Author: Claudinne Miller
Recent pandemic viruses, including SAR-CoV-2, spread directly to people without adaptation, researchers say
CIDRAP Contrary to prevailing belief, an evolutionary analysis finds no evidence that most viruses with epidemic or pandemic potential that jumped from animals to people were shaped by selection in a lab or prolonged evolution in an intermediate host—challenging claims that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was engineered in a lab. A University of California (UC) […]
Mar 11, 2026
Severe COVID-19 and flu can facilitate lung cancer months or years later
Medical Express Severe COVID-19 and influenza infections prime the lungs for cancer and can accelerate the disease’s development, but vaccination heads off those harmful effects, new research from UVA Health’s Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research and UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center indicates. UVA School of Medicine researcher Jie Sun, Ph.D., and colleagues found that […]
Mar 11, 2026
Scientists Can Finally Explain Rare Blood Clots Linked to COVID Vaccines
Science Alert COVID vaccines saved millions of lives, but months into the rollout, a small number of people began developing dangerous blood clots in unusual parts of the body. These only happened after vaccines that used a modified adenovirus to deliver their payload, such as the AstraZeneca vaccine. Why these blood clots formed was a […]
Mar 11, 2026
The Mystery of Losing Your Taste From Long COVID May Finally Have an Answer
Discover Learn how researchers may have finally uncovered why some people experience long-lasting taste loss after COVID-19. A common symptom that many experienced during a COVID-19 infection was a loss of taste. While most affected individuals regained their sense of taste within a few weeks, some experienced a persistent loss over several months. If a […]
Mar 11, 2026
8 children have now died from flu in Mass. this season
Boston.com The child died between the week of Feb. 21 and Feb. 28, the state’s Department of Public Health reported. An eighth Massachusetts child has died from the flu this flu season, state data shows. As of Feb. 28, eight Massachusetts children have died from the influenza, as well as 298 adults, the state’s influenza data […]
Mar 11, 2026
NIH director launches “Scientific Freedom” lectures with non-scientist
ARS Technica On Tuesday, word spread that the National Institutes of Health was launching a series of what it’s calling “Scientific Freedom Lectures,” with the first scheduled for March 20. The “freedom” theme echoes one of the major concerns of the director of the NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, who feels he suffered outrageous censorship of his ideas […]
Mar 11, 2026
Scientists Get a Glimpse of How New Pandemics Are Made
NYT Researchers have devised a new tool for discerning between naturally occurring viral outbreaks and those resulting from lab accidents. The Covid pandemic was an extraordinary moment in history. Starting at the end of 2019, a virus new to science swept across the planet, killed more than 25 million people and caused trillions of dollars in economic damage. But […]
Mar 11, 2026
In Talking to Parents About Vaccines, Pediatricians Navigate a Sea of Misinformation
NYT Practitioners nationwide are striving to do what’s best for children’s health, while staying supportive in the face of mistrust and confusion. As she examined 11-day-old Asher, her eighth patient of the day, Alissa Parker talked to his parents about his sleep habits, the nub of his umbilical cord that had yet to fall off […]
Mar 11, 2026
RFK Jr.’s advisers had a plan to target covid shots. Then it fell apart.
Washington Post Some members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel have publicly questioned the safety and manufacturing of the shots, including raising a debunked theory that DNA contaminants in the vaccines are harmful. A key federal vaccine advisory panel has abandoned an attack on the covid-19 mRNA vaccines — a shift that comes as some […]
Mar 11, 2026
How one WA county is racing to curb the spread of measles
Seattle Times Getting word that out-of-state travelers may have brought in an extremely contagious virus. Scrambling to notify the public. Tracking exposures. Testing residents. Watching three cases become six, then 10, then 12. The Snohomish County Health Department had again found itself hustling to save lives and prevent hospitalizations, this time in a race against […]
Mar 11, 2026