Ecology of Emerging Zoonotic Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 11/02/2017 This one-hour, four-minute webinar describes how human activities drive zoonotic disease emergence, including examples of human behaviors that promote increased contact with wildlife. It describes key elements of an ecological study of zoonotic diseases, lists effective interventions that reduce the risk of spillover of pathogens to humans from wildlife, explains how Nipah virus and Ebola emerged and why we continue to see outbreaks, and explains why wildlife surveillance is important for protecting human and livestock health. (Video or Multimedia) (Source: Disaster Li...
Source: Disaster Lit: Resource Guide for Disaster Medicine and Public Health - November 7, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: The U.S. National Library of Medicine Source Type: news
Guidance Document: Questionnaire on Regulatory Science Issues for the Development of Emerging Infectious Disease (EID) Vaccines
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. 03/29/2017 This four-page document provides guidance on the completion of the CEPI questionnaire on regulatory science issues for development of emerging infectious disease (EID) vaccines. Partners with an interest in securing regulatory approval/licensure of EID vaccines are invited to provide comment on the regulatory scientific issues for the development of EID vaccines. The document provides background information and issues on the prioritized pathogens Ebola, Lassa, Nipah, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). (PDF) (Source: Disaster Lit: Resource Guide for Disas...
Source: Disaster Lit: Resource Guide for Disaster Medicine and Public Health - July 2, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: The U.S. National Library of Medicine Source Type: news
Spillover: Zika, Ebola and Beyond
American Society for Microbiology. 12/06/2016 This 24-minute discussion focuses on diseases that spill over from animals to humans, what is behind their increase, and what can be done to combat them. The speakers are filmmakers who investigated the rise of spillover viruses like Zika, Ebola, and Nipah. They discuss how human behaviors spread diseases, and what science can do to anticipate and prevent epidemics around the world. (Video or Multimedia) (Source: Disaster Lit: Resource Guide for Disaster Medicine and Public Health)
Source: Disaster Lit: Resource Guide for Disaster Medicine and Public Health - June 16, 2017 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: The U.S. National Library of Medicine Source Type: news
[In Depth] A half-billion-dollar bid to head off emerging diseases
In the wake of the Ebola crisis that erupted in West Africa in 2014, many public health leaders recognized that a more aggressive effort to develop vaccines could have moved a vaccine forward more quickly and prevented that outbreak from becoming an epidemic. A new organization was formed last year, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), to speed development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases—but it had no serious financial backing. Now, CEPI has attracted nearly a half-billion dollars in funding, as it planned to announce at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week. T...
Source: ScienceNOW - January 19, 2017 Category: Science Authors: Jon Cohen Tags: Public Health Source Type: news
Global Coalition Aims To Outpace Epidemics With New Vaccines
A global coalition of governments, health specialists and philanthropists will launch a new plan on Thursday to “outsmart” future disease epidemics with a fund to prepare and create new vaccines.
Stung by the devastation of West Africa’s 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,300 people before an effective vaccine was developed, the coalition is aiming to ensure such deadly outbreaks can’t happen again.
John-Arne Rottingen, interim chief executive officer of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), said it is designed as “a global insurance policy against epidem...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - January 19, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
World leaders donate $500m to fast-track three vaccines
Bill Gates has joined the governments of Germany, Norway, and Japan in donating $460 million to make vaccines for Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Lassa and Nipah viruses. (Source: the Mail online | Health)
Source: the Mail online | Health - January 19, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news
$460m pledged for vaccine initiative aimed at preventing global epidemics
Lassa, Mers and Nipah will be first diseases targeted by programme announced at Davos by coalition of governments, philanthropists and businessA coalition of governments, philanthropists and business is pledging to put money and effort into making vaccines to stop the spread of diseases that could threaten mankind – and to prevent another outbreak as devastating as the Ebola epidemic.At theWorld Economic Forum in Davos, the Norwegian, Japanese and German governments, the Wellcome Trust and the Gates Foundation announced they were putting in $460 million – half of what is needed for the first five years of the initiativ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - January 18, 2017 Category: Science Authors: Sarah Boseley Health editor Tags: Vaccines and immunisation Infectious diseases Davos Health Epidemics Medical research Business Science Society World news Source Type: news
Why Are We Seeing an Explosion of New Viruses Like Zika?
Zika virus, Ebola, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, Nipah virus, Hendra virus, bird flu, swine flu -- these viruses have all grabbed international attention in recent years. In the past few decades the world has witnessed an alarming surge in emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). Since 1980, new pathogens have emerged in the human population at a rate of about three each year. Why are we seeing such a surge in new pathogens? One could argue that some of the pathogens may not be new at all; they could have circulated among humans for centuries and ar...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - February 1, 2016 Category: Science Source Type: news
Progress toward creating broad-spectrum antiviral
(University of Washington Health Sciences/UW Medicine) UW researchers working in collaboration with Kineta Inc. and the University of Texas at Galveston have shown that making a drug-like molecule to turn on innate immunity can induce genes to control infection in several -known viruses. The findings published in the Journal of Virology show promising evidence for creating a broad spectrum antiviral that can suppress a range of RNA viruses, including West Nile, dengue virus, hepatitis C, influenza A, respiratory syncytial, Nipah, Lassa and Ebola. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - December 17, 2015 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Compound found to trigger innate immunity against viruses
A drug-like molecule can activate innate immunity and induce genes to control infection in a range of RNA viruses, including West Nile, dengue, hepatitis C, influenza A, respiratory syncytial, Nipah, Lassa and Ebola, according to new research. (Source: ScienceDaily Headlines)
Source: ScienceDaily Headlines - December 16, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news
Researchers 1 step closer to countering deadly Nipah virus
(University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston) An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and three groups within the National Institutes of Health reports a new breakthrough in countering the deadly Nipah virus. The human monoclonal antibody known as m102.4 is the first effective antiviral treatment for Nipah that has the potential for human therapeutic applications. (Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases)
Source: EurekAlert! - Infectious and Emerging Diseases - June 25, 2014 Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: news
Light zaps viruses: How photosensitization can stop viruses from infecting cells
A UCLA-led team of researchers has found evidence that photosensitizing a virus's membrane covering can inhibit its ability to enter cells and potentially lead to the development of stronger, cheaper medications to fight a host of tough viruses.
The UCLA AIDS Institute study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Virology, is part of ongoing research on a compound called LJ001, a "broad-spectrum" antiviral that can attack a wide range of microbes.
The current paper advances the science by showing that the process of photosensitization — heightening a biological organism's sensitivity to...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - February 28, 2014 Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news
Pathogen is possible source of pandemic
A team of scientists from Washington State University has discovered how one of the planet's most deadly known viruses employs burglary-ring-like teamwork to infiltrate the human cell.Nipah virus is so menacing that the nation's top infectious disease experts served as consultants in the filmmaking of the 2011 medical thriller, "Contagion," which is based on a global Nipah outbreak. (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - December 20, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Source Type: news
Collaborating proteins allow Nipah virus to 'break into' cells
Scientists from Washington State University claim to have discovered how one of the planet's most deadly viruses uses teamwork to "break into" the human cell.Virologist Hector Aguilar-Carreno and his team of researchers were studying how the Paramyxovirus family of viruses, which includes the deadly Nipah virus (NiV), infiltrate cells. The results, published in PLOS Pathogens, reveal that two proteins on the surface of the virus collaborate to gain entry to the cell. (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)
Source: Health News from Medical News Today - December 16, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Source Type: news
WSU scientists find burglary-ring-like mechanism in lethal 'Contagion' virus
(Washington State University) A team of scientists from Washington State University has discovered how one of the planet's most deadly known viruses employs burglary-ring-like teamwork to infiltrate the human cell. Nipah virus is so menacing that the nation's top infectious disease experts served as consultants in the filmmaking of the 2011 medical thriller, "Contagion," which is based on a global Nipah outbreak. (Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health)
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - December 16, 2013 Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news
