The number of live animals seized by the Australian Government has tripled since 2017, with blue-tongue lizards and sulphur-crested cockatoos frequently captured.
Indonesia’s foot-and-mouth outbreak shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s been decades in the making – just the latest consequence of biosecurity shortcomings in the region.
A centralized reporting system for laboratory incidents involving dangerous pathogens in biological research does not exist in the US or internationally.
Security precautions, thoughtful facilities design, careful training and safe lab practices help keep pathogens isolated.
Boston University Photography
The microbiologist who directs the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University explains all the biosafety precautions in place that help him feel safer in the lab than out.
In February 2021, a World Health Organization team investigating the origins of COVID-19 visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China.
Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images
The research community is taking a closer look at the lab-leak hypothesis for the origin of COVID-19, prompting discussion about the risks and benefits of engineering viruses.
Microbes are everywhere – and they aren’t all friendly.
spawns/E+ via Getty Images
Scientists get up close and personal with deadly pathogens to give doctors the tools they need to treat people sickened by germs. The key is keeping the researchers – and everyone around them – safe.
Eating less animal proteins may help reduce the risk of future zoonotic viruses.
(AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
Pandemic viruses arise from raising, harvesting and eating animals. Policy strategy for averting the next pandemic should include supporting those already seeking to make plant-based dietary changes.
Coronavirus means Australians are not allowed to travel overseas. Since March, only about third of the special requests to leave the country have been granted.
Australia’s island identity and attitude to border security was forged from handling pandemics since the time of federation. Here’s what we’ve learned along the way.
Troy Sutton works with potentially deadly pathogens but the right precautions greatly reduce the risks.
Penn State
To find a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, scientists need to work hands-on with the highly infectious coronavirus. It happens in a super secure lab designed to keep them safe and prevent any escapes.
Hands-on monitoring is key to fighting many plant diseases.
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Plant diseases require as much attention now as ever to ensure that food systems are in place in the next season. There are also serious implications for forestry and the environment more broadly.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, some critics say livestock farms promote diseases that spread from animals to humans. An animal scientist explains how well-run farms work to keep that from happening.
Health authorities estimate each infectious person could pass the virus onto two others.
Jerome Favre/AAP
There’s no evidence you can spread the Wuhan coronavirus before showing symptoms, but one study suggests it’s possible for children and young people to be infectious without ever having symptoms.
Three North American little brown bats with signs of white-nose syndrome, which is virtually certain to hit Australian bats without further action.
KDFWR/Terry Derting
It’s been a deadly summer for Australia’s wildlife. But beyond the fires, we need to act now to protect bats – which make up a quarter of Australian mammal species – from a silent overseas killer.
A young girl is inoculated with typhoid, Texas, 1943.
Wikimedia Commons
We’ve known how to control typhoid for over 100 years. The rapid current increase of drug-resistant variants in both rich and poor countries is down to decades of short-sighted global health policies.
New Zealand’s coastline spans a distance greater than from the south pole to the north pole.
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