This 100-page report provides a summary of the 15 years of health studies by the FDNY (Fire Department of New York) World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program, and is the most comprehensive post-disaster health report ever released. It includes updated numbers and metrics demonstrating the effective utilization of the FDNY WTC Health Program funded by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health under the Zadroga Act of 2010, which was reauthorized in 2015. Chapter topics include Physical Health Assessment, Mental Health Assessment, and Participation in Physical and Mental Health Services Provided to WTC-Exposed Members.
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Researchers evaluated the performance of 5 Zika case definitions recommended by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, World Health Organization, Pan American Health Organization, European Centers for Disease Control, and the Singapore Ministry of Health. They utilized these definitions for Zika virus disease surveillance in a human cohort of 359 adult patients with suspected Zika virus disease during an outbreak in Singapore, August 26–September 5, 2016. Because laboratory tests are largely inaccessible, use of case definitions that include rash as a required clinical feature are useful in identifying this disease.
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One by one, the viruses have slipped from their hiding places in nature to threaten global populations — SARS, MERS, Zika.
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In each case, scientists have scrambled to identify the viruses and to develop vaccines or drugs to stop their spread. After each crisis, the assessment has been the same: Countermeasures were not ready in time to help in the containment effort.
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Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institute of Health, in his blog outlines a study on birth year and influenza immunity.  In a study that looked at cases of bird flu in six countries in Asia and the Middle East between 1997 and 2015, an NIH-supported research team found that people born before 1968 were at lower risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus than were those born afterwards. Just the opposite was true of another emerging strain of bird flu. People born before 1968 were at greater risk of becoming seriously ill or dying of H7N9, while those born after that date were more often protected.
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