U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Air and Marine, recently announced full operations of eight helium-filled balloon surveillance systems, which will provide radar coverage of the U.S./Mexico border, south Florida, and Puerto Rico areas. These surveillance tools provide border monitoring and enforcement of low-level aircraft and small vessels approaching the border.
The Center for Vaccine Development, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, in conjunction with its sister institution, The Center for Vaccine Development of Mali and the Ministry of Health of Mali, have begun a clinical trial in healthcare workers (and other front-line workers) to evaluate a promising experimental Ebola vaccine.
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), in partnership with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response and Rallyware, a San Francisco-based technology startup, have launched MRC Connect, the first social media application for the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC).
Chimerix Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing oral antivirals in areas of high unmet medical need, recently announced that brincidofovir has been provided for potential use in patients with Ebola Virus Disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Emergency Investigational New Drug (EIND) Applications.
The vaccine development of the Ebola virus will be accelerated with support from the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). Under a contract with Profectus BioSciences Inc., ASPR's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will provide funding, in addition to subject matter expertise and technical assistance, to further develop an experimental Ebola vaccine.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has posted additional data and added new functions to ChemView, EPA's publicly accessible, one-stop online tool to find information for chemicals regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act. EPA also is encouraging people to complete a customer satisfaction survey to help guide future improvements to ChemView.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed and started using a new, faster laboratory test for detecting enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) in people with respiratory illness. This test will allow CDC to more rapidly test remaining specimens received from states since mid-September.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the following infection control measures for healthcare workers with the potential for exposure to infectious materials and patients including body substances, contaminated medical supplies and equipment, contaminated environmental surfaces, or aerosols generated during certain medical procedures.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration and the U.S. Fire Administrations National Fire Academy, have been developing best-practices reference materials to prepare emergency responders to safely and effectively respond to crude-oil transportation incidents.
The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Northern Arizona University (NAU) have been awarded a patent for a test that can detect the H1N1 pandemic flu strain. The test not only detects influenza but also quickly informs doctors about the exact strain of flu and its level of resistance to oseltamivir, the primary antiviral drug on the market to treat H1N1.
