Biodefense

DARPA P3 Researchers Race to Create Treatment for the Novel Coronavirus

Researchers working under DARPA’s Pandemic Preparedness Platform (P3) are racing to apply their experimental techniques to a true pandemic playing out in real time.

The clock begins ticking as soon as a blood sample is taken from a person who has fully recovered from the disease of interest. Then the researchers screen that sample to find all the protective antibodies the person’s body has made to fight off the virus or bacteria. They use modeling and bioinformatics to choose the antibody that seems most effective at neutralizing the pathogen, and then determine the genetic sequence that codes for the creation of that particular antibody. That snippet of genetic code can then be manufactured quickly and at scale, and injected into people.

This approach is much faster than manufacturing the antibodies themselves. Once the genetic snippets are delivered by an injection, “your body becomes the bioreactor” that creates the antibodies. The P3 program’s goal is to have protective levels of the antibodies circulating within 6 to 24 hours.

Biodefense

GAO recommends ways to improve implementation of National Biodefense Strategy

The United States is struggling to implement a National Biodefense Strategy, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) review, but there are additional efforts that could make the strategy more effective.

GAO first recommended that the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary should direct the existing Biodefense Coordination Team to create a plan with new management practices, reinforce collaboration and prevent the many early challenges noted in its report from becoming institutionalized. Second, the HHS Secretary should direct this team to document guidance and methods for analyzing any data collected from various agencies, including nonfederal resources. Third, they should establish a resource plan for staffing, supporting and sustaining biodefense efforts and, lastly, they should also document agreed-upon processes, roles, and responsibilities for establishing and enforcing enterprise-wide decisions.

The National Biodefense Strategy, established in 2018, laid out the nation’s plan to address diseases and biological weapons alike, particularly through joint agency and private sector efforts. In actuality, GAO noted, the strategy offers no clear processes, roles, or responsibilities for joint decision making. Nothing guides data analysis or resource use, and nonfederal capabilities are not even properly accounted for, despite them being a sizable chunk of the nation’s capabilities.

Biodefense

We Should Panic about the Flu, Not the Coronavirus

Amid the growing concern surrounding the latest coronavirus, it’s important to put the newly recognized illness into perspective. Similar viruses affect millions of people – and kill tens of thousands – each and every year

Coronavirus Cases

The novel coronavirus – officially dubbed 2019-nCoV by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – presents with fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, headache and shortness of breath. As of Jan. 29, there are 6,152 cases of 2019-nCoV in the world and 132 subsequent fatalities.

A majority of the cases (98.4 percent) – and all of the deaths – have occurred in China. Additionally, most of the patients who have died from the infection were older than 60 and had preexisting conditions.

As with most viruses that originate outside America, the public’s interest is only piqued when the virus spreads to America. That is what’s happening now.

Medical Face Masks Selling Out

Currently, there are only five confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States; all of these patients picked up the illness on recent trips to China. Additionally, the CDC reports, “no person-to-person spread has been detected” in the United States. That hasn’t stopped people from rushing to their nearest emergency room or clinic if they have any of the coronavirus’s symptoms.

In Virginia, where health officials are looking into possible cases of 2019-nCoV, drugstores are selling out of face masks.

‘Don’t Panic’

“Don’t panic unless you’re paid to panic,” Brandon Brown, an epidemiologist, told Kaiser Health News. “Public health workers should be on the lookout. The government should be ready to provide resources. … But for everyone else: Breathe.” That’s good advice to avoid a major overreaction.

Biodefense

ECBC’s Biothreat Detection Self-Test Kit for Soldiers 

The Edgewood Chemical Biological Center’s (ECBC) newly developed biological self-test kit can quickly tell soldiers on the ground whether they’ve been exposed to a biological threat agent, and automatically send it in to the warfighter and his commander.

Known as SmartCAR, the device uses a colorimetric assay to identify the presence of a pathogen of concern such as ricin, anthrax or plague. The warfighter or a field medic can take a sample, place it in a small vial containing a reagent that will bind the pathogen of concern, then place a drop of the solution on the strip.

The strip is placed inside the handheld SmartCAR which then reads whether there is one line on the strip, meaning no exposure, or two lines on the strip – bad news.

The SmartCAR then transmits the results over Nett Warrior, an integrated situational awareness system that displays tactical data on a smartphone. Information passes through Nett Warrior and up the chain of command.

http://globalbiodefense.com/2016/02/26/ecbc-develops-biological-self-test-kit-for-soldiers/