White raccoon dogs are prized for their unusual fur.
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In China, the wildlife trade is thriving, driven by the increased demands for luxury goods and traditional medicine. But there is real concern about the threat of diseases that can cross over to humans.
The prevention of future pandemics requires examining viral family trees.
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Bat hosts, lab leaks – tracing SARS-CoV-2 to its origins involves more than just tracking down patient zero.
The COVID-19 new normal might be here for quite some time.
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As ready as you are to be done with COVID-19, it’s not going anywhere soon. A historian of disease describes how once a pathogen emerges, it’s usually here to stay.
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But will the new normal only be feasible for the well off?
Korean health workers offer coronavirus testing in the Itaewon nightlife district of Seoul.
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South Korea’s mass surveillance to curb the coronavirus pandemic uses technologies and techniques that are grounded in anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
A few people in the crowd will be responsible for the bulk of a disease’s spread.
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Epidemiological data suggests that 80% of COVID-19 cases can be traced to just 20% of those infected with SARS-CoV-2.
Brazilian scientist working on a vaccine at the Immunology laboratory of the Heart Institute (Incor) of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sao Paulo.
Sebastiao Moreira/EPA
We don’t have vaccines for the Sars, Mers or the common cold. But that doesn’t mean scientists won’t crack it this time.
South Africans practise social distancing while they queue outside a supermarket in Hillbrow, Johannesburg during the country’s lockdown.
Photo by Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
April 18, 2020
Alex van den Heever , University of the Witwatersrand ; David Francis , University of the Witwatersrand ; Francois Venter , University of the Witwatersrand ; Imraan Valodia , University of the Witwatersrand ; Lucy Allais , University of the Witwatersrand ; Martin Veller , University of the Witwatersrand ; Michael Sachs , University of the Witwatersrand , and Shabir A. Madhi , University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa cannot afford to embark on a strategy of extended periodic lockdowns. It needs to shift to mass testing and contact tracing.
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Ever heard of 229E, OC43, NL63 and HKU1?
Wouldn’t it be nice if getting a vaccine was a simple as putting on a Band-Aid?
UPMC
University of Pittsburgh researchers are developing a vaccine patch for COVID-19 that is as easy to apply as a Band-Aid.
Coronaviruses get their name from the crown, or corona, of spikes that adorn the outer surface of the virus, as seen on this illustration of a highly magnified virus.
(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
By isolating SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, researchers can now work on developing tests, treatments and vaccines in Canada.
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Scientists need to close the knowledge gap around COVID-19 and the virus that causes it.
The number of new cases at the epicentre of China’s coronavirus epidemic dropped to a new low.
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Several questions about the origin of the outbreak remain with no clear data on what this was or if it was an animal source.
The symptoms are non-specific and very similar to other viral infections.
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There are many questions left unanswered because the outbreak is still in an early stage.
Ebola posters in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
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Experiences dealing with previous outbreaks of infectious disease can help countries with weak health systems prepare for new health emergencies.
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There’s no evidence the new coronavirus is airborne. It appears to spread by larger droplets, direct contact and contaminated surfaces or objects.
A horseshoe bat chasing a moth. Horseshoe bats were the source of SARS. Scientists consider bats to be a possible source of coronavirus.
DE AGOSTINI PICTURE LIBRARY / Contributor
Some of the world’s worst diseases have come from animals. Bats, cows, camels and horses have all contributed. Now, scientists are working to know which animal introduced the new coronavirus.
Wuhan University Sakura Castle, one of the oldest in China with the city in the backdrop. December 2018.
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The strong crisis management in Wuhan will probe the capacity of the Chinese government to prepare adequately for pandemic and may test Xi’s rule.
A man wearing a surgical mask makes a child wear one outside a hospital where a student who had been in Wuhan is kept in isolation in Thrissur, Kerala state, India.
AP Photo
The World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus to be a public health emergency on Jan. 30, 2020. Does the action really change anything? An expert answers four questions.
Medical workers talk with a woman suspected of being ill with a coronavirus at a community health station in Wuhan, China, in January 2020.
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Social media has allowed researchers around the world to collaborate and co-ordinate their efforts to fight the outbreak and contain its spread.