A potential vaccine for coronavirus is undergoing a human trial in Australia. It’s based on a vaccine that was already in development for influenza, and has shown promise in animal studies.
‘The Scream,’ by Edvard Munch, hand-coloured lithograph version from 1895.
(Munchmuseet)
Artist Edvard Munch depicted despair provoked by disease in turn-of-the-century works. In these coronavirus times, his iconic image speaks to our anxieties about illness and societal collapse.
The flu vaccine will not protect you from getting COVID-19. But it will help avoid unnecessary doctors’ visits and protect vulnerable groups from potentially more severe disease.
Social distancing could also stem the spread of influenza.
Irene Miller/ Shutterstock
The 14th century Black Death pandemic catalysed enormous societal, economic, artistic and cultural reforms in Medieval Europe. Infectious disease pandemics can be major turning points in history.
Yes, there’ll probably be fewer flu cases this year. But getting your flu jab anyway will limit transmission further, and may result in fewer flu cases ending up in our already strained hospitals.
SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (pink dots) on a dying cell.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH
The new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, spreads faster than the H1N1 influenza virus and is much deadlier. SARS-CoV-2 is particularly skilled at keeping cells from calling out for help.
Australia has had more than 100 years to get its pandemic public health messaging right. Here’s what we have and haven’t learnt from the 1918 influenza pandemic.
Strict quarantine measures have been shown to be more effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19 than closing schools.
Stray cows rest on a New Delhi street during a one-day civil curfew to combat coronavirus. Cattle may have been central to a coronavirus outbreak in 1890.
Yawar Nazir/Getty Images
How do you know what you’re reading and hearing about COVID-19 is based on fact not myth? Here are the basics, and we’ve created an at-a-glance infographic to make it easier to digest.
Getting vaccinated against the flu, washing your hands and social distancing are three ways you can help reduce the impact of both the flu and coronavirus.
U.S. Red Cross volunteers in 1918.
Apic/Getty Images
There is no evidence that the coronavirus has evolved into a deadlier strain. It is almost certainly less lethal than initially reported, but that might mean there are more cases than we realised.
A county executive in Washington state addresses the media after a death from COVID-19, which results from the coronavirus.
Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images
Children who get the coronavirus often show mild symptoms and some have none at all. But they can still carry and transmit the virus.
Bill Chen at San Francisco International Airport after arriving on a flight from Shanghai. Chen said his temperature was screened at the Shanghai airport before he departed.
AP Photo/Terry Chea
Air transportation unquestionably spreads disease. Should airlines be more proactive by requiring proof of vaccination? Two experts reflect on the current and former crises.