6,287 results
6,287 results for: Virus
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19245
Your article refers to a virus as a “microbe.” I think of a virus more as a seed or spore. What definition is Science News using for the word? Neil MurphyWalnut Creek, Calif. Medical dictionaries differ in defining viruses as microbes . Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary Eleventh Edition ( 2003, Merriam-Webster ) says that viruses are […]
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19309
This article on the Ebola virus’ deadly glycoprotein was frightening enough, but even more terrifying to me was the fact that the researchers had genetically engineered a cold virus, one of the most easily transmitted and successful viruses on the planet, to carry the Ebola glycoprotein. I hope that modified virus never escapes the laboratory, […]
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19361
This article describes the use of the mosquito-borne Sindbis virus to kill cancer cells in lab dishes and mice. It would be interesting to determine whether the human population of the Egyptian town of Sindbis exhibits a reduced incidence of certain cancers. Perhaps large-scale efforts directed toward elimination of the mosquito in populated areas are […]
- Health & Medicine
Pre-chewed baby food can spread HIV
An age-old cultural practice may offer new dangers in the era of AIDS.
- Humans
Flu: Grim stats
Though risk of death from conventional flu strains escalates dramatically, beginning around age 45, a new study finds that masks do a fair job of slowing the infection's transmission.
- Agriculture
Of swine flu, pigs and a state fair
To date, federal monitoring has yet to turn up any U.S. pigs infected with the killer swine flu strain known as H1N1. But Agriculture Department Secretary Tom Vilsack announced yesterday that his agency’s veterinary labs would be reexamining whether any of the apparently healthy pigs exhibited last August 16 to Sept. 1 at the Minnesota state fair might have been infected with the virus. Why? “An outbreak of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza occurred in a group of children housed in a dormitory at the fair at the same time samples were collected from the pigs,” USDA notes
- Health & Medicine
Mice: seasonal flu vaccine and vulnerability to pandemic strain
Earlier this year, Dutch scientists showed that vaccinating mice against seasonal strains of flu rendered the animals unnecessarily vulnerable to dying if they later encountered a pandemic flu strain. Authors of this study now ask whether there are lessons in their data for parents. Such as whether to ignore recommendations that youngsters get seasonal-flu shots during years when pandemic flu is raging. Others suggest this idea, at least as regards people, is bunk.
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From the infectious diseases meeting: What’s with the vaccine-o-phobia?
Science News writer Nathan Seppa talks with physicians about people opting out of vaccinations.
- Health & Medicine
H1N1: Call to revise flu-mask policy
Three groups of healthcare professionals sent a letter to President Obama yesterday asking that he instruct his administration to revise federal flu-mask guidance. What these groups want: formal recognition that two studies last month showed conventional surgical masks are about as protective as the fancy — but much more expensive — N95 respirators in limiting H1N1 infection.
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No one villain behind honey-bee colony collapse
Many factors may interact to bring on the mysterious honey-bee colony collapse disorder.
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