Author: Claudinne Miller
Will bird flu spark a human pandemic? Scientists say the risk is rising
Nature H5N1 is adapting to new mammalian hosts, raising the possibility of the virus spreading between humans. Ten months on from the shocking discovery that a virus usually carried by wild birds can readily infect cows, at least 68 people in North America have become ill from the pathogen and one person has died. Although many […]
Feb 4, 2025
Could the Bird Flu Become Airborne?
NYT Scientists were slow to recognize that Covid spreads through the air. Some are now trying to get ahead of the bird flu. In early February 2020, China locked down more than 50 million people, hoping to hinder the spread of a new coronavirus. No one knew at the time exactly how it was spreading, but Lidia […]
Feb 4, 2025
Uganda begins Ebola vaccine trial after new outbreak
BBC Uganda has launched a trial of a vaccine against the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, following an outbreak in the country that has killed one person and infected two others. The first patient, a 32-year-old male nurse, died last week. On Monday, the initial participant in the trial, who is currently in isolation, […]
Feb 4, 2025
Nurse dies from Ebola in Uganda as country declares first virus outbreak since 2022, health ministry says
PBS A nurse in Uganda has died of Ebola, a health official said Thursday, in the first recorded fatality since the last outbreak ended in 2023. The 32-year-old male nurse was an employee of Mulago Hospital, the main referral facility in the capital, Kampala, Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the health ministry, told reporters Thursday. […]
Feb 3, 2025
Influential podcasts fuel ‘harmful’ health misinformation
France 24 Unfounded cancer cures, dubious anti-vaccine narratives, and false claims that neurological disorders can be “reversed” through diets: influential American and European podcasters are peddling harmful health misinformation while largely escaping scrutiny, researchers say. The problem will come under the spotlight this week as Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vaccine skeptic with a longstanding […]
Jan 29, 2025
California surfer catches possible world record wave
A California surfer may have broken a world record when he shredded a wave estimated to be 108 feet tall. Alessandro “Alo” Slebir, 23, was surfing with friends on Dec. 23 at Mavericks, near Half Moon Bay, when he caught the enormous wave.
Jan 29, 2025
What an Undervaccinated America Would Look Like
The Atlantic At first, much the same. But inevitably dangerous diseases would resurge in a country that isn’t prepared for them. Becoming a public-health expert means learning how to envision humanity’s worst-case scenarios for infectious disease. For decades, though, no one in the U.S. has had to consider the full danger of some of history’s […]
Jan 29, 2025
Kennedy, in His Own Words: Flu, Diabetes, Autism and More
NYT At Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings, beginning on Wednesday, senators are expected to question him closely about his controversial views on vaccines. For years Mr. Kennedy has questioned the safety of vaccines, including those for polio and measles, two diseases that continue to harm children. More recently, he has said that he’s not […]
Jan 29, 2025
‘Quad-demic’ Hitting US With Flu, COVID-19, RSV, Norovirus Surging
Forbes This is not how you want to go viral. The U.S. is currently going through surges of not one, not two, not three, but four different viruses. That’s prompted folks to nickname the current situation a “quad-demic.” Here’s what you can do to protect yourself. What Is The ‘Quad-demic’? The Centers for Disease Control […]
Jan 29, 2025
Potential Ebola outbreak reported in DRC at a time of strained U.S.-WHO relations
STAT Tanzania is separately confronting an outbreak of Marburg fever. A potential Ebola outbreak has been reported in a western part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in what would be the second viral hemorrhagic fever outbreak in the region at a time when the Trump administration has paused communication with the World Health […]
Jan 29, 2025