Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories (NEIDL) received final approval from the Boston Public Health Commission to conduct biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) research, clearing the final hurdle to begin work on some of the world's most lethal pathogens, such as Ebola and Marburg virus, BU Today, the campus newspaper, reported.
Gaps the GAO identified include instances of agencies overseeing their own labs, a need for more focus on the highest-risk activities, and understaffing.
After a 9-day lapse in cases, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) today reported a MERS-CoV infection in a 77-year-old man in Riyadh who had contact with camels before he got sick.
In a statement, the MOH said the man is a Saudi citizen who has symptoms of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) and is listed in stable condition.
The number of confirmed, probable, and suspected cases in Madagascar's plague outbreak has climbed to 849, 67 of them fatal, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday in an update. The totals reflect increases of 165 cases and 10 deaths since the WHO's last report on Oct 12.
Comprehensive biomedical research must continue its crucial role in preparing the world for the next pandemic or other far-reaching public health emergency, whether it be caused by a novel influenza strain, Ebola, or some other transmissible pathogen, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and colleagues wrote in a commentary in the Journal
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today announced a multistate Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak linked to microbiology laboratories that has sickened 24 people in 16 states. The infections have been associated with clinical, commercial, and teaching labs.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said today that clinicians should consider testing patients who complain of lingering diarrhea for Cyclospora, a parasite that can cause severe diarrheal illness.
Panel finds overall response was thorough, but notes policy gaps and some missteps after the samples were found.
A federal ethics committee that reviewed a research proposal to experimentally infect humans with Zika virus to help gauge the best approach to a vaccine has rejected the application, according to a report posted last week and first reported today by Stat.
President-elect Donald Trump has named Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an outspoken critic of vaccines, chair of a panel on vaccine safety and scientific integrity, according to the Washington Post today. Trump met with Kennedy at Trump Towers in New York today.
