Library

By Date Range: 2001-2025

Laboratory Creation of a Highly Transmissible H5N1 Influenza Virus: Balancing Substantial Risks and Real Benefits

Controversy erupted when influenza researchers announced that they had created an H5N1 influenza virus that was transmissible between ferrets. The controversy escalated when the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) recommended that the work be published but recommended significant voluntary redactions. The responses to the NSABB action and to the research itself have been Read More »

Author:: Andrew T. Pavia, MD, University of Utah
Publish Date:: January 26, 2012

February 1, 2012
| Filed under North America, Commentary, and 2001-2025

Engineered H5N1: A Rare Time for Restraint in Science

Two scientific teams have recently engineered the H5N1 virus to make it readily transmissible between ferrets. Given that ferrets are considered the most reliable animal surrogate for human influenza infection, the newly engineered H5N1 strain is probably transmissible between humans as well. The potential consequences of an engineered human transmissible H5N1 strain are stunning. Although Read More »

Author:: Thomas V. Inglesby, MD, Center for Biosecurity of UPMC
Publish Date:: January 26, 2012

February 1, 2012
| Filed under North America, Commentary, and 2001-2025

Adaptations of Avian Flu Virus Are a Cause for Concern

Members of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity explain its recommendations on the communication of experimental work on H5N1 influenza. We are in the midst of a revolutionary period in the life sciences. Technological capabilities have dramatically expanded, we have a much improved understanding of the complex biology of selected microorganisms, and we have Read More »

Author:: Kenneth I. Berns, Arturo Casadevall, Murray L. Cohen, Susan A. Ehrlich, Lynn W. Enquist, J. Patrick Fitch, David R. Franz, Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, Christine M. Grant, Michael J. Imperiale, Joseph Kanabrocki, Paul S. Keim, Stanley M. Lemon, Stuart B. Levy, John R. Lumpkin, Jeffery F. Miller, Randall Murch, Mark E. Nance, Michael T. Osterholm, David A. Relman, James A. Roth, Anne K. Vidaver
Publish Date:: January, 31 2012

January 31, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Commentary, and 2001-2025

Prepositioning Antibiotics for Anthrax

If terrorists released Bacillus anthracis over a large city, hundreds of thousands of people could be at risk of the deadly disease anthrax-caused by the B. anthracis spores-unless they had rapid access to antibiotic medical countermeasures (MCM). Although plans for rapidly delivering MCM to a large number of people following an anthrax attack have been Read More »

Author:: Clare Stroud, Kristin Viswanathan, Tia Powell, and Robert R. Bass, Editors; Committee on Prepositioned Medical Countermeasures for the Public; Institute of Medicine
Publish Date:: January, 2012

January 30, 2012
| Filed under North America, Featured, Report, and 2001-2025

Improving Metrics for the Department of Defense Cooperative Threat Reduction Program

This National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study, requested under the Congressional mandare, evaluates the “metrics to measure the impact and effectiveness of activities of the Cooperative Threat Reduction [CTR] Program of the Department of Defense [DoD]. The NAS study committee found that the DoD Metrics Report provides reasonable metrics for some activities of the CTR Read More »

Author:: Committee on Improving Metrics for the Department of Defense; Cooperative Threat Reduction Program; National Academy of Sciences
Publish Date:: January 2012