Recent News

By Category: Policy & Initiatives

DURC policy in flux in the wake of published H5N1 studies

(CIDRAP News) Though today’s publication of the second of two H5N1 transmissibility papers ends a waiting period, it doesn’t halt the uncertainty over what the 8 months of controversy means for future dual-use research of concern (DURC) and the status of a voluntary moratorium. Several experts addressed the topic in scientific journals today, including some  Read More »

Science: H5N1 Special Issue

(Science) The publication in this issue of the research paper airborne transmission of Influenza A/H5N1 Virus Between Ferrets, plus its newer companion The Potential for Respiratory Droplet–Transmissible A/H5N1 Influenza Virus to Evolve in a Mammalian Host, marks the end of more than 8 months of widely reported controversy over whether some of the data now  Read More »

A Crypto Expert’s View on Scary Bird Flu Data

(Scientific American) After months of contentious debate, the journal Science is publishing a controversial study on Friday about H5N1 avian influenza‘s ability to spread among mammals. The report faced a tortuous path to publication as some researchers sought to censor the study’s findings for fear that they could be replicated and put to nefarious use.  Read More »

The Sky-High Price of Sniffing Out Anthrax

(Businessweek) … Right now the Department of Homeland Security uses 600 secret air filters to detect lethal pathogens. Local health officials in the roughly 30 cities that have the filters must manually retrieve them every day and cart them back to labs for testing. So if terrorists released something deadly into the air, it could  Read More »

World Health Organization Perspective on Implementation of International Health Regulations

(Emerging Infectious Diseases) In 2005, the International Health Regulations were adopted at the 58th World Health Assembly; in June 2007, they were entered into force for most countries. In 2012, the world is approaching a major 5-year milestone in the global commitment to ensure national capacities to identify, investigate, assess, and respond to public health  Read More »

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