News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials yesterday announced grants to build 11 new biodefense laboratories around the country, including two that will be authorized to study the most dangerous pathogens.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal researchers report they have succeeded in infecting monkeys with fatal smallpox, creating the first animal model of the disease for use in testing vaccines and treatments for humans.

Editor's note: A correction was made in this story Nov 9 to note that the existing licensed anthrax vaccine contains the natural rather than recombinant form of anthrax protective antigen.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials today announced the award of an $877 million contract for 75 million doses of a new anthrax vaccine to protect the public and improve on the existing vaccine used by the military.

(CIDRAP News) – A pair of vaccines created by a Canadian-based international team of researchers protected monkeys against the lethal Ebola and Marburg viruses, according to a new report in Nature Medicine.

(CIDRAP News) – An experimental vaccine protected monkeys from the deadly Marburg hemorrhagic fever virus even though they weren't vaccinated until after exposure, according to a report published in the April 29 issue of The Lancet.

(CIDRAP News) – Combining vaccination with 14 days of antibiotic therapy after exposure to airborne anthrax may be an alternative to the current recommendation of 60 days of antibiotics alone, according to an animal study reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

(CIDRAP News) –US Navy and Air Force officials recently reported a suspension of work in their biodefense laboratories to allow a thorough review of safety procedures, following the Army's announcement in early August that it would review security measures at the lab that housed the work of the late Bruce E. Ivins, whom federal officials believe played a role in the 2001 anthrax attacks.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials are working on guidance to help local institutions implement the government's new policy on the oversight of life-sciences dual-use research of concern (DURC), an official from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said today.