Virtual Biosecurity Center

H1N1 discovered in marine mammals

(EurekAlert) Scientists at the University of California, Davis, detected the H1N1 (2009) virus in free-ranging northern elephant seals off the central California coast a year after the human pandemic began, according to a study published today, May 15, in the journal PLOS ONE. It is the first report of that flu strain in any marine mammal.
- May 16, 2013 |
- Filed Under Public Health, Research
New advocates join global effort to eliminate neglected tropical diseases

(EurekAlert) Today, the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (Global Network), a major initiative of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, announced His Excellency, President Alvaro Arzú Irigoyen of Guatemala (1996-2000), His Excellency, President Ricardo Lagos Escobar of Chile (2000-2006) and former Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Dr. Mirta Roses Periago as the organization’s newest Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Special Envoys. They will join the efforts of current NTD Special Envoy, His Excellency, President John A. Kufuor of the Republic of Ghana (2001-2009), who was appointed in April 2012. The collaboration was announced at a panel hosted by the Global Network and the Read More »
- May 8, 2013 |
- Filed Under Policy & Initiatives
The Last, Best Chance for Global Polio Eradication?

(CSIS) After 25 years of remarkable achievements and sometimes harrowing setbacks, a successful conclusion to global polio eradication could finally be within reach. In late April, the Global Vaccine Summit in Abu Dhabi released the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a promising new six-year strategy to win the polio “endgame.”
- May 2, 2013 |
- Filed Under Public Health
Mutant version of H5N1 flu virus found to be more preferential to human infection

(MedicalXpress) An international team of bio-researchers has found that a mutant strain of the H5N1 influenza virus (created in a lab) has a 200-fold preference for binding with receptors in human cells, over those found in birds. In describing their research and conclusions in their paper published in the journal Nature, the researchers suggest that the mutant variant is much more like the strains of viruses that caused pandemics in 1918, 1957 and 2009, than it was in its native state.
- April 26, 2013 |
- Filed Under Research
Op-Ed – Improving Intelligence on Emerging Bioweapons Threats: New Engagements Needed Between Intelligence and Academia

Kathleen M. Vogel, Associate Professor, Department of Science and Technology Studies and the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, Cornell University Since the end of the Cold War and the rise of asymmetric security threats, the U.S intelligence and policy communities have been increasingly concerned about new types of bioweapons attacks that might arise from a spectrum of state and non-state actors. In a 1995 U.S. Senate hearing, CIA official Gordon Oehler lamented that, “the increasingly troubled post–Cold War world has, in a curious way, made us yearn for the dark days of the 1960s and 1970s when we knew Read More »
- January 16, 2013 |
- Filed Under Biological Weapons, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives

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H7N9 animal model looks at transmission of H7N9 influenza virus

(EurekaAlert) Embargoed until 2:00 PM – An international team of scientists has proved that the H7N9 influenza virus is efficiently transmitted when animals are in close contact — defined in the study as touching, coughing and the exchange of bodily fluids. “This study was designed to give us clues about the Read More »

May 24, 2013
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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Chorizo Likely Source of Las Vegas’s Firefly Salmonella Outbreak | Food Safety News

(FoodSafetyNews) Epidemiologists think they have found the source of a Salmonella outbreak linked to Las Vegas’s Firefly restaurant that is now known to have sickened at least 294 people – almost 100 more illnesses than health officials previously reported. The Southern Nevada Health District announced Wednesday that the outbreak strain of Read More »

May 22, 2013
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Agriculture, and Public Health
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Agroterrorism: Attacking with food

(MedillReports) In April food was used as a weapon when an unidentified person sent ricin-laced letters to President Obama and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Ala.). Ricin, a derivative of castor beans, was the poison in this case of agroterrorism. “This is the terrorism of the past and a potential arena for Read More »

May 22, 2013
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, Biological Weapons, Policy & Initiatives, Public Health, and Research
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BRAI Bill referred to Parliamentary panel

(India Blooms) The contentious Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill which was tabled in the budget session of the parliament by Union Science & Technology Minister Jaipal Reddy has been sent to the Standing Committee of Science and Technology, Environment and Forests for reviewing and recommendations.

May 22, 2013
| Filed under Agriculture, Biotechnology, and International
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Three day metro-wide disaster drill will simulate bioterrorism attack

(The Oregonian) As preparedness drills go, the 3-day PACE (Portland Area Capabilities Exercise) Setter bioterrorism exercise that starts Tuesday is big. The exercise–which simulates a terrorist attack involving a biological weapon–will unfold across 50 different venues and some 65 jurisdictions from Gresham to Tigard.