Recent News

By Category: Countermeasures

Senate Approves U.S. Biodefense Legislation

(Global Security Newswire) The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved legislation intended to further strengthen the nation’s readiness for an act of biological terrorism or a major natural disease outbreak. The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of 2011 would renew measures from similar 2006 legislation aimed at promoting the development and procurement of medical Read More »

March 9, 2012
| Filed under North America, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Cost of Gene Sequencing Falls, Raising Hopes for Medical Advances

(The New York Times) The promise is that low-cost gene sequencing will lead to a new era of personalized medicine, yielding new approaches for treating cancers and other serious diseases. The arrival of such cures has been glacial, however, although the human genome was originally sequenced more than a decade ago.

March 9, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, Countermeasures, Public Health, and Research
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Gov’t to Combat FMD and High Poultry Prices

(ThePigSite.com) The Agriculture Ministry approved 11 measures to protect livestock in Egypt’s governorates from the spread of foot and mouth disease (FMD). FMD is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals.

March 9, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Middle East, Agriculture, Countermeasures, and Policy & Initiatives
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Army Defers Plan for Maryland Biodefense Site

(Global Security Newswire) The U.S. Army has deferred the building of a 492,000-square-foot, $600 million biodefense facility at Fort Detrick in Maryland prior to the completion of an assessment of research facilities already available around the nation, the Gazette reported last week. The planned Medical Countermeasures Test and Evaluation Facility was intended to be a Read More »

March 8, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Microneedle vaccine patch boosts flu protection through robust skin cell immune response

(Emory University) Recent research found that microneedle vaccine patches are more effective at delivering protection against influenza virus in mice than subcutaneous or intramuscular inoculation. A new, detailed analysis of the early immune responses helps explain why the skin is such fertile ground for vaccination with these tiny, virtually painless microneedles.