Recent News

By Category: Research

Lab Accident at San Francisco VA Leaves Man Dead of Bacterial Meningitis

(KQED News) A young lab assistant at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco died on Saturday after becoming infected with a deadly strain of bacterial meningitis that he had been working with in the lab. Officials at the VA wouldn’t release the man’s name, but said he was 25 years old and had been Read More »

May 4, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biosafety, Public Health, and Research
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Lab Security Standards Raise Chances of Mutant-Bird-Flu Catastrophe

(Wired News) Fears that bioterrorists could learn from controversial experiments that make H5N1 avian influenza more virulent have overshadowed a more pressing danger: accidental releases, laboratory infections and disgruntled workers. Dozens of all-too-human mistakes have occurred in just the last decade inside high-security laboratories, and many experts say new H5N1 flu strains engineered to infect Read More »

May 4, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Biosafety, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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One H5N1 Paper Finally Goes to Press; Second Greenlighted

(Science Now) They have been called the most famous papers that were never published. But now, one of two controversial studies that shows how to make H5N1 avian influenza more transmissible in mammals is up on Nature’s Web site for all the world to scrutinize—including, some worry, would-be bioterrorists who might use the information to Read More »

May 4, 2012
| Filed under Europe, North America, Bioterrorism, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Profectus BioSciences Receives NIAID Grant to Develop a Vaccine for Ebola and Marburg Viruses

(Press Release) The grant will support development of a trivalent vaccine to protect against infection with all major strains of Ebola and Marburg viruses, the two members of the filovirus family of hemorrhagic fever viruses. These agents are classified as Category A Priority Pathogens by the NIAID/NIH and CDC, and there are presently no pre- Read More »

May 3, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, Countermeasures, and Research
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Guidelines in Development for Meeting New U.S. Biosecurity Standards

(Global Security Newswire) The Obama administration is set to circulate recommendations to assist jurisdictional organizations in complying with recently unveiled risk mitigation protocols for federally funded biological research that could raise concerns about misuse, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy quoted a senior federal health official as saying on Tuesday.