Recent News

By Category: Countermeasures

Polio eradication could be sped up by extra vaccine dose

(Medical News Today) In areas where poliovirus still causes infection, giving all children under the age of 5 an extra dose of polio vaccine could help to speed up eradication – and the researchers finding a “substantially greater benefit” from the booster are calling for vaccine programs to now put this to the test.

July 14, 2014
| Filed under Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, International, Public Health, and Research
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Biosecurity overhaul flagged

(The Land) New powers allowing the Commonwealth to respond to biosecurity risks within Australia and help state and territory governments manage a pest or disease outbreak are among the changes included in a planned overhaul of quarantine legislation. Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce has announced the government’s plans to progress the Biosecurity Bill 2014 to Read More »

July 9, 2014
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Countermeasures, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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CDC to create anthrax research database in Atlanta

(Atlanta Business Chronicle) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to establish a public database in Atlanta of the bacteria Bacullus anthracis, which cause the deadly disease anthrax.The agency has published a request-for-quote to hire a contractor for the project. The move comes just weeks after the CDC made world headlines when 75 workers Read More »

July 9, 2014
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Future soldiers could be protected against germ warfare by genetically modified blood cells

(The Independent) Soldiers on future battlefields could be protected against germ warfare agents by having blood transfusions with genetically modified cells that can neutralise deadly biological toxins, scientists have found.

July 7, 2014
| Filed under Agents & Toxins, Countermeasures, and Research
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Biotech Breakthroughs May Put Chemical Arms in Easier Reach

(National Journal) An international team wants to closely watch how future technologies could make the world’s deadliest poisons easier to produce and harder to regulate. It is still impossible to know how an array of emerging technologies — such as custom-built proteins and microscopic containers — will affect capabilities to manufacture and deliver lethal chemicals Read More »