Category: Featured
Multiple sclerosis: new evidence for the role of Epstein-Barr Virus.
The Conversation An estimated 2.8 million people around the world have multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease in which the immune system damages the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include fatigue, vision disturbance, problems with mobility and balance and cognitive dysfunction. Many people who develop MS experience symptoms followed by a period of recovery, but over time the disease […]
May 22, 2023
Dengue too high in Puerto Rico, other U.S. territories, CDC says
Washington Post Dengue, a virus transmitted by infected mosquitoes that causes illness in about 1 in 4 infected people, can lead to symptoms ranging from mild fever to shock or death. In an article this month in JAMA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers in Puerto Rico say the virus must be better controlled in U.S. […]
May 22, 2023
Animal health body urges bird flu vaccination to avoid pandemic
KSL Governments should consider vaccinating poultry against bird flu, which has killed hundreds of millions of birds and infected mammals worldwide, to prevent the virus from turning into a new pandemic, the head of the World Organization for Animal Health said. The severity of the current outbreak of avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, and […]
May 22, 2023
Uganda: Fatal Rift Valley Fever
Monitor A 42-year-old man has died after presenting signs of Rift Valley Fever in Bushenyi District in western Uganda, health officials said Tuesday. Mr John Muramira Kein, a resident of Kyaruhijika village in Rwijangye Parish, Kyabugimbi Sub County died at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital on Sunday. Rift Valley Fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever […]
May 16, 2023
Special Pathogens and Pop Culture
NETEC In episode two of the Pathogens in Pop Culture series, hosts Lauren Sauer and Rachel Lookadoo welcome guest Dr. Billy Fischer to discuss the portrayal of Ebola Virus Disease in the 2018 Jack Ryan TV series and Richard Preston’s 1994 novel, The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story. Together, they will explore the science behind the virus, […]
May 16, 2023
Forgotten Antibiotic From Decades Ago Could Be a Superbug Killer
Science Alert An antibiotic developed some 80 years ago before being abandoned and forgotten could again offer exciting new solutions, this time to the emerging threat of drug-resistant superbugs. Read the study in PLoS here Half of the bacteria-killing drugs we use today are variations of compounds that were found nearly a century ago, during this ‘golden age’ […]
May 16, 2023
First U.S. cases of drug-resistant skin infection found in NYC
NJ.com A highly transmissible, drug-resistant ringworm infection has been found in two women in New York City. The two patients — whose infections are not connected — are the first cases to be identified in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The infections, caused by the fungus Trichophyton indotineae, have cropped […]
May 16, 2023
The World’s Bat Lands are Under Attack, Seeding Risk of a New Pandemic. Here’s Where.
Reuters Our hunger for resources is driving worldwide destruction of areas rich with bats, carriers of tens of thousands of viruses. A Reuters data analysis pinpoints areas where conditions are ripe for a bat-borne disease to spill over to humanity. We’ve dubbed these areas “jump zones.” For millennia, bat viruses posed little threat to humanity. […]
May 16, 2023
Two poultry workers test positive for bird flu after contact on infected farm
Sky News Bird flu has been detected in two poultry workers after they came into contact with infected birds, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said. The two workers have recently worked on an infected poultry farm in England. Neither have experienced any symptoms of bird flu and have tested negative since. The avian […]
May 16, 2023
A frightening virus is killing a massive number of wild birds
Vox Scientists have never seen anything like it. In the past two years, a viral disease has swept across much of the planet — not Covid but a type of avian flu. It’s devastated the poultry industry in the US, Europe, and elsewhere, sickening millions of farmed birds, which either die from infection or are […]
May 9, 2023