Recent News

By Region: North America

First New Dengue Virus Type in 50 Years

(AAAS) Scientists have discovered a new type of the virus that causes a centuries-old pestilence, dengue. The surprising find, announced at a major dengue conference here today, is bound to complicate efforts to develop a vaccine against a tropical disease that is becoming a more pervasive global menace. But it could shed light on where Read More »

October 22, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, North America, South America, International, and Public Health
Share

Biology’s Brave New World

(ForeignAffairs) In May 2010, the richest, most powerful man in biotechnology made a new creature. J. Craig Venter and his private-company team started with DNA and constructed a novel genetic sequence of more than one million coded bits of information known as nucleotides. Seven years earlier, Venter had been the first person in history to Read More »

October 22, 2013
| Filed under Europe, North America, South America, and Research
Share

Houston, We Have Dengue Fever

(NPR) Dengue fever is in Houston. And it turns out the mosquito-borne illness isn’t exactly a stranger there. Dengue has been roaming around the city since 2003, according to a study published Wednesday. “There was circulating, and we had no idea that it was here because we just weren’t looking,” says the study’s lead author Read More »

October 21, 2013
| Filed under North America, South America, and Public Health
Share

Flu virus wipes out immune system’s first responders to establish infection

(ScienceDaily) Revealing influenza’s truly insidious nature, Whitehead Institute scientists have discovered that the virus is able to infect its host by first killing off the cells of the immune system that are actually best equipped to neutralize the virus. Confronted with a harmful virus, the immune system works to generate cells capable of producing antibodies Read More »

October 21, 2013
| Filed under Asia/Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, Agents & Toxins, and Research
Share

Study explores the role of uncertainty in infectious disease modelling

(EurekAlert) Research by scientists at the University of Liverpool has found that greater consideration of the limitations and uncertainties present in every infectious disease model would improve its effectiveness/usefulness and value. Infectious disease dynamical modelling plays a central role in planning for outbreaks of human and livestock diseases, in projecting how they might progress and Read More »