Recent News

By Region: North America

Commentary: Take the threat of agroterrorism seriously

(Dairy Herd Management) Since 2005, I have had the opportunity to attend four conferences on agroterrorism sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They are serious affairs, considering the subject matter. I think back to the time someone showed a simulation model of …

March 9, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agriculture, and Bioterrorism
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Virginia Tech wildlife researcher finds brucellosis pathogen persists in Botswana buffalo

(Virginia Tech) Alexander’s study found that buffalo may not only be a potential source of the brucellosis pathogen for Botswana’s domestic cattle, but they may also pose a threat to humans who consume buffalo meat.

March 9, 2012
| Filed under Africa, North America, Agriculture, Public Health, and Research
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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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Bioterror threat targets schools, officials investigating recent white powder mailings at Connecticut schools

(New Haven Register) Law enforcement agencies are investigating why a handful of state schools, including one in Madison, this week received suspicious envelopes containing white powder. The incidents mirror others occurring across the country and have caught the FBI’s attention. Madison’s Island Avenue Elementary School notified police Wednesday that an envelope with an unknown substance Read More »

March 8, 2012
| Filed under North America and Bioterrorism
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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 »