Recent News

By Region: North America

New National Biodefense Science Board members will advise HHS

(HHS) Seven experts from outside the federal government will join the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB), a federal advisory committee which provides expert advice and guidance on preventing, preparing for, and responding to adverse health effects of public health emergencies to the HHS Secretary and the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). The Read More »

January 19, 2012
| Filed under North America, Policy & Initiatives, and Public Health
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Limited Progress Seen at Biological Weapons Convention Review Meeting

(Global Security Newswire) Delegates to last month’s Biological Weapons Convention review conference achieved consensus on a number of updates to decision-making and trust-building mechanisms for the pact, but agreement was limited in those areas and fully lacking on other matters, official participants and independent experts said. Nations represented at the meeting approved certain reforms to Read More »

January 19, 2012
| Filed under Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America, South America, South Asia, Biological Weapons, International, and Policy & Initiatives
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Going viral

(Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) We’ve been lucky. The avian influenza (H5N1) virus that first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997 — which killed six and caused 18 serious illnesses — has not acquired the ability to spread easily from person to person. Virtually all of the reported cases have involved contact with infected birds Read More »

January 18, 2012
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, and Public Health
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Killer flu creators lash out at US ‘censorship’

(RT) Fouchier initially wanted to publish his research so as to prepare humanity for a potential outbreak of the artificially-made virus, but the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) got involved and asked him to withhold some …

January 18, 2012
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, Agents & Toxins, International, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Paragon Bioservices Awarded Multi-Million Dollar DoD Contract for Filovirus …

(Sacramento Bee) There are currently no licensed vaccines or treatments against filoviruses, even though there is up to a 90% fatality rate in humans, which makes them a potential agent of bioterrorism. Paragon will develop a large-scale mammalian process that is …