Recent News

By Region: North America

Building a better Rift Valley fever vaccine

(University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston) University of Texas Medical Branch researchers have significantly improved an existing experimental vaccine for Rift Valley fever virus, making possible the development of a more effective defense against the dangerous mosquito-borne pathogen. The African virus causes fever in humans, inflicting liver damage, blindness, encephalitis and even death on  Read More »

Protection for science and security

(Washington Post) THE INFLUENZA A virus known as H5N1 is found mostly in birds. Yet humans can get it, too. Since 2003, there have been more than 600 confirmed cases, in which about 60 percent of the victims have died. So far, the strain has not spread between humans. But last year, a pair of  Read More »

Bird flu virus droplet studies reveal pandemic clues

(CBC) Bird flu virus experiments on how it could spread by respiratory droplets and trigger a pandemic have been published amid controversy over biosecurity and censorship concerns surrounding the research. Scientists are watching how the H5N1 avian flu virus evolves closely both in nature and in laboratories because of its pandemic potential. Thursday’s online issue  Read More »

Influenza: Five questions on H5N1

(Nature) The biology of the H5N1 avian influenza virus is rife with paradoxes. The virus is widespread, but hard to detect. It kills more than half of the people known to be infected, but thousands of those exposed have no apparent problems. It seems to be just a few mutations away from gaining the ability  Read More »

Pandemic Flu Risk Raised by Lax Hog-Farm Surveillance

(Wired.com) The great lesson of the 2009 influenza pandemic was that new, deadly flu strains wouldn’t necessarily emerge from the pathogenic hotbox of an Asian animal market. They could start in the western world’s own backyard, percolating from the incubators of modern farms. Yet despite the fact that pig farms hosted, and arguably fueled, the  Read More »

« First...102030...226227228229230...240250260...Last »

Also filed under "North America":