Category Archives Issue 572

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would add certain highly pathogenic avian influenza strains (HPAIs) to the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) list of select agents and toxins. In addition to listing any influenza virus that contains hemagglutinin (HA) from the Goose Guangdong/1/96 lineage, including wild-type viruses, CDC seeks to categorize as a Tier 1 select agent any virus containing HA from the HPAI H5N1 lineage “that were made transmissible among mammals by respiratory droplets in a laboratory.” As directed by the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, HHS maintains “a list of biological agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety.” Tier 1 designates those agents and toxins that “present the greatest risk of deliberate misuse with significant potential for mass casualties or…