NEIDL in the News
Ebola Treatment Massively Cuts Death Rate, But It’s No Cure
Original article from Futurity by Kat McAlpine-Boston. August 16, 2019 In a recent clinical trial, a triple-antibody cocktail reduced the mortality rate for the deadly Ebola virus by stunning amounts—from 70% to as low as a reported 6% when given to patients early enough, researchers report. Robert Davey vividly remembers the first... More
Talking about the Ebola Outbreak with BU Experts on the Disease
Original article from The Brink by Doug Most. July 18, 2019 When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the yearlong Ebola outbreak in the Congo a global health emergency on Wednesday, one team of BU scientists had a particularly vested interest in that decision: the medical researchers at the University’s National... More
Emergency Response Exercise to be Conducted May 30 at NEIDL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 30, 2019 Contact: COLIN RILEY (617) 353-5386, criley@bu.edu Emergency Response Exercise to be Conducted May 30 at National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (Boston) – On Thursday, May 30, between 9 a.m. – noon , Boston University (BU) will conduct an emergency response exercise at the National Emerging... More
Are Measles Vaccines a ‘Religious Obligation’?
Original article from Futurity by Jessica Colarossi. May 8, 2019 Getting vaccinated against measles is not only religiously acceptable, but also a religious obligation, according to an expert on health law, ethics, and Jewish studies. The measles vaccine (which is typically combined with mumps and rubella—known as the MMR vaccine) is 97... More
NEIDL Annual Meeting (3-11-19)
NOTICE OF MEETING MARCH 11, 2019 The National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) of Boston University will hold its annual meeting on Monday, March 11, 2019, 6:30–7:30 pm at the Hampton Inn & Suites— Boston Crosstown Center (Jeep Jones Conference Room), 811 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. The public is invited... More
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