Author: Claudinne Miller
Scientists say global conditions are ripe for a yellow fever pandemic
Medical News A recent study published in the journal npj Viruses proposed that global trends, including unprecedented urbanization, increased international travel, and the expansion of mosquito habitats, increase the odds of the geographic spread of the yellow fever (YF) virus (YFV). YF, caused by YFV, is an acute viral illness in humans and several nonhuman primates. Unlike […]
Apr 30, 2025
US CDC cancels science group workshop on preventing human bird flu infections
Reuters The National Academy of Sciences has canceled a workshop on preventing human bird flu infections after being told to stop work on the event by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to an email sent to one of the workshop presenters and seen by Reuters. Bird flu has infected 70 people, […]
Apr 30, 2025
Measles Outbreaks in Canada and Mexico Bring Grim Prognosis
NYT Surges in Mennonite communities near the U.S. border may complicate containment efforts, experts say. As the United States struggles to contain a resurgence of measles that has swept through swaths of the Southwest, neighboring countries are responding to their own outbreaks. Canada has reported more than 730 cases this year, making this one of the worst […]
Apr 30, 2025
Humans’ Wounds Heal Much More Slowly Than Other Mammals’
NYT We naked apes need Band-Aids, but shedding the fur that speeds healing in other mammals may have helped us evolve other abilities. Watching wild baboons in Kenya, Akiko Matsumoto-Oda, an evolutionary biologist and primatologist at the University of the Ryukyus in Japan, had a front-row seat to the violence between these monkeys, especially the […]
Apr 30, 2025
Should you get a measles booster? Here’s what to know.
Washington Post Most people in the United States have gotten the two doses of the MMR vaccine as children, but a measles vaccine booster may help some adults. There have been 800 confirmed cases of measles in the United States this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency has also reported two deaths […]
Apr 30, 2025
Hidden transmission of avian influenza virus H5N1 found in Texas dairy cattle
Medical Express Scientists at the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Disease Center, with multiple academic, state and federal collaborators, identified the emergence and interstate spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) in dairy cattle. Genetic analysis confirms that a reassortment event in wild birds preceded a single transmission to cattle, after which asymptomatic or […]
Apr 30, 2025
Even a small uptick in vaccination could prevent millions of US measles cases.
ABC News Measles cases are continuing to spread throughout the U.S. with outbreaks in at least six states. Public health experts have previously said lagging vaccination rates are to blame for the rise in cases, at least partly due to vaccine hesitancy and vaccine fatigue left over from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, even a small […]
Apr 30, 2025
New antiviral compounds show broad protection against COVID-19 variants
Medical News Since the start of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, numerous novel antiviral therapeutic agents have been developed to target key proteases involved in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) replication. Nirmatrelvir and ensitrelvir, for example, are main protease (Mpro) inhibitors that are currently approved for the clinical treatment of COVID-19. The […]
Apr 30, 2025