Biosecurity News - Issue 29
Contents
- Program News
- Conferences, Seminars and Journal Issues
- Special Coverage: H1N1 Influenza A
- News Articles
Program News
In preparation for the 3rd Annual Biosecurity Symposium, which will be held at the Australian National University on 1 -2 February 2010, the National Centre for Biosecurity invites proposals for presentations addressing the theme ‘Global Health Security’ in one or more of the following areas:
- Responding to infectious disease crises in Australia and the Asia-Pacific
- The epidemiology of public health and animal health emergencies
- The development and use of biological weapons by state and non-state actors
- Ethical dilemmas and security risks of research on pathogenic micro-organisms
- International law and domestic regulation
- Relevance and applications of new technologies to biosecurity challenges
- Ethical, social and cultural dimensions of biosecurity
Abstracts (200 words maximum) should be emailed to Jon Herington, Executive Officer at the National Centre for Biosecurity, Australian National University, by 31 October 2009 (Jonathan.Herington@anu.edu.au).
For additional information: http://www.biosecurity.edu.au/conference/docs/CallforAbstracts2010.pdf.
Information on registration will be circulated in October. Enquiries may be directed to Jon Herington (Jonathan.Herington@anu.edu.au) or Alexis Pillsbury (a.pillsbury@econ.usyd.edu.au). For general information regarding the National Centre for Biosecurity, please refer to our website (www.biosecurity.edu.au).
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Biosecurity News will once again be produced and disseminated on its regular, fortnightly schedule. As the new Project Officer (Biosecurity) at the University of Sydney, I look forward to bringing you many more issues which I hope you will find informative and interesting.
Kind regards,
Alexis Pillsbury
(Back to Top)Conferences, Seminars and Journal Issues
In advance of its 22-23 August conference, Influenza in the Asia-Pacific, The Lancet created a "Reading Room" of downloadable papers to be presented at the conference. More information
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The current issue of Nature Medicine (August 2009, Volume 15, No 8) contains a special focus on HIV/AIDS research. More information
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The Center for Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP) is holding a conference entitled Keeping the World Working During the H1N1 Pandemic: Protecting Employee Health, Critical Operations, and Customer Relations from 22 – 23 September 2009 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. More information
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The International Society for Infectious Diseases is organising the 14th International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID) in Miami, Florida, USA, on 9 – 12 March 2010. The deadline for abstracts is 1 November 2009. More information
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The 2010 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases will be held 11 – 14 July 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. More information
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Previous Announcements
- Global Biosecurity 2010: safeguarding agriculture and the environment in Brisbane, Australia. Abstracts: 31 July 2009. Conference: 28 February – 3 March 2010. More information
- US Department of State’s Biosecurity Engagement Program provides funding for travel to biosecurity-related conferences. More information
Special Coverage - H1N1
WHO Sources
Additional reports:
- ‘Pandemic influenza vaccine manufacturing process and timeline’ (6 August 2009)
- ‘Safety of pandemic vaccines’ (6 August 2009)
- ‘Recommended use of antivirals’ (21 August 2009)
- ‘Preparing for the second wave: lessons from current outbreaks’ (28 August 2009)
Epidemiology, Disease Progression and Impact
‘Worries about Africa as pandemic marches on’
Science
7 August 2009
‘Preparing for swine flu’s return’
The Washington Post
10 August 2009
‘Pandemic lessons from Australia’
BMJ
18 August 2009
‘Swine flu looms over global economic recovery’
The Sydney Morning Herald
23 August 2009
‘Aussie swine flu outbreak 'yet to peak'’
The Age
26 August 2009
‘Studies in animals suggest 2009 H1N1 virus may have biological advantage over seasonal influenza viruses’
National Institutes of Health (NIH) News
31 August 2009
Research referred to: Fitness of pandemic H1N1 and seasonal influenza A viruses during co-infection: evidence of competitive advantage of pandemic H1N1 influenza versus seasonal influenza’, PLoS Currents: Influenza, 25 August 2009)
Response
Discussion/debate/research regarding the H1N1 vaccination and its delivery:
- ‘South America vows price ceilings for H1N1 vaccine’
Reuters
8 August 2009 - ‘Doctors may refuse swine flu vaccine’
The Guardian
24 August 2009 - ‘Opposition to swine flu vaccine seems to be growing worldwide’
BMJ
26 August 2009 - ‘Insurance row threatens swine flu vaccinations’ (Australia)
ABC News
28 August 2009 - ‘Flu shot or get fired’ (US)
The Times Union (Albany, NY, USA)
29 August 2009 - ‘Half of all pregnant women will refuse swine flu jab, poll reveals’ (UK)
The Guardian
1 September 2009
‘Struggling after Egypt's pig cull’
BBC
6 August 2009
‘Report to the President on U.S. preparations for 2009 – H1N1 influenza’ (by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology)
Whitehouse.gov
7 August 2009
‘Healthy people are lying to get swine flu drug, warn GPs’ (UK)
The Guardian
9 August 2009
‘Flu planners fear ERs flooded with the not-so-sick’
Google.com
10 August 2009
‘China boosts pandemic surveillance’
Nature
26 August 2009
President Obama’s remarks on 2009-H1N1 national preparedness and response
Whitehouse.gov
1 September 2009
Commentary and Editorials
‘Revisiting the swine flu puzzle of 1976’
Effectmeasure
3 August 2009
‘Seeking lessons in swine flu fight’
The New York Times
10 August 2009
‘This abuse of Tamiflu is dangerous for all of us’
The Independent
10 August 2009
‘Don't forget the bacterial threat’
The Wall Street Journal
12 August 2009
‘Priority patients in a pandemonium’
BMJ
19 August 2009
‘Flu shot guidelines criticized’ (US)
Nature
20 August 2009
and
‘Yale research questions federal guidelines for who should receive flu and swine flu vaccines’
Yale.edu
21 August 2009
‘Swine flu vaccine strategy 'risky'’ (Australia)
ABC News
20 August 2009
‘Universal vaccine could put an end to all flu’
New Scientist
21 August 2009
‘Should healthcare workers have the swine flu vaccine?’
BMJ
25 August 2009
‘Preparing for the swine flu’
The New York Times
31 August 2009
News Articles
Pandemic and Avian Influenza
‘Modelling to contain pandemics’ (Opinion)
Nature
6 August 2009
‘Poverty, wealth, and access to pandemic influenza vaccines’ (Opinion)
NEJM
12 August 2009
HIV
‘Gorilla HIV strain jumps to humans’
ABC News
3 August 2009
‘Back to basics’ (Editorial)
Nature
7 August 2009
‘Blocking and tackling HIV’
Nature
7 August 2009
‘Expanded HIV testing planned, but some remain less than positive’
Nature
7 August 2009
‘Experts applaud policy overhaul of US AIDS relief program’
Nature
7 August 2009
‘Highlights of the International AIDS Society Conference’ (held 19 – 22 July 2009)
The Lancet
18 August 2009
and
‘Safeguarding the future of HIV/AIDS initiatives’ (Commentary)
The Lancet
18 August 2009
(More information on the 2009 International AIDS Society Conference)
‘India on the lookout for HIV-H1N1 co-infection’
The Times of India
31 August 2009
Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases
‘Single-injection vaccine protects nonhuman primates against infection with Marburg virus and three species of Ebola virus’
Journal of Virology
July 2009
‘Population response to the risk of vector-borne diseases: lessons learned from socio-behavioural research during large-scale outbreaks’
Emerging Health Threats Journal
31 July 2009
‘Live Marburg virus isolated from African bats’
Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy
3 August 2009
‘Type 2 poliovirus back from the dead in Nigeria’
Science
7 August 2009
‘New drug-resistant TB strains could become widespread says new study’
e! Science News
10 August 2009
(Full report: ‘The epidemiological fitness cost of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis’, PNAS, 13 August 2009)
‘Plague in China’
WHO
11 August 2009
‘Leading the fight against smallpox’ (Book review: Smallpox: The Death of a Disease by D. A. Henderson)
Nature
20 August 2009
‘Single host gene may hold key to treating both Ebola and anthrax infections’
EurekAlert!
20 August 2009
‘Antibiotics for emerging pathogens’
Science
28 August 2009
‘Swine flu scare veils dengue nightmare’ (Vietnam)
Thanh Nien News
29 August 2009
‘Early epidemiological assessment of the virulence of emerging infectious diseases: a case study of an influenza pandemic’
PloS ONE
31 August 2009
‘PNG confirms cholera outbreak’
ABC News
31 August 2009
‘Hendra vaccine 'still a decade away'’
ABC News
3 September 2009
Biological Weapons
‘Anthrax case not closed: panel reviews Bruce Ivins, mail probe’
USA Today
3 August 2009
‘The British Parliament wants details on BWC progress’ (Commentary)
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
19 August 2009
‘Biodefense research could violate Weapons Conventions, report warns’
Global Security Newswire
20 August 2009
(Full report from the Meeting on BWC Compliance Review Processes: ‘Ensuring compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention’)
‘An assessment of bioterrorism competencies among health practitioners in Australia’
Emerging Health Threats Journal
21 August 2009
‘White House, scientists discuss biological threats’
Global Security Newswire
28 August 2009
Biosecurity Policy and Ethics
‘Laboratory-acquired vaccinia virus infection --- Virginia, 2008’
CDC
31 July 2009
‘Faulty risk analysis puts biofacility plan in jeopardy’
Science
7 August 2009
(GAO report: ‘BSL-4 laboratories improved perimeter security despite limited action by CDC’)
‘Canada to spend $30M securing bio-warfare labs’
National Post
17 August 2009
‘CDC wants closer controls on rodent-borne South American Chapare virus’
Government Security News
19 August 2009
‘Biologists napping while work militarized’
Nature
20 August 2009
‘Two steps forward for synthetic biology’
Science
21 August 2009
(Research referred to: ‘Creating bacterial strains from genomes that have been cloned and engineered in yeast’, Science, 20 August 2009)
‘Army breaks ground for new biodefense lab in Md.’ (US)
Yahoo Finance
28 August 2009
‘New method needed for assessing disease dangers, report says’
Global Security Newswire
28 August 2009
(Full report: ‘New approaches to biological risk assessment’, The Royal Society, 29 July 2009)
‘Keeping genes out of terrorists' hands’
Nature
31 August 2009
Global Health Governance and Disease Control
‘Slow progress towards sanitation goal’
The Lancet
18 August 2009
‘Transparency during public health emergencies: from rhetoric to reality’
WHO
18 August 2009
‘Will the US have better global health policies but get worse results?’ (Commentary)
Center for Global Development
18 August 2009
Contagion and chaos: disease, ecology, and national security in the era of globalization by Andrew T. Price-Smith (Book review)
NEJM
20 August 2009
‘Antibiotic use may be reduced by universal influenza vaccination’
Medical News Today
22 August 2009
(Research referred to: ‘The effect of universal influenza immunization on antibiotic prescriptions: an ecological study’, Clinical Infectious Diseases, 22 July 2009)
