Recent News

By Region: North America

Severe respiratory virus afflicting children confirmed in at least six states, as others investigate possible cases

TheWashingtonPost: Scores of children in at least a dozen states are afflicted by a severe respiratory illness, with at least six states confirming the presence of a rare virus strain in children as young as six weeks old, public health officials say.

September 22, 2014
| Filed under North America and Public Health
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Boston Children’s admits 90 patients with respiratory illness over last week

TheBostonGlobe: Boston Children’s Hospital has admitted 90 patients with respiratory illness over the last eight days, triple the number admitted during the same period last year, hospital officials said.

September 22, 2014
| Filed under North America and Public Health
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US prepares Ebola worker ‘surge,’ evacuation plan

TheHill: The U.S. government is preparing to send more healthcare workers to West Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic as international aid workers leave the region due to exhaustion or illness.

September 11, 2014
| Filed under Africa, North America, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Development of Self-Powered Chemical and Biological Sensors

GlobalBiodefense: New types of smart materials that can respond to selective stimuli hold promise in the development of novel platforms for self-powered chemical and biological (CB) sensors that can sense and destroy threat agents.

September 11, 2014
| Filed under North America, Biological Weapons, Biosafety, Biotechnology, Countermeasures, and Research
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New Compound Inhibits Enzyme Crucial to MERS and SARS

GlobalBiodefense: Scientists at the University of Illinois, Chicago, have identified a compound that effectively inhibits an enzyme crucial to the viruses that cause Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).