Recent News

By Region: Europe

‘Terror plot’ teen Michael Piggin ‘had poisons book’

(BBC News) Dr Paul Rice, employed at Porton Down since 1987, said fireworks and bleach found in Michael Piggin’s bedroom could be used to make chlorine gas. Mr Piggin, 18, is accused of planning attacks on a mosque and a school. He denies two Terrorism Act charges but has admitted possessing explosives. The Old Bailey  Read More »

Nano-paper filter removes viruses

(Medical News Today) Researchers at the Division of Nanotechnology and Functional Materials, Uppsala University have developed a paper filter, which can remove virus particles with the efficiency matching that of the best industrial virus filters. The paper filter consists of 100 percent high purity cellulose nanofibers, directly derived from nature. The research was carried out  Read More »

Information poses bigger bioterrorism threat than microbes

(Wired UK) It is the spread of information rather than microbes that poses the biggest bioterrorism threat today, concluded a panel of experts at Chatham House today. Biosafety is no longer simply about controlling substances and microbes, but information, says Laurie Garrett who runs the Council on Foreign Relation’s Public Health Program. While we have  Read More »

Faster diagnosis key to finding drug-resistant tuberculosis in the Republic of Moldova

(WHO) As part of key recommendations made by WHO to combat drug-resistant TB, the Republic of Moldova is introducing rapid diagnostic tools for MDR-TB at the point-of-care. Since 2012, Xpert MTB/RIF assay units have been installed in 30 district and municipal TB services across the country. Xpert MTB/RIF assay is a rapid, accurate test that  Read More »

The Only Thing Scarier Than Bio-Warfare is the Antidote

(Newsweek) It was spring 1979 in Sverdlovsk, Russia, a large industrial city straddling the border of Europe and Asia in what was then the Soviet Union. Without warning, 96 residents became ill, with symptoms similar to a severe flu: fever and chills, sore throat and headaches, with some nausea and vomiting. Just the usual one-week  Read More »