriers to Collaboration). Congrats to all our Biodefense graduates in the hard work and dedication they’ve put forth to contribute to such a diverse and exciting field!

Evaluation of DoD Biological Safety & Security Implementation
The Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DoD) has released their report regarding the biosafety and biosecurity policies and practices within DoD laboratories working with select agents. The report also evaluated DoD oversight of these laboratories and compliance with Federal, DoD, and Service Policy, with careful consideration to recent GAO (among others) recommendations. Several findings were reported, which include: “DoD has not maintained biosafety and biosecurity program management, oversight, and inspections of its BSAT laboratories according to applicable Federal regulations. BSAT laboratories in Military Services were inspected according to different guidance, standards, and procedures, risking dangerous lapses in biosafety practices. Lack of coordinated oversight of DoD laboratories led to multiple, missing, and duplicative inspections, and, therefore, an excessive administrative burden that could interfere with scientific research performance.” The report also noted that public health and safety was put at risk due to the poor protection of these agents. Recommendations pushed for better internal and external tracking of inspections, coordination of external technical and scientific peer reviews, standardized training for inspectors, the creation of site-specific laboratory security vulnerability assessments, etc. Overall, the report addresses several key failures within select agent laboratories that have been gaining increasing attention. While these recommendations are a necessary first step, there is definitely an up-hill battle to better secure and work with select agents.

Public Health & Emerging Disease Outbreaks – The Importance of Communication 
Outbreak prevention and response isn’t a new concept…in fact it’s something we’ve been perfecting since John Snow took off the Broad Street pump handle. Sometimes, the fastest spreader isn’t the disease, but rather poor communication and fear. In every after-action report, communication tends to be the biggest failure. Not only do people fail to talk to each other enough, but information dissemination and comprehension tends to be poorly emphasized, when in fact it could save lives. “In particular, healthcare workers may benefit from knowing about newly found transmission risks or disease findings from a novel case under intensive care. Knowledge drives behavioural change that can save lives. We live in a global community. Even if the lives saved are not citizens of our country, withholding information because it is unlikely to benefit our own countrymen, or even delaying dissemination of important information until it is published in a scientific journal is a poor choice.” Dr. Ian Mackay and Katherine Arden point to communication failures regarding the zoonotic transmission of MERS-CoV and the illness of a nurse from the UK who recovered from Ebola and was later hospitalized for meningitis. Both instances involved poor communication, especially to healthcare workers. “Good communicators and reliable communications are vital. Create a dialogue with the public now to build a partnership for later, to reduce distrust when an outbreak, epidemic or pandemic occurs. In this way, communities know which voices to trust and where to turn for their information. Leaving an information void invites others to fill it and more often than not, it is those who delight in titillation, invention, make-believe and fear-mongering.”

Weekly Dose of Zika Virus
H.R. 5243 – Zika Response Appropriations Act of 2016 is the hot topic of discussion this week, as President Obama’s Administration is opposing the act. “While the Administration appreciates that the Congress is finally taking action to address the Zika virus, the funding provided in H.R. 5243 is woefully inadequate to support the response our public health experts say is needed.  Specifically, the Administration’s full request of $1.9 billion is needed to:  reduce the risk of the Zika virus, particularly in pregnant women, by better controlling the mosquitoes that spread Zika; develop new tools, including vaccines and better diagnostics to protect the Nation from the Zika virus; and conduct crucial research projects needed to better understand the impacts of the Zika virus on infants and children.” On May 17th, the Senate voted to provide $1.2 billion to fight the growing outbreak. A team from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has traveled into uncharted territory – they are the first to genetically engineer a clone of the Zika virus strain.  Their work could help speed up vaccine development and research of the virus. As the Zika outbreak rages onwards, many are pointing to the need to understand how and why it mutated from Africa to Asia and then to the Americas.  “‘Like many arboviral agents, given the appropriate environmental and human conditions, new pathogens can be easily moved around the globe,’ Ann Powers said. And that’s what Zika did. The virus began to ripple across the Pacific—and as it traveled, it seemed to change.” The Olympic Games are fast approaching and the debate about the safety of the games has been spreading (see what I did there?). Last week you read about how some are saying the games should be cancelled, while others say it poses a minimal threat. You can also find a snapshot of Zika virus here. The WHO reported that the overall risk of Zika virus moving across the WHO European region is low to moderate during late spring and early summer. Rutgers is taking the lead on an IBM-sponsored project that will utilize supercomputing resources to identify “potential drug candidates to cure the Zika virus.” The Wilson Center is hosting an event, “Zika in the U.S: Can We Manage the Risk?” on Tuesday, May 24th, at 11am. Many are also wondering why humans and not mice are susceptible to the virus. Lastly, as of May 18th, the CDC has reported 544 travel-associated cases and 10 sexually transmitted cases within the U.S.

Governance Structures for Reducing Dual-Use Technology Risks
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has published an examination of dual-use technology governance and the state of current efforts to control the spread of potentially dangerous technologies. “Governance of Dual-Use Technologies examines the similarities and differences between the strategies used for the control of nuclear technologies and those proposed for biotechnology and information technology. The publication makes clear the challenges concomitant with dual-use governance.” The report looks at the potential objectives of these measures, what they translate to in a technical format, and if these measures are even feasible.

Global Avian Influenza A H5N1 Trends
Researchers recently looked at the epidemiology of human H5N1 cases from 1997-2015. This was the first comprehensive analysis of human cases on a global scale. The number of affected countries rose between 2003 and 2008, traveling from east Asia into west Asia and Africa. “Most cases (67·2%) occurred from December to March, and the overall case-fatality risk was 483 (53·5%) of 903 cases which varied across geographical regions. Although the incidence in Egypt has increased dramatically since November, 2014, compared with the cases beforehand, there were no significant differences in the fatality risk, history of exposure to poultry, history of patient contact, and time from onset to hospital admission in the recent cases.”

Stories You May Have Missed:

  • Health Security Available – The newest volume of Health Security is now available online. The recent issue includes pieces on Zika and microcephaly, preparing for climate disruption, adapting to health impacts of climate change in the DoD, and more!
  • Secret Genome Meeting – Last week saw a meeting hosted by Harvard Medical School’s George Church, to discuss “feasibility and implementation of a project to synthesize entire large genomes in vitro.” Initially the meeting was open to the public and media however, the decision was made to keep it private (from the media) so that researchers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and government officials could speak freely without fear of being misquoted. “Our ability to understand what to build is so far behind what we can build,” said Jeremy Minshull, chief executive of DNA synthesis company DNA2.0, told The New York Times. “I just don’t think that being able to make more and more and more and cheaper and cheaper and cheaper is going to get us the understanding we need.”
  • Four Countries Fend Off Avian Influenza- Cambodia, Ghana, and Indonesia have been battling H5N1 and Italy has just reported its second H7N7 occurrence this month. Ghana and Cambodia have reported significant bird mortalities, with the virus killing 155 of 505 susceptible birds. “In Ghana, the H5N1 virus turned up in four commercial layer and breeding farms in three of the country’s regions: two in Greater Accra and one each in Eastern and Central regions.”
  • Bavarian Nordic Smallpox Vaccine Contract – the pharmaceutical company announced that BARDA has ordered a bulk supply of their new IMVAMUNE smallpox vaccine. The $100 million supply of the non-replicating vaccine requires Bavarian Nordic to manufacture and store the bulk supply. “The freeze-dried version of IMVAMUNE is expected to reduce the life cycle management costs based on a longer shelf life and will replace the liquid-frozen version that is currently stockpiled in the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile (SNS).”
  • Early Detection Lyme Disease Test Successful – GMU researchers have proven that their early-detection urine test works to rapidly identify Lyme diseases. “The National Institutes of Health funded the research that led to Mason’s patented technology, which traps tell-tale clues (such as the Lyme bacteria protein) that a disease is present. The Mason technology, which is licensed to Ceres, works during the earliest stages of disease and finds the tiniest traces missed by most diagnostic tests.”

Pandora Report: 3.4.2016

by spopescu, posted in Pandora Report

Dirty bombs, Zika virus, and biosecurity in Iraq? That’s just a taste of the biodefense news we’ve got in store for you this week. While norovirus hits the East Coast (thanks, oysters!) and an additional three cases were confirmed in the seven-month-long Listeria outbreak associated with Dole salads, it’s no wonder there’s been work to build a new US food safety system. Next month the CDC will be working with state and local officials to establish plans in the most hard-hit Zika areas.

Assessing America’s Soft Underbelly and The Threat of Agroterrorism
The House Committee on Homeland Security’s Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications Subcommittee held a hearing on Friday in which they discussed and reviewed the risk of agroterrorism or natural agro-disasters. Disruption to the agriculture infrastructure and economy could be devastating to the US. Regardless if it’s private or public sectors, preparedness is vital to reduce calamitous damage. “US food and agriculture accounts for roughly one-fifth of the nation’s economic activity, contributed $835 billion to the US gross domestic product in 2014, and is responsible for one out of every 12 US jobs, according to Subcommittee Chairman Martha McSally (R-AZ).” Consider the impact of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) on their respective sectors and country economies. Some of the highlighted vulnerabilities and challenges were insufficient quantity of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine, gaps in US biosecurity, traceability, gaps in detection, data sharing for regulated disease, and more.

Strengthening Biosecurity in Iraq: Development of a National Biorisk Management SystemScreen Shot 2016-03-04 at 10.02.47 AM
GMU Biodefense director and professor, Dr. Gregory Koblentz, and Mahdi al-Jewari, director of the biology department for the Iraqi National Monitoring Authority in the Iraq Ministry of Science of Technology, have joined together to discuss the furthering of Iraqi biosecurity. Mahdi al-Jewari visited GMU in early 2015 to speak on global biorisk management, hosted by the GMU School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs. In their research, Dr. Koblentz and Mr. al-Jewari discuss Iraq’s implementation of its non-proliferation commitments, highlighting that since 2004 “Iraq has taken a series of practical steps to implement its obligations under international non-proliferation treaties to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery to states and non-state actors.” The Iraqi National Monitoring Authority, established in 2012, strives to strengthen their biosecurity program through three primary functions: compliance, monitoring of dual-use materials, and capacity building. The National Biorisk Management System has also highlighted four priorities to “counter biological threats: establishing a national pathogen list, building laboratory capacity, developing the capability to conduct joint law enforcement–public health investigations, and establishing a biorisk management law. The NBMC has established sub-committees charged with developing new policies and programs to achieve these four objectives.” While sustainability will be the most challenging hurdle for Iraq, commitment to investments  in infrastructure, IT, biosecurity, and biosurveillance systems can help them overcome these difficulties.

Just How Far Down the Zika Rabbit Hole Are We So Far?
It seems like every week we’re learning new things about Zika virus and how much work needs to be done. I wonder, how far have we made it down the rabbit hole for Zika and how much more do we have to go? While the Aedes mosquito is the reigning king of Zika virus infections, what about animals? The CDC recently released information regarding the concerns over zoonotic cases. Originally discovered in a monkey in the Zika Forest in 1940’s Uganda , the CDC maintains that “at this time, animals do not appear to be involved in the spread” and that there is no evidence of zoonotic transmission. “Nonhuman primates (apes and monkeys) have shown the ability to become infected with Zika virus; but, only a few naturally and experimentally infected monkeys and apes have had any signs of illness at all, and then it was only a mild, transient fever without any other symptoms.” As international public health teams descend upon the outbreak regions, we will surely be learning more about this outbreak. Perhaps the most challenging issue is the dissemination of information, especially in regions of high transmission. University of Arizona Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health infectious disease professor, Dr. Kacey Ernst, is one of the top vector-borne researchers and she recently explained: “The Zika virus pandemic, thought to be primarily caused by transmission of the virus through Ae. aegypti requires urgent action to determine the role of the virus in neurological sequalea, including microcephaly as well as the relative transmission potential of Ae. albopictus. Given the important role of communities in preventing the proliferation of the peridomestic, anthropophilic Ae. aegypti, communication between the scientific communities and the public must be heightened to ensure timely dissemination of surveillance information. While much of the United States is currently too cold to allow high densities of the primary vector of Zika virus, Ae. aegypti, the growing evidence surrounding the role of sexual transmission in the spread of Zika could imply that outbreaks of disease are possible even when transmission by the mosquito is not. More research is needed to delineate the two modes of transmission and the role that sexual transmission may be playing in the explosive spread of Zika across Latin America and the Caribbean.” In more Zika updates, blood samples from French Polynesia patients with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) during their Zika virus outbreak are revealing the first look into the reality that Zika may actually cause GBS. The CDC is also urging pregnant women to avoid the summer Olympics in Brazil due to the outbreak. The FDA also just issued their Emergency Use Authorization for a Zika diagnostic tool for qualified countries. As of March 2nd, the CDC has reported 153 travel-associated Zika virus cases within the US.

Education Gaps on Dirty Bombs
David Ropeik from Scientific American discusses the impact that poor education and fear regarding dirty bombs can pose during an emergency. “The prospect of such a bomb seems terrifying, but anyone who knows the basic science of radiation biology knows that it wouldn’t cause much health damage, because the dose of radioactivity to which most people might be exposed would be very low. And experts know, based on the 65 year Life Span Study of the survivors of atomic bomb explosions in Japan, that even at extraordinarily high doses, ionizing radiation only raises lifetime cancer mortality rates a little bit—just two thirds of one percent for survivors who were within three kilometers of ground zero.” Few people know that low doses from a dirty bomb exposure pose little (not zero, but minimal) health risks, but rather people tend to hear “radioactive” or “nuclear radiation” and run screaming to the hills like a zombie hoard is approaching. While Ropeik points out that there will of course be devastation and economic damage, the resulting stress, fear, and public outcry for retaliation can be just as damaging. So what can we do? He points to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and CDC educational sites, but emphasizes that in the end, a communication campaign to combat fear would “take at least some power of a dirty bomb to terrorize us out of the hands of the terrorists”.

Stories You May Have Missed:

  • Biosurviellance Ecosystem- The DoD and DHS are currently working on a new system that would allow epidemiologists to “scan the planet for anomalies in human and animal disease prevalence, warn of coming pandemics, and protect warfighters and others worldwide.” The Biosurveillance Ecosystem (BSVE) is a brain child that would allow epidemiologists to customize and collaborate – better yet, it’s being developed using open-source software and works “as a dashboard-like service from the cloud, accessible through an Internet browser”.
  • Select Agent Guidance– The Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) is asking for community members to submit comments regarding the Guidance for Nonviable Select Agents and Nonfunctional Select Toxins. If you’re a member of the regulated community, help the FSAP become more transparent and strengthen biosecurity efforts! Comments will be accepted through March 14, 2016.
  • Giant Virus Secret Weapon: An Immune System – Whether it’s Frankenvirus or one of the other hundreds of giant viruses researchers have been finding, they’re teaching us a lot about secret weapons within the virus arsenal. Researchers working with a few of the giant viruses reported on Monday that some of the genes actually provide an immune system. Even crazier? The immune system “works a lot like the CRISPR system in bacteria that scientists have co-opted as a powerful gene editing tool.”

Pandora Report 7.26.15

by juliadhomstad, posted in Pandora Report

Mason students are working through their summer courses and I’m happy to say mine is OVER! Let the summer begin (two months late)! This week we’ve got great news about Polio in Nigeria and a somber anniversary in Japan. We’ve also got other stories you may have missed.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a great week!

A-Bomb Victims Remembered in Potsdam, Where Truman Ordered Nuclear Strikes

Coming up on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, German and Japanese citizens in the city of Potsdam held a remembrance ceremony for both the victims that died in the blast and the future. Japan has become, according to the former President of the International Court of Justice, the world’s conscience against nuclear weapons and power. Why? Japan is “the only country in the world to have been the victim of both military and civilian nuclear energy, having experienced the crazy danger of the atom, both in its military applications, destruction of life and its beneficial civilian use, which has now turned into a nightmare with the serious incidents of Fukushima.”

Japan Times—“The Potsdam Conference was held between July 17 and Aug. 2 in 1945. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and another bomb on Nagasaki three days later. On Aug. 15 that year, Emperor Hirohito announced to the nation that Japan had accepted the Potsdam Declaration, in which the United States, Britain and China demanded the nation’s unconditional surrender.”

Nigeria Beats Polio

Very, very, very exciting news: Nigeria has not had a case of polio in a year. A year! This makes Nigeria polio free and the last country in Africa to eliminate the disease. The achievement was possible with contributions from the Nigerian government (where elimination of the disease was a point of “national pride”), UNICEF, the WHO, the CDC, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International, and other organizations. With Nigeria’s accomplishment, there are only two other countries in the world where polio still exists—Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Voice of America—“Carol Pandek heads Rotary International’s polio program. She told VOA via Skype that a year being polio-free is a milestone for Nigeria, but noted that it is not over. “Now they need to continue to do high quality immunization campaigns for the next several years,” she said, as well as have a strong surveillance system so, should there be any new cases, they can be identified as soon as possible.”

Stories You May Have Missed

 

Image Credit: Fg2

The Pandora Report 10.18.13

by Siddha Hover, posted in Pandora Report

Highlights include a MERS-free hajj?, Craig Venter and bioterrorism, coronaviruses in hedgehogs,  DoD contributing to key biodefense infrastructure, bacteriophages eating superbugs, and (briefly) the Ebola cure and the oh-so-secret botulinum toxin. Happy Friday!

Hajj Numbers Down In 2013 By 1 Million Over MERS Virus Fears

Public health officials globally have kept a nervous eye on Saudi Arabia over the last week, as hajj brought 1.5 million pilgrims into Mecca, and potentially into contact with MERS. However hajj is concluding, and so far, not  a single case of MERS has emerged from the Muslim holy city. While it’s too early to tell with certainty whether this year’s hajj has been totally MERS-free, credit where credit is due.  Saudi Arabia was careful to institute a slew of preventative measures designed to prevent the virus’ spread, including severely limiting visas to susceptible populations, mandating mask-wearing in high density spaces, and a broad information campaign emphasizing good hygiene. We’re impressed (and grateful!).

International Business Times – “Hajj placed 1.75 million foreign pilgrims in contact with 1.4 million Saudi pilgrims last year, and officials feared that such contact could prove a deadly mix for a disease that has been, thus far, largely contained within the kingdom. Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef said international numbers were down 21 percent to 1.37 million pilgrims from 188 countries this year, while the number of pilgrims from within the kingdom is believed to be half of what it was last year…Saudi Minister of Health, Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, announced late Saturday that all health facilities were ready for hajj pilgrims, with some 22,000 health workers (3,000 more than previous years) on standby to help the ill or injured. He added that there had been no epidemic or coronavirus cases among pilgrims thus far.”

Craig Venter (briefly) Discusses Bioterrorism 

If you’re even tangentially involved in the biosciences, you already know that Craig Venter was the lead scientists of the Human Genome Project, which was the first to successfully characterize an entire human genome. It took Venter and his team thirteen years and nearly three billion dollars to sequence his genome. Today, it’s possible to sequence a human genome in less than a month at under $5,000, leading many scientists to worry about the potential of terrorists simply sequencing highly pathogenic bugs. Popular Mechanics caught up with Venter in advance of his new book, Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life, and asked him about, amongst other things, synthetic biology and biological terrorism.

Popular Mechanics – [Venter, on his biggest concern for synthetic biology] “Certainly the biggest concern is the potential for bioterrorism. But using synthetics for bioterrorism is a huge, huge, huge, challenge. Right now there are so many sources of materials for bioterrorism that it’s unlikely that somebody would go to all the difficulty to synthetically make it. For example, anthrax exists on most cattle farms. Any dead cow has a good chance of having anthrax in it, so it’s not like you need to get anthrax from some high security lab. But certainly, in theory, people could make things like smallpox that aren’t readily available. My main concern is people doing biology in their kitchens. It’s great that so many people are curious about biology, but without proper training these DIY biologists don’t learn the right safety approaches and mechanisms. Someone could inadvertently cause harm to a lot of people. Like any new frontier with powerful technology, people have to think about it carefully. What are its implications? How can we regulate it without over-regulating it?”

Bacteria-eating viruses ‘magic bullets in the war on superbugs’

Researchers at the University of Leicester have isolated a new strain of bacteriophage – viruses which infect and kill bacteria – which specifically targets the bacteria Clostridium difficile. The use of phages instead of comparatively indiscriminate antibiotics in treatment would help diminish the over-prescription antibiotics, reduce the likelihood of antibiotic resistance, and preserve healthy host bacteria. One of the researchers raises a very good point – with fewer and fewer new antibiotics discovered, and more and more cases of antibiotic resistance, an earnest search for viable alternatives is necessary.

University of Leicester – “Dr. Clokie and her team have achieved the remarkable feat of isolating and characterising the largest known set of distinct C. diff phages that infect clinically relevant strains of C. diff. Of these, a specific mixture of phages have been proved, through extensive laboratory testing, to be effective against 90% of the most clinically relevant C. diff strains currently seen in the U.K. As a testament to their therapeutic potential, these phages, that are the subject of a patent application, have been licensed by AmpliPhi Biosciences Corporation – a US-based biopharmaceutical company and pioneers in developing phage-based therapeutics. AmpliPhi have already made progress in developing phages targeted against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a pathogen that causes acute, life-threatening lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. They were also the first biopharmaceutical company to demonstrate the effectiveness of Pseudomonas phages in controlled and regulated human clinical trials.”

DOD Funding Contributes to U.S. Biodefense Infrastructure

The Department of Defense has co-funded the Texas A&M Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing, which was created in response to the 2009 influenza pandemic. The Center’s primary focus is flexible and fast development of therapeutics in response to novel disease outbreaks. Its primary investigator, Dr. Brett P. Giroir, formerly of DARPA, describing the need for the Center explained that “[l]iterally, what once took weeks during medical school to produce in a multimillion-dollar laboratory can be done [today] in an afternoon on a benchtop by someone with a relatively less degree of scientific training…So the barriers to entry have decreased’. We couldn’t agree more.

DoD – “The facility is called the National Center for Therapeutics, or NCTM, and a key feature there is the use of modular and mobile stand-alone biopharmaceutical clean rooms, called modular clear rooms, or MCRs. The initial MCR concept was funded by DOD through DARPA and the Army Research Office, Giroir said. NCTM is the core facility and main site for developing and manufacturing medical countermeasures and vaccines against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats for the Texas A&M Center for Innovation, he added. Another part of the Center for Innovation’s biomanufacturing infrastructure is the Caliber Biotherapeutics Facility, Giroir said. Caliber was developed and built through Texas A&M and G-CON Manufacturing, with funding from the DARPA Blue Angel Program. According to a 2012 DARPA news release, the Blue Angel Program demonstrated a flexible and agile capability for DOD to rapidly react to and neutralize any natural or intentional pandemic disease.”

Characterization of a novel betacoronavirus related to MERS-CoV in European hedgehogs

It’s understood that bats are the established hosts for viruses similar to human coronaviruses, which prompted researchers to wonder if hedgehogs, which are closely related to bats, carry similar viruses. Researchers at the  University of Bonn in Germany acted on this hunch, and discovered a  novel “sister” betacoronavirus species in European hedgehogs. We’re disappointed – staying away from bats is fine because we don’t want rabies and bats are odd-looking, but hedgehogs? Really?

Journal of Virology – “58.9% of hedgehog fecal specimens were positive for the novel CoV (EriCoV) at 7.9 Log10 mean RNA copies per ml. EriCoV RNA concentrations were higher in the intestine than in other solid organs, blood and urine. Detailed analyses of the full hedgehog intestine showed highest EriCoV concentrations in lower gastrointestinal tract specimens, compatible with viral replication in the lower intestine and fecal-oral transmission. 13 of 27 (48.2%) hedgehog sera contained non- neutralising antibodies against MERS-CoV. The animal origins of this betacoronavirus clade including MERS-CoV may thus include both bat and non-bat hosts.”

In Case You Missed It:

– Working on Ebola: We are very supportive of any treatment which helps mitigate our very real fear of Ebola. 
– Scientists Withhold Details of New Botulinum Toxin: We get it. We even agree. We’re curious if you do too.

(image credit: Michael Gäbler)