Publications

Despite the uncertainty raised by several studies regarding the practicality of Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) in hospital settings, the urgency prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic led many hospitals to invest in these rapid diagnostics

AI-enabled research might cause immense harm if it is used to design pathogens with worrying new properties. To prevent this, we need better collaboration between governments, AI developers and experts in biosafety and biosecurity.

We led the last large-scale exercise conducted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security before the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite COVID-19, pandemic exercises are more necessary than ever to prevent the loss of hard-fought gains achieved during COVID-19, keep policymakers from assuming all pandemics will be like COVID-19, and encourage continued engagement from policymakers in strengthening health resilience rather than returning to a cycle of panic and neglect.

The slow arrival of vaccines to the increasing number of countries ravaged by mpox shows that the COVID-19 pandemic did not result in the structural change needed to address global inequities. The absence of global arrangements to ensure access to health products during emergencies is a gap that governments are seeking to fill through recently agreed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) and continuing negotiations towards a Pandemic Agreement

Biological events—including outbreaks and pandemics, biological-weapons use, and accidental laboratory release—have the potential to be extremely disruptive.

Because hospitals are spaces where life and death are routinely at stake, social hierarchies, pressures, and cultural norms are heightened. This was particularly true in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining the dynamics in that era can provide insight into the nature of race and hierarchy in hospital structures.

The Pandemic Recovery Metrics to Drive Equity – PanREMEDY project sought to give form to the least considered phase of a catastrophic outbreak of infectious disease, while applying an equity lens. The project inquired, “By what measures could local and state decision makers know that efforts at holistic recovery were working, especially for the socially vulnerable individuals and communities hit hardest by COVID-19?”

A rapidly growing mpox outbreak is heightening concern over a potential multicountry epidemic or even a new pandemic. This year alone, there have been more than 17 000 suspected (2863 confirmed) cases of mpox across the African continent, with the majority in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Mass gatherings include a diverse range of events such as sporting competitions, religious ceremonies, entertainment activities, political rallies and cultural celebrations, which have important implications for population well-being. However, if not managed properly, these events can amplify health risks including those related to communicable diseases, and place undue strain on health systems in host countries and potentially in attendees’ home countries, upon their return.

The Pneumoviridae viral family, formerly a subfamily of Paramyxoviridae, consists of 2 genera: Orthopneumovirus, the members of which infect mammals, and Metapneumovirus, which are specific for either mammals or birds.

Evidence suggests that reductions in healthcare utilization, including forgone care, during the COVID-19 pandemic may be contributing towards excess morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to describe individual and community-level correlates of forgone care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the end of May, 194 member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) will meet for the World Health Assembly. Negotiations underway now will determine whether they vote then to adopt a pandemic agreement. For the past 2 years, discussions have focused on articulating essential components of a robust and equitable architecture for pandemic preparedness and response. Despite this, talks have failed to produce sufficient consensus on a detailed draft, prompting the intergovernmental negotiating body to propose a “streamlined” version.

Rasmussen et al. argue that “increasing oversight across virology or all microbe research would represent a misdirection of resources and would fail to provide a commensurate increase in safety or security” and “harm surveillance, antiviral discovery, monitoring for resistance to antivirals and vaccines, and other critical efforts.” On the contrary, a strengthened version of the recommendations of the National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity (NSABB) is crucial for the success of microbiological science. Implementing these recommendations would reduce the risks of a deliberate or accidental pandemic, while using precious research resources efficiently, restoring trust in science, strengthening US leadership in biosecurity and biosafety, and safeguarding the biomedical research enterprise, as ASM itself has said.

A scoping literature review of learnings from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was commissioned by WHO to inform operational priorities for future respiratory pathogen pandemic preparedness. The learnings are grouped according to WHO’s subsystems for health emergency preparedness, response and resilience. Key takeaway messages include: 1) Preparedness works; 2) Health is everyone’s business; 3) No one is safe until everyone is safe; and 4) Response must be agile and adaptive. The review will support pandemic planners at all levels to develop and update preparedness and response plans.

The Adenoviridae viral family is divided into 6 genera, with only members of the genus Mastadenovirus known to infect mammals, including humans.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries often needed to divert their human, financial and material resources away from existing health programmes to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. There are numerous reports of global inequities in access to critical care and medical countermeasures exacerbated by the pandemic as a consequence of chronically underfunded and weakened public health systems.

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected all mass gatherings for sporting and religious events, causing cancellation, postponement, or downsizing.

Paramyxoviridae is a large viral family that contains many once common and well-known human pathogens, such as measles and mumps, as well as other pathogens that pose concerns for their potential to cause epidemic or pandemic disease.¹

Among the approximately 2 dozen families of viruses that have the capacity to infect humans, roughly 25% of these families have pandemic potential (Figure 1). Specifically, this capacity is conferred by their ability to be transmitted via the respiratory route.¹ Devising response plans for each of these 6 viral families — Adenoviridae, Coronaviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Picornaviridae, Pneumoviridae, and Orthomyxoviridae — is essential for pandemic preparedness.