Today's Headlines: April 22, 2019
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Domestic Preparedness & Response
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Causes of Excess Deaths in Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria: A Time-Series Estimation
(
American Journal of Public Health
) The number of excess deaths was similar to recent government estimates. However, this study is the first to identify the causes of death that were exacerbated by the disaster. An accurate estimation of the top causes of excess mortality can help authorities plan resource allocation for the island’s recovery and for the prevention of deaths in future disasters.
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WHO Ebola Responder Killed in Attack on the Butembo Hospital
(
WHO
) Today, Dr Richard Valery Mouzoko Kiboung, an epidemiologist deployed by WHO in the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was killed in an attack on Butembo University Hospital. Two other persons were injured in the attack but are believed to be in a stable condition.
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Combating Infectious Disease Epidemics through China’s Belt and Road Initiative
(
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
) On March 17, 2017, the United Nations Security Council, backed by the consensus of its 193 member states, adopted Resolution 2344, which calls for strengthening regional economic cooperation through China’s Belt and Road (also called Silk Road) Initiative. Based on the cornerstones of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, and mutual learning and sharing benefit, this initiative was proposed by the Chinese government and is participated in by various parties. Its goal is to provide fundamental solutions to boost global economic development through enhancing policy coordination, facility connection, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds.
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Liberia Post Ebola: Ready for Another Outbreak?
(
Lancet
) Years after the west Africa Ebola virus epidemic, Liberia's health system still carries the burden of the deadly outbreak. Laura Salm-Reifferscheidt reports from Gbarnga, Liberia. Comfort Gbainsay is huddled on a bed under a mosquito net at the CB Dunbar Maternity Hospital in Gbarnga, a small city about a 3 hours' drive from Liberia's capital Monrovia. A few days ago, she started feeling weak. She had stomach cramps and was breathing fast. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with stomach ulcers and typhoid fever. The 37-year old is 3 months' pregnant.
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A Pivotal Test of Malaria Vaccine Is Set to Begin. Can It Live up to Its Promise? (
STAT) Researchers are preparing to launch a pivotal test of an important malaria vaccine this month — one that global health leaders believe could eventually lead to big reductions in the number of cases and deaths worldwide. Despite those high hopes, there are also concerns that the theoretical benefits of the vaccine, made by GSK, might not translate into the real world.
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Government Affairs & National Security
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US Health Agency Pours $350 Million into Fight Against Opioid Crisis
(Nature
) The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded more than US$350 million to four research teams that will test ways of reducing accidental deaths from opioid use. The scientists will conduct their work in four states: Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio. A fifth group, at RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, will coordinate the overall effort.
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How US–China Political Tensions Are Affecting Science
(Nature
) Research is becoming increasingly embroiled in ongoing political tensions between the US and China. In the latest twist, several US universities are expected this month to announce the actions they have taken against foreign scientists caught breaking rules concerning National Institutes of Health funding, according to comments made by agency director Francis Collins to the Senate Appropriations Committee last week.
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US Measles Cases Surge as Officials Scramble to Stop Near-record Outbreak
(
Washington Post
) The US is on track to surpass the record number of measles cases in a single year since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, according to figures reported Monday. For the fourth week in a row, health officials have added dozens of new cases to the year’s list of confirmed ones, bringing the total to 626 — already the highest number in the past five years.
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Three New York Parents Face $1,000 Fines for Failing to Vaccinate Children
(
The Hill
) New York City public health officials said they issued summonses to the parents of three children Thursday for failing to vaccinate their children against the measles. The parents’ refusal to vaccinate their children is a violation of an emergency order from the city’s public health department, which requires mandatory vaccinations in an effort to control New York's largest measles outbreak in decades.
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Two-wave US Flu Season is Now the Longest in a Decade
(
New York Times
) Three months ago, this flu season was shaping up to be short and mild in the US But a surprising second viral wave has made it the longest in 10 years. This flu season has been officially going for 21 weeks, according to reports collected through last week and released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That makes it among the longest seen since the government started tracking flu season duration more than 20 years ago.
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Reporting of Artificial Intelligence Prediction Models
(
Lancet
) In response to this rapid growth, as well as concern about incomplete reporting of prediction model studies, the Transparent Reporting of a Multivariable Prediction Model for Individual Prognosis or Diagnosis statement was published in 2015. TRIPOD provides guidance on the key items to report when describing studies developing, evaluating (or validating), or updating clinical prediction models. Although TRIPOD aims primarily to improve reporting, it also leads to more comprehensive understanding, conduct, and analysis of prediction model studies, ensuring that prediction models can be picked up by subsequent researchers and users to be studied further and used to guide health care, thus encouraging reproducible research and reduce research waste.
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AI Could Predict Death. But What if the Algorithm is Biased?
(
Wired
) EARLIER THIS MONTH the University of Nottingham published a study in
PloSOne
about a new artificial intelligence model that uses machine learning to predict the risk of premature death, using banked health data (on age and lifestyle factors) from Brits aged 40 to 69. This study comes months after a joint study between UC San Francisco, Stanford, and Google, which reported results of machine-learning-based data mining of electronic health records to assess the likelihood that a patient would die in hospital. One goal of both studies was to assess how this information might help clinicians decide which patients might most benefit from intervention.
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Clinicians' Biosecurity News
April 22, 2019
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Home Respiratory Infection Testing: An Important Tool to Develop
Home diagnosis of infectious diseases is not something that is performed with the frequency of home glucose monitoring or pregnancy testing. To date, home diagnostic testing has been limited primarily to sexually transmitted infections such as HIV. However, the broader use of home testing could be important for outbreak management, antibiotic stewardship, situational awareness, and pandemic response.
Read Now.
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Published by Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
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