NEIDL in the News
Amid High-Profile Outbreaks, Benefit of Widespread Asymptomatic Screening Remains Low
Original article from Contagion Live by Jared Kaltwasser. February 14, 2019 When a West African Ebola outbreak overtook international headlines in 2014, the constant media attention was about more than the symptoms and consequences of the deadly virus. It was also about fear that the virus would spread far and wide. Eleven... More
Spotting Ebola in the Crowd
Original article from BU Today by Kat J. McAlpine. January 28, 2019 At a clinic in Liberia, people trickle in from the surrounding neighborhoods, shivering despite the warm air, reporting varying degrees of headaches and nausea. Many of them are anxious—it’s 2014, an Ebola outbreak is underway, and they fear the... More
Spotting Ebola in the Crowd
Original article from BU Research by Kat McAlpine. December 12, 2018 At a clinic in Liberia, people trickle in from the surrounding neighborhoods, shivering despite the warm air, reporting varying degrees of headaches and nausea. Many of them are anxious—it’s 2014 and an Ebola outbreak is underway and they fear the... More
New Portable Diagnostic Test For Ebola And Malaria Has Big Public Health Implications
Original article from WBUR by Miriam Wasser. December 13, 2018 High fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain: These are all early symptoms of Ebola hemorrhagic fever. They’re also symptoms of malaria, a mosquito-borne blood infection that’s endemic in regions where Ebola tends to break out. For public health officials working in West Africa during... More
Measles a Risk for the Unvaccinated
Original article from Sentinel & Enterprise by Rick Sobey. November 20, 2018 LOWELL -- One local child contracting measles is alarming enough. Now another area individual, with no known link to the child, getting diagnosed with the highly-contagious disease makes it a downright disconcerting trend. So why is this happening in the Lowell... More
Old Drug, New Tricks
Original article from BU Today by Art Jahnke. November 19, 2018 The inspiration stemmed from observations made during the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic that swept through West Africa, infecting more than 28,000 people and killing more than 11,000 in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone alone. The outbreak attracted the attention of virologists... More
NEIDL Researchers Create Tool to Study New Virus
Original article from BU Today by Sara Rimer. September 5, 2018 In recent years, traces of new zoonotic viruses—pathogens that live in animals and could potentially cause infectious diseases in humans—have been discovered in bats, fish, and other species around the world. But scientists have been stumped in their search for... More
Measles Touch Down in Bay State
Original article from Boston Herald by Alexi Cohan. August 25, 2018 Citing measles as “probably the most infectious human virus on the planet,” a Boston University professor of microbiology stressed the importance of vaccinations as state health officials confirmed a case of measles and warned others who may have been exposed. The... More
As Ebola Research Comes to Boston, Scientists Weigh Risks
Original article from Contagion Live by Jared Kaltwasser. August 30, 2018 When it comes to biomedical research, Boston, Massachusetts, is the place to be. “This is truly the biomedical mecca of the United States,” said Ronald B. Corley, PhD, director of Boston University’s (BU) National Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratories (NEIDL). Although that may... More
BU’s Infectious Disease Lab Begins Ebola Research
Original article from WBUR by Art Jahnke. August 20, 2018 Eight months after receiving final approval from the Boston Public Health Commission to conduct research at Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4), Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has begun work with its first Level-4 pathogen, the Ebola virus. “This is clearly an important... More
After a Decade of Squabbles, BU’s Biolab is in Business
Original article from Boston Globe by Felice J. Freyer. August 20, 2018 The package that Elke Mühlberger had been waiting a decade to receive — a gray hard-plastic case a little bigger than a microwave oven — arrived in Boston earlier this month, after traveling nearly 2,000 miles from Montana. The... More
Researchers at BU begin Experimenting with Ebola
Original article from Boston 25 News. August 2, 2018 A lab in Boston was approved to study one of the world's deadliest viruses. On Thursday, Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) announced in a press release that they have started experimenting with the Ebola virus. NEIDL microbiologist Elke Mühlberger said the... More
Neighbors Concerned by Presence of Ebola at BU Research Lab
Original article from NBC Boston by Caroline Connolly. August 3, 2018 A high security lab in Boston just received a sample of a deadly virus that has killed thousands — Ebola. The pathogen arrived at Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases this week, along with the related Marburg virus. They are the... More
High-Security Boston Lab Begins Growing Ebola Virus for Experiments
Original article from WCVB. August 2, 2018 One of the most secure facilities in Boston is beginning to experiment with one of the world's deadliest viruses. Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories announced Thursday that it had received samples of the Ebola virus and the related Marburg virus. Researchers said the... More
Boston University Lab gets shipment of Ebola, Marburg Viruses
Original article from Boston Business Journal by Jessica Bartlett. August 2, 2018 Researchers at Boston University’s infectious disease lab received the first pathogens it's gotten under its new heightened designation: the Ebola and Marburg viruses. The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories received clearance from the Boston Public Health Commission in December to... More
Neighbors fear BU’s Infectious Disease Lab is ‘Gambling with our Safety
Original article from Boston Herald by Mary Markos. August 3, 2018 Researchers at a controversial Boston University lab are experimenting with Ebola in the heart of the city and neighbors are sounding the alarm about the threat of a potentially life-threatening slip up. The first project in Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious... More
Ebola Research Begins at NEIDL
Original article from BU Today by Art Jahnke. August 2, 2018 Eight months after receiving final approval from the Boston Public Health Commission to conduct research at Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4), Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has begun work with its first Level-4 pathogen, the Ebola virus. “This is... More
Can the Egyptian Fruit Bat’s Unusual Genome show us How to Fight Deadly Marburg Virus?
Original article from Genetic Literacy Project by Ricki Lewis. June 5, 2018 The Egyptian fruit bat's immune system enables it to peacefully co-exist with Marburg virus, which can cause a swiftly deadly infection in humans. Although Marburg virus disease affects only a few dozen or hundred people a year, the case:fatality... More
BU Experts on New Ebola Outbreak in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Original article from BU Today by Barbara Moran. May 31, 2018 On May 8, 2018, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) declared a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease centered on the market town of Bikoro, near the DRC’s border with the Republic of Congo. This is DRC’s ninth Ebola... More
Fear and Suspicion Hinder Congo Medics in Ebola Battle
Original article from Reuters by Aaron Ross. May 25, 2018 DAKAR (Reuters) - With more than twice as many Ebola outbreaks as any other country since the virus was discovered in 1976, Congolese are familiar with its destructive power, yet fear and suspicion of medical authorities are still hindering efforts at... More