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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Film reveals new footage of Soviet bioweapons program

(CornellChronicle) The purpose of a secret Soviet facility was to produce tons of anthrax bacteria to kill Americans, according to a U.S. government official. The facility was capable of producing 300 metric tons of anthrax in 10 months – more capacity than the entire Iraqi biological weapons program. “The scale is Read More »

May 15, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, and Policy & Initiatives
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North Korean Duck Farm Hit By H5N1 Avian Influenza

(ThePoultrySite) A new outbreak of the H5N1 strain of the avian influenza virus has been confirmed at a duck production unit in P’yongyang-Si, resulting in the deaths of more than 164,000 ducks. This is according to the World Organisation for Animal Health who received notification from the Anti-Epizootic Department at the Read More »

May 15, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific and Public Health
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DHS Standardized Test and Evaluation of Biological Threat Agent Detectors

(GlobalBiodefense) The U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has selected Health Research Inc. with the Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health to develop standard test methods to support field evaluation of technologies used for biological agent detection. The proposed work will address current gaps in standards by defining field Read More »

May 15, 2013
| Filed under North America and Countermeasures
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Dengue Outbreak in Parrita, Costa Rica

(TheCostaRicanTimes) A 20-year-old resident of Parrita this week became the first case of dengue hemorrhagic fever detected in recent years in Costa Rica. Recently the Parrita clinic has been treating on average about 20 cases a day. The current situation in Parrita is so large that it has overwhelmed dengue patients Read More »

May 14, 2013
| Filed under South America and Public Health
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RFQ – BioSafety Level 4 Protective Suits

(GlobalBiodefense) The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) has been charged with performing integrated research requiring special positive protection suits for biological high containment laboratories.